PROFESSOR JOHN TORREY, M.D., LL.D. 637 



their greatest value to the botanist his ready pencil found frequent 

 employment. He drew with great neatness and rapidity, and it was 

 his custom to record his observations by means of sketches of remark- 

 able distinctness and accuracy. 



For several years subsequent to 1861 he was engaged in herbarium 

 work. His removal to Columbia College, and the disposal of his most 

 valuable collection to that institution, rendered it necessary that the 

 accumulations of years, including numerous typical specimens, should 

 be put into complete order. He entered into the drudgery of assort- 

 ing, determining, labelling, and putting into the herbarium the mass of 

 unarranged material, with the same industry and zeal that he brought 

 to more congenial work. No other hands than his could have com- 

 pleted this important task, and botanists have reason to be grateful 

 that he was spared long enough to put this, in some respects, the most 

 important herbarium in the country, in proper condition for study and 

 reference. 



This work being completed, we find him, though advanced in life, 

 again contributing to his favorite science, and, in 1870, "The Revision 

 of the Eriogonese," the joint production of himself and Prof. Asa Gray, 

 was published in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts 

 and Sciences. Upon the return of Wilkes's exploring expedition, the 

 botanical collections were divided between Drs. Torrey and Gray, ex- 

 cept the Cryptogamia, which were given to several specialists. In this 

 division Dr. Gray took the extra-American share, while those collected 

 upon our Pacific coast were elaborated by Dr. Torrey. Before his me- 

 moir could be published, the civil war came on, and stopped all appro- 

 priations for such work. Last winter, the proposition to publish was 

 revived, and the last botanical work of Dr. Torrey was to take up, 

 during a rally from his fatal illness, this long-delayed manuscript of 

 the botany of Wilkes's expedition, and prepare it for the press. Al- 

 though his mind was as clear and his perceptions as acute as ever, his 

 strength was unequal to the task. It will be published as a posthu- 

 mous work, under the supervision of his intimate friend and associate 

 of many years, Dr. Gray. 



This enumeration of his scientific labors would be incomplete with- 

 out reference to his great work in educating others in science. In the 

 various professorships he held he was always to the students a loved 

 instructor, and many now eminent in science can trace the commence- 

 ment of their careers to the teachings of Dr. Torrey. Not only in the 

 class-room, but out of it, was his influence constantly exerted, and he 

 was always surrounded by a circle of young men who never came to 

 him in vain for sympathy and encouragement. He gave to such what 

 was better than pecuniary aid, comfort, hope, and help in its best sense. 

 There is many a chemist, now standing high in his profession, who owes 

 his position to his kindly aid, and scarcely a botanist in the country 

 who has not been a recipient of favors from his ever-open hand. 



