410 JOHN AMORY LOWELL. 



a permanent acquisition to us and to our country. Through Mr. 

 Lowell's discernment, moreover, the first encouragement to devote liis 

 life to scientific pursuits was afforded to Jeffries Wyman, by the offer 

 of the curatorship of the Institute as well as of a lectureship. The 

 intellectual and the financial interests of this trust have equally pros- 

 pered in Mr. Lowell's hands ; for while the number of lecture-courses 

 has been doubled, and various subsidiary lines of instruction have 

 been developed, the jjrincipal of the fund has been increased to thrice 

 its original amount. 



Mr. Lowell's fondness for botany developed shortly after he left 

 college, and was incited by the botanical intercourse between his 

 father and the late Dr. Francis Boott, with whom he maintained a 

 lifelong friendship. But it was only in about the year 1844 or 

 1845 that he began the formation of an herbarium and botanical 

 library ; and this was actively prosecuted for several years, in evident 

 expectation of comparative leisure which he could devote to scientific 

 studies. He subscribed liberally to the botanical explorations in our 

 newly-acquired or newly-opened Western Territories ; and when in 

 Europe, in 1850 and 1851, he added largely to his store of rare and 

 costly botanical books. But just when he was ready to use the choice 

 materials and appliances which had been brought together, the financial 

 crisis of 1857 remanded hira to business. The grave duties and re- 

 sponsibilities which he resumed he carried up nearly to the age of 

 fourscore, — carried as it were with the vigor of early manhood and 

 the cheerful ease that attends "a real love of woi-k for the work's own 

 sake." And when it became evident that the comparatively unbroken 

 attention requisite for serious botanical study was not to be secured, 

 and as soon as a building was prepared for their reception, he pre- 

 sented all his botanical books which were needed to the herbarium 

 of Harvard University ; and the remainder, with his herbarium, to the 

 Boston Society of Natural History, — not giving up the while his 

 studious habits, but transferring his attention back to the Latin and 

 the French classics, and in a certain degree to German and Italian 

 literature. 



As his father was one of the leading promoters of the establish- 

 ment of the Botanic Garden of Harvard University, Mr. Lowell was 

 also its most efficient supporter through its years of sorest need ; and, 

 in memory of his father, he bequeathed to it the sum of $20,000 in 

 order to make his annual subvention perpetual. He made a legacy 

 of equal amount to the general Libraiy of the University, which he 

 along with his father and grandfather had served iu a most respon- 



