XII T. H. Goodspeed 



he saw to it that visits were made to botanical gardens and con- 

 servatories, and to zoological gardens and aquaria besides. 



When he v\^as sixteen and a student in Norwich Free Acad- 

 emy, the curriculum there included a course in Gray's Lessons 

 in Botany in which some attempt was made at determining 

 species. The young man showed so lively an interest that he was 

 asked to assist in collecting material for the class. He was also 

 given special privileges; he could leave the classroom to follow 

 his own desires in plant collecting, or pursue independent study 

 in the botanical section of the school library. There is perhaps 

 an indication here that the "project method" in secondary edu- 

 cation had its champions even before the present generation of 

 schoolmasters! His collecting enthusiasm was paralleled by that 

 of George R. Case, Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue in 

 the Norwich District, with whom Professor Setchell became 

 acquainted about this time. Together they proposed the prepa- 

 ration of a local flora to include all plants found within a radius 

 of ten miles from the center of the city of Norwich, the species 

 to be determined by Gray's Manual and to be arranged in order 

 of flowering. In this last proposal appears the background of 

 a research interest which was to engage Professor Setchell's 

 efforts many years later. Finally, in 1883, the list of Norwich 

 plants was published. Of further significance in this early period 

 of Professor Setchell's botanical experience was his discovery of 

 the fern Aspleneum montanum some hundreds of miles west of 

 its previously known range, an event which was communicated 

 to Professor Daniel Cady Eaton of Yale University. The appear- 

 ance of his first scientific contribution, together with the enthusi- 

 asm engendered by a botanical discovery, led the young man to 

 consider himself somewhat established in a botanical career. 



When, in 1883, he entered Yale University, there was almost 



