20 JOURNAL OF THE 



self discovered over 1200 species, chiefly in this State, but the field 

 was still far from being exhausted. Correspondence between these 

 gentlemen continued for a number of years, and a scientific copart- 

 nership was formed which resulted in the addition of nearly five 

 hundred new sj ecies to the list up to the year 1867, and since Dr. 

 Curtis' death a number of new species appeared in "Grevillia" 

 under the joint authorship of Berkley and Curtis. 



Correspondence between botanists at that time was very active, 

 and the letters which were interchanged comprised the principle 

 stock of knowledge then available. The letters which have been 

 preserved are very instructive, even at this date. Not only do we 

 find in them the growth of botanical science, but such notes about 

 the state of civilization as to roads, forests, dwellings, farms, taverns, 

 and the social condition of the people, which make them treasure 

 houses for the general historian. The correspondence between John 

 Bartram, and Collinson, Humphrey Marshall, Ellis, Benj. Franklin, 

 and other notables of the day, with an editorial by Dr. Darlington, 

 is one of the few voluEfiies which have preserved letters in a printed 

 form, and few volumes give a more satisfactory insight into the 

 state of our social affairs than this one. It is not a complete pano- 

 rama, but the passing allusions to what the^e itinerant botanists 

 saw, gives a keen relish to their work. It is to be regretted that 

 such a small part of this correspondence is preserved, for like that 

 of McRee and Curtis, much of it is long since inaccessible. 



En passant it is interesting to observe how little notice these 

 pioneers of science took of the current of political affairs. For 

 although the travels of Wm. Bartram through the Carolinas and 

 Georgia were made during the war of the Revolution, our zealous 

 botanist has no ear for the war-like preparations which must have 

 resounded in the air, but was totally absorbed in what Nature had 

 so lavishly spread out before him. For him no triumph was equal 

 to the discovery of a new plant, the solution of the mysteries of the 

 habits of birds and insects. Like all of his sect, the Friends, Bart- 

 ram had the strictest bias against the commotion of war, and this, 

 added to love of the knowledge of nature, may account for his 

 silence. 



But to return from this digression. Dr. Curtis found this new 

 field of botany greatly to his liking. His habit of study was pains- 

 taking and accurate, and the microscopic work necessary for the 

 determination of species became in his hands a triumph of skill. It 

 was in this steady sedentary pursuit that Dr. Curtis injured his 

 health. For hours at a time, day by day, he pored over the micro- 



