8+2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



spent the rest of his life, except the winter months, on the beau- 

 tiful estate at Hyde Park, on the banks of the Hudson, which he 

 had owned for a number of years. Here he devoted himself to 

 agriculture and to growing plants of botanical interest. " He 

 carried with him," his son remarks, "the same ardor and zeal 

 which had been so characteristic of him in his professional career. 

 He introduced into the country many of the finest breeds of cat- 

 tle, sheep, and swine, which he imported at great expense from 

 abroad. The grounds were cultivated in the best possible man- 

 ner, and the most esteemed fruits and vegetable productions of 

 the country were made to thrive in the greatest luxury possible." 



In the autumn of 1835 Dr. Hosack removed as usual to his 

 city residence, and a few weeks after was seized with apoplexy 

 which terminated his existence. One morning in December he 

 went out and did some business errands, and on his return home 

 found he was paralyzed in his right arm. His speech was also 

 affected. He received immediate attention from his son, Dr. A. E. 

 Hosack, and later from several of his professional friends. But 

 their efforts were of no avail. His symptoms became worse, and 

 four days after the attack, on December 22d, he passed away. 

 His body was placed in the family vault in the marble cemetery 

 in Second Street. 



One of the surest ways in which an eminent man can cause 

 his influence to live after him is in training up younger men to 

 lives of usefulness. This Dr. Hosack was constantly doing. " I 

 can scarcely recollect the time," says his son, " when he was with- 

 out some such protege." At one time it was the son of a New 

 York carpenter, who unfortunately fell a victim to his devotion 

 to yellow-fever patients in the epidemic of 1798. At another 

 it was a young Frenchman, who without means, had come to 

 America to study its flora, his family having been forced to leave 

 France on account of the Revolution there. Dr. Hosack took 

 him into his family and educated him as a physician. He re- 

 turned to France and became eminent as a botanist. This was 

 Prof. Delile, who accompanied Napoleon to Egypt as the botanist 

 of his scientific corps, and was afterward superintendent of the 

 Jardin des Plantes at Montpellier. Among Dr. Hosack's regular 

 pupils at the College of Physicians and Surgeons was John Tor- 

 rey, and many other students who heard his lectures at the med- 

 ical school or at Columbia College had whatever of inclination 

 toward botany they possessed greatly quickened by the enthu- 

 siasm and eloquence of Dr. Hosack. 



