OF ARTS AND SCIENCES : JUNE 4, 1872. 473 



■while the Phamogamous plants are less than 1,900. All our as- 

 sociate's work was marked by ability and conscientiousness. "With a 

 just appreciation both of the needs of the science and of what he 

 could best do under the circumstances, when he had exhausted the 

 limited field in Phamogamous Botany within his reach he entered 

 upon the inexhaustible ground of Mycology, which had been neglected 

 in this country since the time of Schweinitz. In this difficult depart- 

 ment he investigated and published a large number of new species, 

 as well as determined the old ones, and amassed an ample collection, 

 the preservation of which is most important, comprising as it does the 

 specimens, drawings, and original notes which are to authenticate his 

 work. By his unremitting and well-directed labors, filling the intervals 

 of an honored and faithful professional life, he has richly earned the 

 gratitude of the present and ensuing generations of botanists. Several 

 years ago he prepared drawings of the edible Fungi of the country, 

 with a view to making them better known in an accessible and popular 

 publication ; but he was unable to find a publisher. He was much im- 

 pressed with their importance as a source of food. During the hard- 

 ships of the Rebellion, he turned his knowledge of them to useful 

 account for his family and neighborhood ; and he declared that he 

 could have supported a regiment upon excellent and delicious food 

 which was wasting in the fields and woods around him. 



D 



Jonx Edwards Holbrook was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, 

 on the 31st of December, 179G. He spent his childhood in Wrentham, 

 Massachusetts, the home of his father. He graduated at Brown 

 University, subsequently studied medicine in Philadelphia, and com- 

 pleted his scientific education at the Medical School of Edinburgh. 

 He travelled extensively on the Continent, making himself thoroughly 

 familiar with everything pertaining to his profession. In 1822, he 

 returned to America, and established himself in Charleston, where he 

 was appointed to the Professorship of Anatomy in the Medical School ; 

 — a post he occupied for over thirty years. In 1827, he married Miss 

 Harriet Rutledge, who assisted and encouraged him in all his sci- 

 entific pursuits. Her remarkable social and intellectual qualities 

 endeared her to a large circle of friends, who will ever gratefully 

 remember the hospitalities of Belmont and the kindness of the host 

 and hostess. 



In the midst of his professional duties he found time to devote to 



VOL. VITI. 60 



