BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 235 



dents, forced, as they were, to grope in the dark for differences 

 between old and new, and perplexed by the conflicting synonymy 

 and imperfect descriptions of the few books then accessible. 



Pulmonary weakness forced Dr. Baldwin, in the autumn of 

 1811, to resort to a milder climate, and he removed to the State 

 of Georgia, residing chiefly at Savannah and St. Mary's Here 

 was a new ahd interesting field for botanical research, which he 

 cultivated with great ardor, making long journeys on foot, with 

 knapsack on his back, often entirely alone, penetrating far into 

 the territory of the aborigines, among whom his peaceful princi- 

 ples and gentle bearing secured him a kind reception. In 1812 

 war with Great Britain interrupted these pursuits and called into 

 use his professional abilities as surgeon of a gunboat flotilla sta- 

 tioned at St. Mary's. For two years he ministered to the sick 

 and distressed with no other aid than that of his wife. After the 

 close of the war he was stationed at Savannah, where he was 

 brought into close and friendly communication with Stephen El- 

 liott, author of the " Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and 

 Georgia. '' His correspondence during these years of Southern res- 

 idence shows that, notwithstanding the interruptions caused by 

 professional labor, and by war's rude alarms, he lost no opportu- 

 nity for botanical research and for the acquisition of new material. 



Near the close of the year 1817, he received an appointment 

 as surgeon of the U. S. frigate Congress, which was to visit Bue- 

 nos Ayres and other South American ports. His knowledge of 

 natural history led to this appointment, and it was accepted with 

 the hope that his failing health might be restored. His ship 

 touched at Rio Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Ayres, Maldonado, 

 San Salvador and Margarita. At all these places he made dili- 

 gent use of his limited opportunities for collecting, and in the 

 Philadelphia Academy are preserved many of the plants so col- 

 lected. 



From this voyage he returned in July, 1818, rejoining his fam- 

 ly at Wilmington. He now bent all his energies to the study of the 

 material collected during his Southern residence, with a view to 

 publication, under the proposed title of " Miscellaneous Sketches 

 of Georgia and East Florida, to which will be added a descriptive 

 catalogue of new plants, with notices of the works of Pursh, El- 

 liott and Nuttall, to which will be added an appendix containing 

 some account of the vegetable productions on the Rio de la Plata, 

 etc." In September he writes Darlington : " I have to inform 

 you that I go on slowly, and, I hope, the more surely. It will 

 not do to hurry — there has been too much hurrying among our 



