410 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tioned his friends against forming too hasty conclusions as to the 

 disease-carrying properties of the fungi. Instead of being the 

 cause of disease, they were as likely to be its result. 



Dr. Curtis had an extensive correspondence with American 

 and European botanists, who always recognized the part he took 

 in the progress of the science in this country as important. Dr. 

 Chapman dedicated the first edition of his " Flora of the South- ' 

 ern States " to him. The " American Journal of Science " in 1873, 

 after his death, thus measured his work: "All our associate's 

 work was marked by ability and conscientiousness. With a just 

 appreciation both of the needs of science and of what he could 

 best do under the circumstances, when he had exhausted the fields 

 in xDhenogamous botany within his reach, he entered upon the in- 

 exhaustible ground of mycology, which had been neglected in 

 this country since the time of Schweinitz. In this difiicult de- 

 partment he investigated and published a large number of new 

 species, as well as determined the old ones, and amassed an ample 

 collection, the preservation of which is most important, compris- 

 ing, as it does, the specimens, drawings, and original notes which 

 are to authenticate his work. By his unremitting and well-di- 

 rected labors, filling the intervals of honored and faithful profes- 

 sional life, he has richly earned the gratitude of the present and 

 ensuing generations of botanists." 



The bibliography of Dr. Curtis's writings includes " Enumera- 

 tion of Plants growing spontaneously around Wilmington, N. C." 

 (1834), twice reprinted with additions and emendations ; " New 

 and Rare Plants of North Carolina " (1842) ; " Contributions to 

 Mycology of North America" (1848); "New and Rare Plants, 

 chiefly of the Carolinas" (1849) ; "Contributions to Mycology of 

 North America" (Berkeley and Curtis, 1849); "New Fungi col- 

 lected by the Wilkes Exjjloring Expedition " (1851) ; " Geological 

 and Natural History Survey of North Carolina ; Part III, Botany, 

 containing a Catalogue of the Plants of the State, with Descrip- 

 tion and History of the Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines" (1860) ; 

 " A Commentary on the Natural History of Dr. Hawks's ' His- 

 tory of North Carolina ' " (1860) ; " Esculent Fungi " (1866) ; 

 "Geological and Natural History of North Carolina; Part III, 

 Indigenous and Naturalized Plants" (1867); "Edible Fungi of 

 North Carolina" (1839). The first of these works was published 

 in the Boston "Journal of Natural History," and the last in 

 the " Gardener's Chronicle," London. The others were published 

 either in " Silliman's Journal " or as separate publications. 



