22 BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASnUSTOTON. 



American botanical book, and which was republished in France 

 a few 3'ears later in 1789. 



Gotthilf Muhlenberg [b. 1753, d. 1815], a Lutheran clergy- 

 man, living at Lancaster, was an eminent botanist, educated in 

 Germany, though a native of Pennsylvania. His " Flora of Lan- 

 caster" was a pioneer work In 1813 he published a full cata- 

 logue of the Plants of North America, in which about 2,800 

 species were mentioned. He supplied Hedwig with many of the 

 rare American mosses, which were published either in " Stirpes 

 Cryptogamicas " of that author or in the " Species Muscorum." 

 To Sir J. E. Smith and Mr. Dawson Turner he likewise sent 

 many plants. He made extensive preparations, writing a gen- 

 eral flora of North America, but death interfered with his pro- 

 ject. The American Philosophical Society preserves his her- 

 barium, and the moss Funeria Muhlenbergii^ the violet, Viola 

 Muhlcnbergii^ and the grass MuJilenbei'gia^ are among the 

 memorials to his name.* 



To Pennsylvania, but not to Philadelphia, came, in i794' 

 Joseph Priestley (1733-1S04), the philosopher, theologian, and 

 chemist. Although his name is more famous in the history 

 of chemistry than that of any living contemporar3^ American 

 or European, his work was nearly finished before he left Eng- 

 land. He never entered into the scientific life of the country 

 which he sought as an exile, and of which he never became 

 a citizen, and he is not properly to be considei'ed an element 

 in the history of American science. 



His coming, however, was an event of considerable political 

 importance ; and William Cobbett's " Observations on the Em- 

 igration of Doctor Joseph Priestley. By Peter Porcupine," was 

 followed by several other pamphlets equally vigorous in ex- 

 pression. McMaster is evidently unjust to some of the public 



* Hooker: On the Botany of America. Edinburgh Journal of Science, 

 iii, p. 103, et seq. 



