EI.ISHA MITCHKLL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 9 



This sliort notice of an early and active member of the Mitchell 

 Society, who looked with interest on its work as promising much 

 good and much honor to North Carolina, is to be regarded as but 

 preliminary to a more extended account of the life, character and 

 labors of one who was at all times a faithful servant of the public, 

 "diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." 



A SKETCH OF THE BOTANICAL WORK OF THE 

 Rev. MOSES ASHLEY CURTIS, D. D. 



Read before the Mitchell Society at the University of North 

 Carolina. May 220. 18S5, by Thomas F. Wood. 



In the early days of this century botany was the science of great 

 expectations in America. The florid narratives of the old chroni- 

 clers were being displaced by a generation of scientific men, whose 

 zeal and earnestness fitted them for the vast work of the exploration 

 and study of the fiora of a new continent. 



From the very beginning in this country, the science of botany 

 was an aristocracy of learning, except in the matter of lineal trans- 

 mission, and even in this direction we have two illustrious examples 

 in the case of the Bartrams and Michaux. The pioneer teachers 

 were admitted authority in their broad domain, and received the 

 encouragement and patronage of the mother country in our colonial 

 state, and the sympathy and respectful admiration of the people 

 when we became federated States. This was a very natural state 

 of things, for although the science of botany was so well cultivated 

 that it became a matter of national pride, still the real botanists 

 were very few. 



As we look through the superb volumes which remain the perma- 

 nent monuments of the work of these men, we find a striking repetition 

 of a very few names referred to as authority, but these men were 

 able, industrious, and with very few exceptions, men of marked lon- 

 gevity, having the capacity of exciting enthusiasm among the young 

 men who attended their instruction. It was not until the century 

 was nearly twenty years old that botanical works began to multiply 

 in such numbers as to be of use to the student; so at the time Dr. 

 2 



