William OakeSy the American Botanist. 279 



that he was much exhausted by walking and by the heat of the day, 

 that he stopped only a few minutes before the starting of the ferry- 

 boat, at a store near the head of the wharf leading to the depot, to 

 purchase some shot for gunning ; that although he had but a few 

 moments to spare, he took particular pains and trouble to select the 

 two sizes of shot which he was accustomed to use, taking six pounds 

 of one sort and four of another ; that the bell ringing while ho was 

 making his purchase, he hurried with it to the depot ; that he there 

 met the gentleman whom he came to Boston to see, and received from 

 him the answer he had been led to expect in regard to a business- 

 transaction between them, and which precluded all pecuniary anxiety ; 

 that he hastily tied up his two packages of shot in his pocket-hand- 

 kerchief, hung it upon his arm, for convenient carriage, and stepped 

 on board of the boat just as it was leaving ; that soon after the boat 

 was out of the dock, he was observed standing or sitting at the stern, 

 which was unprotected by a barrier, and the next moment he was- 

 seen in the water, where he sank before any effectual means could be 

 used for his rescue. Under these circumstances there is every rea- 

 son for believing that, in his exhausted state, he was seized with 

 sudden faintness or vertigo, and fell overboard from the stern of the 

 boat : an accident which was more likely to occur, from the fact, that 

 he was very heavy, and awkward in his movements. 



It is manifest from what has already been remarked, that Mr 

 Oakes' services to American botany, are not to be measured by the 

 amount of his actual publications. These consist principally, of a 

 Catalogue of the Plants of Vermont^ contributed to the " History 

 of Vermont, Natural, Civil, and Statistical," by Zadock Thomson ; 

 and of two or three articles contributed to Hovey's Horticultural 

 Magazine, comprising descriptions of new plants of New England, 

 or notices of new localities detected by himself, or his friend Dr Rob- 

 bins. These are but small indications of what he might have ac- 

 complished. But there are few botanists in this country who are not 

 indebted to him, directly or indirectly, for some portion of their 

 knowledge, or for some of the finest specimens in their herbaria ; 

 and there is no treatise, and scarcely an article on the botany of the 

 Northern States, published within the last twenty years, to which he 

 has not in some way essentially contributed. The immense collec- 

 tions of most beautiful specimens which he made with peculiar skill, 

 were never hoarded, but were freely bestowed upon every botanist, 

 upon every amateur indeed, who desired or who could appreciate them. 

 When they accumulated in large quantities upon his hands, it was 

 only because he was not yet prepared to distribute them in the form 

 which seemed most fitting, nor yet able to enhance their value as he 

 wished, by perfectly authenticating their names. More than once 

 has he placed interesting collections in the hands of the writer, for 

 foreign distribution, perchance among strangers who had never heard 

 his name, accepting no return, other than the satisfaction of knowing 



