SKETCH OF GEORGE ENGELMANN, M. D. 265 



life. He was the first president, and served in several subsequent 

 terms as president, of the " Academy of Science of St. Louis," organ- 

 ized in 1856 ; he always had something of interest to communicate at 

 its meetings ; and, under the inspiration he gave it, it became a living 

 and active body, though not large in numbers. 



Dr. Engelmann with his family visited Europe in 1808, when his 

 son entered upon the pursuit of his medical studies at Berlin. Again, 

 a few months after the death of Mrs. Engelmann, suffering from ill 

 health, he went to Germany in the summer of 1883, seeking the bene- 

 fits of a change of scene. He returned home, having gained a consid- 

 erable accession of strength. His death was finally accelerated by a 



sudden cold. 



His companions, says the " Universe," " will never forget his pluck 



and energy, his enthusiasm and diligence, and the geniality and atten- 

 tiveness shown toward all of them." He was accustomed always to 

 re-examine established suppositions in order to receive new light 

 through newly discovered facts. In all his doings he was very deter- 

 mined ; "he had no great esteem for speculation, but relied only upon 

 facts gained by hard and strenuous study. He was a man of strict 

 scientific truth. He could examine a plant again and again in all the 

 stages of its growth, microscopically and chemically, before he came 

 to a conclusion, and what he then wrote was the accurate result of his 

 painful observations, without any hypothetical suppositions. "Noth- 

 ing," says Dr. Gray, " escaped his attention ; he drew with facility ; 

 and he methodically secured his observations by notes and sketches, 

 available for his own after-use and for that of his correspondents. But 

 the lasting impression which he has made upon North American bota- 

 ny is due to his wise habit of studying his subjects in their systematic 

 relations, and of devoting himself to a particular genus or group of 

 plants (generally the more difficult) until he had elucidated it as com- 

 pletely as lay in his power. In this way all his work was made to tell 

 effectively." 



Not very many of those, Dr. Gray adds in another part of his 

 sketch, " who could devote their whole time to botany have accom- 

 plished as much " as did this doctor in practice, who could give it only 

 the time he could spare from his duties as a physician. " It need not 

 be said," Dr. Gray continues, "and yet perhaps it should not pass 

 unrecorded, that Dr. Engelmann was appreciated by his fellow-botan- 

 ists both at home and abroad ; that his name is upon the rolls of most 

 of the societies devoted to the investigation of Nature ; that he was 

 1 everywhere the recognized authority in those departments of his 

 favorite science which had most interested him ' ; and that, personally 

 one of the most affable and kindly of men, he was as much beloved as 

 respected by those who knew him." 



