253 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
and his work about St. Louis seems to have been simply a continuation 
along similar lines to that already done in Europe. Although he lived 
in St. Louis and in later years in East St. Louis, he seems to have been 
somewhat of a hermit, and was not understood, or even comparatively 
well known, by his neighbors. He seems to have been an enthusiast 
upon botany, and his botanical collection was apparently his one lux- 
ury and hobby. 
Heinrich Karl Daniel Eggert?® was born March 3, 1841, in the 
town of Osterwieck, Prussia. He was educated at a seminary in Hal- 
berstadt, and became a teacher in the public schools of the neighboring 
Fic. 18. Tre Eecerr House 1n Bast St. Lovurs, ILLINOIS; practically as it was 
at the time of death of Henry Eggert. 
city of Magdeburg. He early became interested in the study of plants, 
and before leaving Europe he had made botanical collections in the 
Harz Mountains and on short journeys to Kreuznach and in Bohemia. 
Dissatisfied with the small salary of a German school teacher, Eggert 
came to America in 1873, and for a few months worked on a farm in 
southern New York. From New York he went to St. Louis, where he 
’ remained for a number of years and then removed across the river to 
East St. Louis, where he lived the rest of his lifetime. 
The first work which he seems to have taken up in St. Louis was 
that of carrying papers for the local press. He carried papers for about 
twenty years, handling both a morning and an evening one. He 
worked early and late, never sparing himself and always living by him- 
self in a secluded manner. Comparatively few persons ever saw the in- 
* Sargent, C. 8., “Silva of North America,” 13: 51-52, 1902. 
