BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR. W. P. GIBBONS. 75 



this sort, it is true, but having brought with them the scientific 

 flame they sedulously tended it. A few men of this character came 

 together in San Francisco, founded the California Acadenjy of 

 Sciences, and devoted themselves "in the days of its weakness and 

 want" to its scientific upbuilding, with such single-heartedness that 

 as an indirect but highly to be desired result there were won for 

 science-work in California the bequests of James Lick and others, 

 whose attention had been drawn to the struggle for life going on in 

 the Acadeni}'. 



Dr. William P. Gibbons was not one of the original six who met 

 and decided on the foundation of an Academy of Sciences, but he 

 was one of the charter members of the Academy, took an iictive 

 interest in its work, attending the meetings where met Kellogg, Behr, 

 Ransom, Trask, Bloomer and a few others. His name is frequently 

 mentioned in the early Proceedings of the Academy, and we note 

 that for the year 1855 he was elected Corresponding Secretary. 



He was born in Wilmington, Delaware, April 19, 1812. His 

 early education was received from his parents and in his youth he 

 learned the printing trade. This must have been merely a means 

 to something that he desired more, for v/e find him at a later date 

 attending medical and scientific lectures in Philadelphia. It was 

 during this period that botany became a specialty with him, outside 

 of his subsequent profession. He was elected a member of the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, which gave him opportunity for 

 study and research in many departments of science. 



In 1846 he graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from the Univer- 

 sity of the City of New York. In 1852 he sailed from New York 

 for California. On the Isthmus of Panama, he was attacked by 

 cholera, which was imaging among the gold-seekers detained in that 

 tropical climate. It is probable that he would never have reached 

 California but for the kindly act of W. C. Ralston, afterwards one 

 of California's most prominent citizens and financiers, ^?ho carried 

 him in his arms aboard the vessel. He arrived in San Francisco in 

 January, 1853, and began at once the practise of his profession. 

 From the first he was devoted to the investigation of the botany of 

 California. From 1856 to 1863 he lived in various parts of the 

 Californian Sierras and Nevada, largely in order that he might 



