MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 193 
to Mexico, and which is still traditionally associated with 
his name.” 
In 1903, Dr. Hermann von Schrenk, Pathologist to the 
Garden, visited this famous tree. At this time measurements 
were made of the trunk and photographs taken, two of which 
are herewith reproduced. Plate 29, taken from the roof of 
one of the buildings across the square of the small church- 
yard, where the cypress stands, gives a good idea of the gen- 
eral shape of the tree. The crown is almost round, and the 
tree has little resemblance to young cypress trees growing 
in dry localities or older ones growing in the swamps, but 
looks more like a large oak. It has an extremely massive, 
comparatively short trunk, deeply fluted. 
A careful examination of the tree (incidentally it might 
be stated that this was made under the supervision of a 
guard of soldiers and a large aes of the population 
of the village) showed no evidence of decay or disease of 
any sort, all of the branches appearing healthy and vigorous. 
The best indication of its good condition was evidenced by 
the manner in which the famous Humboldt plate had been 
more or less covered during the hundred years after its plac- 
ing. Plate 30 shows a photograph of this plate, from which 
it will readily be seen that the tree had almost fully healed 
over the wound made by the insertion of the board. The 
photograph shows only indistinctly the Spanish words which 
are still evident on the board. Of Humbe dt’s name, the only 
parts legible are “der” of the first name, the small “‘v,” and 
‘Hum.’ 
Dr. Gray, in his essay, makes the following remark: ‘We 
trust that the next intelligent traveler who visits this most 
ancient living monument, or any other cypress of remark- 
able size, will not fail to complete the evidence that is needed, 
as the full solution of this curious problem may throw light 
upon some interesting questions respecting the physical hi 
tory of the world. One or more lateral incisions, not at all 
endangering the existence of the tree, would at once reveal 
its actual growth for the last few centuries. And if made at 
proper ae and carried to a sufficient depth, they might 
enable the judicious operator to disprove or confirm the sur- 
mise, that this huge bole may consist of the trunks of two 
or three original trees, long since united and blended into 
one. This conjecture is by no means very improbable, al- 
though there is nothing in the external appearance of the 
trunk to confirm it.” 
Unfortunately, it proved entirely impossible to,carry out 
the suggestion made by Dr. Gray, use the slightest men- 
