J32 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Soon after his arrival he went on a visit to the west to see whether 

 he had best practise his profession there. On the way he sustained a 

 severe shock to his spine in a steamer accident. It took him several 

 weeks to recover somewhat, but he never fully recovered. He was dis- 

 appointed in the outlook and returned to the east, where he took up 

 practise in Philadelphia. There he became a friend of Elias Durand, 

 a druggist and botanist, who in the latter capacity was requested to 

 elaborate the botanical collections made by Heermann while with the 

 Williamson Pacific Kailroad Expedition. Durand proposed to Hilgard 

 that they should collaborate in this work, and the latter being by na- 

 ture an expert drauglitsman, he not only described, but drew the illus- 

 trations of a large number of the " Plantse Heermanianse " accompany- 

 ing the final report of the expedition. The strain of this work seemed 

 to develop the spinal injury into a serious inflammation, from which he 

 was prostrated for months. After recovery which was, however, never 

 complete, he resolved to begin practise in St. Louis, and removed there 

 in 1855. 



He continued to practise in St. Louis from that time until 1870, 

 much handicapped by the spinal weakness which obliged him to refuse 

 much lucrative practice. His spare time was chiefly devoted to botani- 

 cal studies, now more especially to the cryptogams, whose development 

 he studied under the microscope, in the use of which he became very 

 expert. In these studies he found that the then current classification 

 and nomenclature of these - organisms was seriously at fault, many 

 merely developmental forms being classed as separate species, genera 

 and even orders. He also worked zealously in devising a system of 

 arrangement of the phanerogams which would express their mutual 

 cross relations, the best graphic presentation of which on a flat surface 

 he found in the pentagrammatic form. Comparative anatomy and the 

 homotaxy of organs and structural parts also formed a favorite subject 

 of investigation. Most of his work on these subjects was published in 

 the Proceedings of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, of which he was 

 a charter member; also in the Proceedings of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science and in the St. Louis Medical Reporter. 

 He also helped in the organization of the " Humboldt Institute " 

 library which for some time had a very useful cultural influence. In 

 1865 he married Miss Georgina Koch, daughter of Mr. A, Koch, of 

 Zeuglodon fame. No children came of this union. 



As the state of his health precluded his acting as an army surgeon, 

 he remained at St. Louis during the war in hospital and private prac- 

 tise. After the war medical practise seemed to become more and more 

 incompatible with his strength, and he gave it up and joined his brother 

 Eugene at the University of Mississippi, where at that time a lecture- 

 ship of botany was contemplated. But it failed of realization, and he 



