BRIEFER ARTICLES 



BYRON DAVID HALSTED 



(with portrait) 



With the passing of Byron David Halsted we have lost another of 

 our pioneer botanists. Although not one of the earliest pioneers, he 

 was a pioneer in many respects. He was one of that group of botanists 

 who laid the foundation 

 of the science in America 

 at a time when the sub- 

 ject was recognized by 

 very few American col- 

 leges and universities. 

 He was one of that still 

 smaller group who took 

 up the study of applied 

 botany and worked faith- 

 fully for its advancement. 



Our younge;- plant 

 pathologists know how 

 difficult it is to find a 

 disease of an economic 

 crop that is not at least 

 mentioned in his reports. 

 He was among the first 

 to report the introduction 

 of several foreign patho- 

 genic organisms. 



Born at Venice, 

 Cayuga County, New 

 York, June 7, 1852, he was left an orphan at an early age and was 

 cared for by relatives. He graduated from the Michigan Agricultural 

 College with the degree of B.S. in 1871, and received the M.S. degree 

 from the same college in 1874. In 1878 he received the Sc.D. degree 

 from Harvard, being the first man to take the doctorate in cryptogamic 

 botany from that university. He was managing editor of the American 

 Agriculturist from 1880 to 1885; Professor of Botany in the Iowa Agri- 

 cultural College 1885-1889; and Professor of Botany in Rutgers College 



169] [Botanical Gazette, vol. 67 



