SKETCH OF GOTTHILF B. E. MUHLENBERG. 691 



low (1814) is incorporated matter borrowed from the results of 

 his researches. 



It thus appears that the field of the present Atlantic Middle 

 States had been explored with considerable energy before Muh- 

 lenberg's time. New species of plants had been discovered and 

 additional information had been gained concerning species al- 

 ready known. The scientific value of these observations, attested 

 by the herbariums which still exist, and by what Muhlenberg 

 furnished for publication, is enhanced and interest is added to 

 them by a careful perusal of Muhlenberg's correspondence, a 

 part of which he kept and is now preserved by the Historical 

 Society of Pennsylvania. These letters some from European 

 naturalists and others from American were written in the last 

 sixteen years of the eighteenth century and the first and part of 

 the second decades of the nineteenth, and are often annotated 

 with Muhlenberg's remarks. Of his own letters only a few copies 

 are present, chiefly those which he wrote between 179] and 1794 

 to Dr. Manasseh Cutler, of Ipswich, Mass. Further, a number of 

 letters from various students and note-books, botanical notices, 

 descriptions, and outlines in Muhlenberg's handwriting are in the 

 possession of his descendants, or have been handed over by them 

 to scientific societies. 



The note-books bear witness to the earnestness with which 

 Muhlenberg took up and pursued his botanical studies after his 

 flight from Philadelphia. During the year 1778 may be found 

 numerous descriptions of plants like that of Eiipaforiinn purpu- 

 reum, trumpetseed or gravel root ; to which are added such notes 

 as " is probably Eupatorium {altissimum)." Doubtful remarks of 

 the kind abound. " Is it probably Actea ? " " It may be Azalea ? " 

 " Perhaps it is Convallaria ? " It is evident from such notes that 

 Muhlenberg had not advanced far in acquaintance with the wild 

 plants in the summer of 1778. In the same year he seems to have 

 drawn up a plan of studies by the systematic execution of 

 which he could hardly fail to acquire the desired knowledge. Its 

 most notable points are as follows : " How may I best advance 

 myself in the knowledge of plants ? It is winter, and there is 

 little to do. In winter I must select such plants as I can easily 

 remove. . . . Toward spring I should go out and form a chronol- 

 ogy of the trees, how they come out, and of the flowers, how they 

 appear, one after another. ... I should especially remark the 

 flowers and fruit ; and there are many other circumstances, but 

 none quite so essential. 



" 1. The flower, the time, the part of the plant it stands on, 

 whether there are stamens, and how many ; the pollen ; whether 

 there are pistils, and how many ; their shape ; whether and how there 

 is a corolla ; its color and shape ; whether and how there is a calyx. 



