249 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
In September 1840, Mr. Shaw made his first visit to Europe, stop- 
ping on his way at Rochester, New York, where hig parents and sisters 
resided. He took an extended tour on the continent and, returning to 
St. Louis in the autumn of 1842, arranged his affairs for another ab- 
sence in Europe. This lasted for about three years, during which time 
he visited all of the accessible European localities, together with Con- 
stantinople and Egypt. A journey to Palestine was prevented by the 
prevalence of the plague in that country. 
Early in 1851 his last trip abroad was made, the first World’s Fair 
being then held in London. While on this visit the idea first occurred 
to him to make a garden of his own, modeled after those which are so 
well known upon the great private estates of England. Mr. Shaw re- 
turned in December, 1851; the mansion at Tower Grove had been fin- 
ished in 1849, and the one on the corner of Seventh and Locust streets 
was then being built. After this time he was in St. Louis, with the ex- 
ception of short summer vacations at the Atlantic coast or the northern 
lakes. Seemingly a man of leisure, he was really a very busy man for 
the next thirty years, and was never an idler until compelled to be. 
In 1857 the late Dr. Engelmann, who was then in Europe, was com- 
missioned by Mr. Shaw to examine botanical gardens and to obtain such 
suggestions as he might think of value. About this time a correspond- 
ence was begun with Sir William J. Hooker, Director of Kew Gardens, 
who wrote on August 10, 1857: 
Very few appendages to a garden of this kind are of more importance for 
instruction than a library and economic museum, and these gradually increase 
like a rolling snowball. 
Accordingly, Mr. Shaw in 1858-9 erected a building for this pur- 
pose. ‘The selection of books was entrusted largely to Dr. Engelmann 
in consultation with Hooker, Decaisne, Alexander Braun and others of 
his botanical friends. At the same time Dr. Engelmann urged upon 
Mr. Shaw the purchase of the herbarium of the recently deceased Pro- 
fessor Bernhardi, of Erfurth, Germany, which was offered at a very 
small anal Hooker wrote January 1, 1858: 
e [Engelmann] tells me of the herbarium of the late Dr. Bernhardi, of © 
Bate which he expects to buy for St. Louis. That ought to be a good com- 
mencement for the more scientific part of the establishment. . . . The state 
ought to feel that it owes you much for so much public spirit, and so well 
directed. 
Mr. Shaw has told that he at one time planned a grand school of 
botany, with residences for the faculty, laboratories, ete., opposite the 
main gate; but he abandoned the project because of the advice of Dr. 
Asa Gray. 
In 1866 Mr. Shaw secured the services of Mr. James Gurney from 
the et Botanical Gardens of London, whose practical experience and. 
