238 LIFE OF PROFESSOR CHESTER DEWEY. 



institutions of learning in which, and through which, they labored, were 

 all of them founded, endowed, and sustained through the efforts and 

 sacrifices of religious men, and especially of the clergy. The pursuits 

 of physical science are superficially thought unfavorable to moral and 

 religious growth. But so long as we can recall the elevated spiritual 

 life of such men as Sillimau, Hitchcock, and Dewey, we need no other 

 refutation of such an idea. 



In connection with his labors in giving instruction in colleges, med- 

 ical schools, antl academies. Dr. Dewey was not unmindful of his obliga- 

 tions to make some additions to the sum of scientific knowledge. He 

 was for forty years a constant contributor to Silliman's Journal. He 

 always studied with pen in hand, and was a constant writer on scientific 

 subjects for the newspaper press. He became early in life an enthusi- 

 astic student of botany, and contributed very largely to the scientific 

 knowledge of the carices. Dr. Asa Gray, our great botanist, classes 

 Dr. Dewey with Schweinitz and Torrey, and speaks of his writings on 

 caricograi)hy as an "elaborate monograph, patiently prosecuted through 

 more than forty years." He further says that, in connection with the 

 two botanists above mentioned, " he laid the foundation and insured 

 the popularity of the study of the sedges in this country." Unfortunately, 

 Dr. Dewey did not write any systematic treatise on this subject, but his 

 numerous short articles represent the progress of his own observations 

 and studies, and give a history of the progress of that department of 

 botanical science. Dr. Dewey wrote a History of the Herbaceous Plants 

 of Massachusetts, which was published by the State. He contributed, 

 also, the article "Carices," to Wood's Botany. Up to the last year 

 of his life, our friend's mind showed the vigor and enthusiasm of his 

 early years, and he was constantly writing on scientific topics. His last 

 publications of any length were two review articles, one entitled "The 

 true place of man in zoology ;" the other, "An examination of some rea- 

 sonings against the unity of mankind." These articles were read first 

 before a literary association in Kochester, of which the Doctor was a 

 member. They displayed a full and intelligent familiarity with all the 

 most recent discoveries and speculations bearing upon these difficult 

 and complicated questions. His discussions were conducted with an 

 ability, clearness, and learning which, at his age, were surprising. His 

 industry in study was unremitting, and u]) to the very last year of his 

 life his mind was open to examine, with utter freedom from preju- 

 dice, any new discovery or speculation which was worthy of attention. 

 His last labors were the orderly arrangement of his large collection of 

 sedges, which had been for so many years accumulating on his hands, and 

 copying out his meteorological journal. Just before his death, while 

 engaged upon his journal, his hand became unable to hold his pen, and, 

 calling for the aid of his daughter, he placidly remarked that this would 

 be his last report to the Smithsonian Institution. He died calmly, of 

 old age, on the 15th of December, 1SG7, in his eighty-third year. He 



