119 
This ballot resulted in the choice of the following: 
Names of American Botanists Chosen for Window Tablets 
1. Nuttall 4. Pursh 
2. Englemann 5. Rafinesque 
3. Michaux 
Some difficulty was experienced in making this choice, owing 
to the lack of a uniform interpretation of the adjective “ Amer- 
ican.” One member of the committee, for example, voted for 
Sir W. J. Hooker, because of his work with American plants. 
It was intended, however, to designate, by the adjective “ Amer- 
ican,’ men who resided for a whole or a part of their lives in 
America and the major part of whose work was with the North 
American flora, and in most instances this was the interpretation 
given. 
This canvass of votes raised a number of interesting questions 
and disclosed a number of significant facts. From the begin- 
ning, two considerations were kept in mind: first, that the build- 
ing on which the names are to be placed is devoted to botany ; 
second, that it is located in North America. 
On the basis of the first consideration, it was deemed appro- 
priate to include the names of a few men, who, while they would 
not primarily be classed as botanists, made important funda- 
mental contributions to our knowledge of plant life, or established 
general biological principles that profoundly affected the subse- 
quent history of the science. It is on this basis that the names 
of Darwin and Pasteur were included without hesitation, though 
many voters questioned the propriety of including Pasteur. His 
work on the disease of the grape, the disease of beer, and espe- 
cially his epoch-making work in founding the science of bacteri- 
ology and establishing the relation between fermentation and 
plant life was as purely botanical as if done in a botanical labora- 
tory. The name of Darwin was chosen arbitrarily by the writer as 
without question entitled to a place, and has been assigned a position 
on the frieze of the central section, corresponding to that of Lin- 
naeus. 
The name of Aristotle is included for two reasons; first, he 
