6 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Through the aid of the Natural History Society of Montreal, this 

 was accomplished, the trustees of the Mount Eoyal Cemetery liberally 

 contributing a lot in a retired and beautiful portion of the cemetery, 

 where it may be seen by all who are interested in the work and sad 

 ending of this most zealous scientist.^ Pursh was the last of that interest- 

 ing group of botanical explorers who. gaining a conception of our flora 

 from the specimens transplanted to the gardens of the Old AVorld, wished 

 to extend their knowledge by a more intimate and practical examination 

 of such a great wealth of vegetation on its own ground, and who thereby 

 not only laid the foundations for the development of systematic botany 

 on this continent, hut placed all future botanists under obligations which 

 they have been proud to acknowledge. To them our tributes of respect 

 and grateful appreciation, constitute but a slight recognition of the great 

 services they rendered. 



One of the noteworthy local events of the period distinguished by 

 the work of F. A. Michaux and Pursh, was the part taken by Dr. A. F. 

 Holmes in advancing our knowledge of the flora of Montreal and its 

 neighbourhood. Dr. Holmes was an enthusiastic botanist, an ardent 

 collector, and a pioneer in the botanical work of this century. He began 

 his studies of the flora of Montreal about 1820, and continued them, 

 apparently, up to the date of his becoming a member of the Medical 

 Faculty of McGrill University — that is to say, 1820 is the earliest date 

 appearing in his herbarium, while the latest date is 1825, the greater 

 part of his work having been done in the years 1821 and 1822. Dr. 

 Holmes became connected with McGill University in 1824, and in 1829 

 he became the first incumbent of the chair of botany in connection with 

 the Faculty of Medicine. His herbarium was presented to the university 

 in 1856, and constituted the nucleus of that now large and rapidly grow- 

 ing collection which has been developed during recent 3^ears. His plants 



obligations to give tribute to so illustrious a name, and accordingly appointed a 

 committee to transfer the remains to a new lot in Mount Royal Cemetery, pur- 

 chased for that purpose, and to take steps to raise an adequate sum of money for 

 the erection of a monument to his memory. The remains of Pursh now rest in 

 Mount Royal Cemetery, and the committee take the liberty of soliciting the favour of 

 your assistance in the efforts the society is now making to raise a suitable monu- 

 ment over his grave." 



A recent visit to this monument, which is a plain granite obelisk rising from a 

 square base, shows it to be in an excellent state of preservation. The inscription is 

 as follows : 



Frederick Pursh, 



Obt. 1820, .-Et. 4G, 



Erected 



BY members of TFIE 



Natural Hi&tory Society 

 OF Montreal, 



1878. 

 1 Can. Nat. N. Ser., ix., 187. 



