24 



LUCIEN MARCUS UNDERWOOD. 



A Biographical Sketch. 



Lucieii M. Undei-wood was born October 20, 1853, in New Woodstock, 

 New York, and died at his liome in Redding, Connecticut, November 16, 

 1907. At the age of fifteen he entered Cazenovia Seminary, where he pre- 

 pared for college. In the fall of 1878 he entered Syracuse University, 

 graduating from this institution in 1877. His career as a seminary and as 

 a college student was marked by unusual scholarship. In the college cur- 

 riculum his favorite studies were history, mathematics and geology. Dur- 

 ing this period he began the collection of an herbarium, and, self instructed, 

 undertook the study of the ferns. He also gave much attention to ento- 

 mology. 



At the time of his graduation he decided to enter the profession of 

 teaching and for se\eral years his work w.as in small institutions where 

 he was coni]iel!ed to instruct in a wide range of subjects. In 1878 he took 

 his masters degree at Syracuse Ihiiversity, having completed a year's 

 graduate work in addition to performing the arduous duties incident to 

 the ]>rincipalship of a school where he was obliged to conduct fourteen 

 classes a day. In 1878 and 1879 he taught natural science in Cazenovia 

 Seminar J-. In July of 1878 he published his first botanical paper, a list of 

 ferns occurring about Syracuse, N. Y. Prom this time on his inclination 

 to specialize in botany grew, but it was not until 1880, when he became 

 professor of geology and botany at the Illinois Wesleyan University at 

 Bloomington, that he had opportunity to do much botanical work. 



In 1881, while at Bloomington, he published his manuscripts on ferns 

 under the title "Our Native I'erns and How to Study Them." This publica- 

 tion met with great success, the sixth edition appearing in 1900. In 1883 

 he was called to Syracuse UniA-ersity as instructor in geology, zoology and 

 botany and three years later was made professor — remaining in this posi- 

 tion until 1890 when ho secured a year's leave of absence to study the 

 collections of hepatics in Harvard University. While in Cambridge, Mass., 

 he accepted a professorship of botany at DePauw University. This posi- 

 tion was the first which enabled him to devote his time to botany alone. 

 For four years, until 1895, he enjoyed at DePauw University a period of 



