PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA 297 



John Torre y 



Dr. N. L. BRITTON 



DIRECTOR OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



As a pioneer of American botany, John Torrey naturally finds a 

 place among the men whose works we gladly celebrate to-day, in this 

 grand institution, developed in the city where he was born, where he 

 resided the greater part of his life, and where he died. To-day's 

 recognition of Torrey as a master of botanical science is, therefore, 

 peculiarly appropriate in New York, where he is already commem- 

 orated by the society which bears his name, by the professorship in 

 Columbia University named in his honor, and by ids botanical collec- 

 tions and library deposited by Columbia University at the New York 

 Botanical Garden. 



Dr. Torrey was born on August 15, 1796, and died March 10, 1873, 

 nearly thirty-four years ago ; the pleasure of his personal acquaintance 

 is, therefore, known to but few persons now living; we have abundant 

 evidence, however, that he was honored and beloved to a degree ex- 

 perienced by but few; righteousness was instinctive in him, aid to 

 others was his pleasure, he was tolerant and progressive, and his genial 

 presence was a delight to his associates. 



He was educated for the profession of medicine, graduating from 

 the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1818, but soon abandoned 

 it and in 1824 became professor of chemistry at West Point; after 

 ihree years service there, he was elected professor of chemistry and 

 botany in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, a position which 

 he held for nearly thirty years, during part of this period lecturing on 

 chemistry also at Princeton ; he was also United States assayer in New 

 York from 185-1 until his death. 



Dr. Torrey's attention was directed to botany during his youthful 

 association with Professor Amos Eaton, and his interest in that science 

 subsequently stimulated during his medical studies by the lectures of 

 Professor David Hosack. It early became his favorite study, and, not- 

 withstanding his noteworthy services to chemistry, his fame rests on 

 his botanical researches, although they were accomplished durng his 

 hours of rest and recreation, and largely during the night. 



His botanical publications began in 1819 with ' A Catalogue of 

 Plants Growing Spontaneously within Thirty Miles of the City of 

 Xew York,' published by the Lyceum of Natural History, now the 

 New York Academy of Sciences, and were completed the year after 

 his death in the ' Phanerogamia of Pacific North America,' in Vol. 17 

 of the Eeport of the United States Exploring Expedition. His con- 

 tributions to botany include over forty titles, many of them volumes 

 requiring years of patient study; they throw a flood of light on the 



