484 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



five children, three of whom survive him. He is also survived by one 

 sister, Miss Lillian Freeman Clarke. 



Mr. Clarke was a man of great engineering ability, a clear thinker, 

 an efficient organizer, a good administrator and a most lovable man. 

 Before leaving his chosen profession for business, he had reached a 

 position of preeminence in it, and in his business career he showed the 

 same rare qualities. A host of friends mourned his passing. 



George F. Swain. 

 WILLIAM GILSON FARLOW (1844-1919). 



Fellow in Class II, Section 2, 1874. 



It is certainly presumptuous for one not a botanist to write about Dr. Farlow, 

 but an intimate friendship of over 50 years makes it possible for me to speak of 

 him as a man, and I hope I have succeeded in presenting an adequate picture 

 of his botanical achievements by constructing a mosaic from the facts and 

 opinions of the four experts, who have written about him already. 



By the death of William Gilson Farlow the Academy has lost one 

 of its most distinguished fellows, since it was his rare good fortune to 

 begin his scientific work, when a great body of material had been col- 

 lected by such pioneers as Curtis in fungi, Harvey in algae, Tuckerman 

 in lichens, SuUivant in mosses and many others, and the science in 

 this country had reached the point where it needed some man with 

 breadth and grasp enough to draw all these scattered parts into a 

 connected whole. In Farlow it found the genius, enthusiasm and 

 character needed for this great work and the training, which developed 

 and supplemented these natural gifts. He occupies, therefore, the 

 same commanding position in cryptogamic botany that Asa Gray 

 holds in the development of our knowledge of flowering plants. 



He was born in Boston December 17, 1844, the son of John Smith 

 Farlow, a prosperous public-spirited citizen and Nancy Wight (Blanch- 

 ard) Farlow, both of Massachusetts parentage. From his father he 

 inherited strong tastes for botany and music. In fact, John K. Paine, 

 then recently established in Cambridge, urged him to become a pro- 

 fessional musician, but the call of botany was too strong and music 

 sank into a delightful recreation after his exacting scientific work. 



He was educated at the Quincy Grammar School and English High 

 School in Boston, followed by a year at the Boston Latin School, which 



