SKETCH OF DAVID HO SACK. 841 



three volumes of his Medical Essays, containing occasional ad- 

 dresses, introductory lectures to his regular courses, many prac- 

 tical papers on medical subjects, etc. He also published an 

 extensive appendix to a work on the Practice of Medicine, by 

 Dr. Thomas, of Salisbury, England. Adopting the nosological 

 arrangement as a system best calculated to illustrate diseases, 

 he was induced to prepare a work on that subject, which ran 

 through several editions. 



Botany was not the only branch of science in which he be- 

 came interested while abroad. To quote from a sketch of his life 

 by a friend: "He attended in the winter of 1793-'94: the first 

 course of lectures on mineralogy that was delivered in London by 

 Schmeisser, a pupil of Werner. With this additional knowledge 

 of mineralogy, which Dr. Hosack had begun to study at Edin- 

 burgh, he continued to augment the cabinet of minerals which he 

 had commenced in Scotland. This collection was brought by him 

 to the United States, and was, we believe, the first cabinet that 

 crossed the Atlantic; it was afterward deposited in Princeton 

 College, in rooms appropriated by the trustees, but fitted up at 

 the expense of the donor, similar to those at the Ecole des Mines 

 at Paris. To render this donation immediately useful, it was ac- 

 companied by a collection of the most important works on min- 

 eralogy." 



Having a large circle of friends and acquaintances, and being 

 fond of company, Dr. Hosack used to set apart his Saturday even- 

 ings for entertaining them. " Surrounded by his large and costly 

 library, his house was, the resort of the learned and enlightened 

 from every part of the world. No traveler from abroad rested 

 satisfied without a personal interview with him; and, at his 

 evening soiree, the literati, the philosopher, and the statesman, 

 the skillful in natural science and the explorer of new regions, the 

 archaBologist and the theologue met together, participators in the 

 recreation of familiar intercourse." Many a distinguished Ameri- 

 can and many a foreign visitor, coming with a letter from some 

 European friend of Hosack, has left on record his delightful ex- 

 perience in a visit to the doctor, either at his city house or his 

 place in the country. 



Of the scientific honors most prized by Americans in his day 

 membership in European societies Dr. Hosack had a goodly 

 share. He also received the honor of having a genus of plants 

 named for him. The various species of Hosackia, of which there 

 are some thirty, are herbs and shrubs growing in the Southern 

 and Southwestern States and in Mexico. 



His second wife having died, Dr. Hosack married Mrs. Magda- 

 lena Coster, widow of the Holland merchant, Henry A. Coster. 

 Some time after this event he retired from his profession and 



VOL. XLTII. 68 



