1865. J lg3 [Gross. 



of the elder Michau.x and of Pursh, the former published at Paris in 

 1803, the latter at London in 1814. The works of Bigelow, Barton, 

 and Darlington, issued at a later period, were of a purely local cha- 

 racter, and could therefore be of no special service to Western pupils. 

 The papers thus commenced were continued until 1845. 



The next article from his pen was one on the " Cultivation of cer- 

 tain Medicinal Plants," in which he drew the attention of the pro- 

 fession to the importance of cultivating various substances of the 

 materia mcdica, such, for example, as digitalis, senna, poppy, and 

 castor oil, with a view of securing a more reliable supply of drugs. 

 The subject had engaged much of his reflection, and he expressed 

 great confidence in our ability to furnish these and other articles of 

 superior quality. 



" Notices of Western Botany and Conchology," — a paper jointly 

 published by himself and Mr. H. Halbert Eaton — appeared in 1830, 

 in the fourth volume of the Transylvania Journal. They comprise a 

 brief account of the plants found between Lexington and the Ohio 

 River, a distance of about eighty miles, traversed by the explorers 

 for the most part on foot. As the season was unusually dry, an ex- 

 cellent opportunity was aflforded them of examining the shells of this 

 celebrated stream, and also of the contiguous portions of the Great 

 Miami River. Hardly two years had elapsed from the time of this 

 agreeable and instructive ramble when Dr. Short was called upon to 

 mourn the death of his associate, a man of extraordinary promise as 

 a naturalist, and universally beloved and esteemed for his amiable 

 and social qualities. In an address, delivered at the opening of the 

 session of the Transylvania University in 1832, Dr. Short pro- 

 nounced a feeling and eloquent eulogy upon his life and character. 

 Mr. Eaton was quite young at the time of his death. His zeal in 

 the pursuit of science had early lighted the fire which consumed 

 him. *' Science' self destroyed her favorite son." 



Soon after this he published an elaborate paper, entitled "Instruc- 

 tions for the Gathering and Preservation of Plants in Herbaria," in 

 which he depicts, in glowing terms and at full length, the manual 

 labor of a botanist in forming his collection, and in arranging and 

 labelling his specimens. Appearing, as it did, at a period when 

 very little was known upon those subjects in this country, it must 

 have been of great service to the young men engaged in this pur- 

 suit, so delightful and invigorating alike to mind and body. What 

 student of Nature is there that cannot appreciate the feeling so elo- 

 quently expressed by the great and good f]lliott, one who himself so 

 often worshipped at her shrine, in the following sentence: "The 



