158 THE PLANT WORLD. 



United States, and later his Compendium on the same subject, 

 important forerunners, in more than one way. of Gray's Manual. 

 These accomplishments proved him the great master that he was, 

 and soon his hands were crowded with important work, especially 

 connected with the active explorations of our western territory 

 then in progress. In this work he was a close associate of Asa 

 Gray, and probably their most important work was the first parts 

 of their Flora of Xorth America, published from 1838 to 1843. 



Except for the published works of Torrey, most of those of 

 this early period which here concern us were of a somewhat gen- 

 eral nature, but naturally including our local interests. Of these 

 may be mentioned the following: In 1813, Aluhlenberg's Cata- 

 logue of Xorth American Plants, and in 1817 his work on Xorth 

 American grasses and sedges; in 1818, Xuttall's most scholarly 

 work on the genera of North American plants; in 1820. Gray's 

 Genera: in 1822. Schweinitz's Monograph of the Genus J'iola; 

 in 1833, Beck's Bofa)iy of the Xortheni ajid Middle States; in 

 1834, Schweinitz's work on North American Fungi, antl in the 

 same year, Gray's MonograpJi of the Xorth American Species of 

 Rhynehospora. In the meantime, very im]iortant works of a 

 similar character were being produced in the South, and to a lesser 

 extent, in the West. 



In 1803 there appeared about the first work designed especially 

 for }oung students, an elementary work on botany by Barton. 

 Writing of 1824, Darlington says: "About this time some of the 

 schools in the Northern States began to make a profession of 

 teaching botany, and a demand for suitable books for this pur- 

 pose arose. Accordingly, a number, such as the}' were, soon 

 appeared. Among the most successful was a Manual, compiled 

 by Professor Amos Eaton, of Troy, New York." This sort of 

 botanical teaching entered upon its most active stage with the 

 appearance of Gray's Elements of Botany, in 1836, a work that 

 is still being sold upon an extensive scale, and this, in }our 

 speaker's opinion, very greatly to the advantage of l)t)tany, in 

 spite of the many books of different character, the use of which 

 we so greatly enjoy. The publication, for the use of students, of 

 text-books on structural botany, and later on morphology, in con- 



