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27 
of the opportunity which has been thus opened has been greater 
than I dared to anticipate. As a new avenue of civic service, it 
seems to me that the Garden has obtained results which it will be 
difficult for our friends to grasp in a brief hour, but I trust that 
enough impression will be made on the members of the Chamber 
of Commerce to induce them and their fellow members to visit the 
different departments of the Garden work from time to time and 
feel that they have a share in the further development of the work, 
-and in the satisfaction which a better zie a(siabmicnatet with it will 
surely bring to them.” 
The Japanese garden and the conservatory plaza and lily pools 
(the latter still incomplete) were Mr. White’s gifts. But his value 
to the Botanic Garden was far beyond the measure of his material 
contributions. He was as interested in the development of the 
Garden as a scientific institution—in botanical research and the 
publication of the results thereof—as in all that tended to make 
the Garden of value to the local community, educationally, aestheti- 
cally, and socially. His sustained and intelligent active interest, 
increasing year by year, his counsel and advice, and his fruitful 
suggestions of lines of development were a constant bulwark and 
encouragement to the director. Our sense of loss at his going has 
only increased with the passing months. His place in the history 
of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was unique, his loss irreplaceable. 
Next to Mr. White, the man who was most actively interested 
in the establishment and early development of the Garden was A. 
Augustus Healy, for twenty-five years president of the Board of 
Trustees of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and, 
since the establishment of the Garden, a member of the Botanic 
Garden Governing Committee. Mr. Healy’s primary interest was 
in art, but the major interest of his life, embracing all other in- 
terests, was the Brooklyn Institute, and all that concerned its 
welfare and usefulness; he was broad enough to appreciate and 
to encourage and take an active part in the development of the 
Institute along scientific as well as other lines. He gave gener- 
ously of his time, his influence, and his funds. No greater loss 
could have come to the Botanic Garden than the passing of both 
Mr. White and Mr. Healy within a period of less than one year. 
