1-4 Howe : Lucien Marcus Underwood 



research. A 



from his own. In studying the Hepaticae of California it happened 

 in a few instances that I reached conclusions more or less at 

 variance with views to which he had previously given expression 

 in print, as indeed may be expected at any time as a matter of 

 personal equation between any two investigators in the biologic 

 sciences. In such cases, Professor Underwood was always mani* 

 festly without bias or prejudice, desiring only the whole truth and 

 confident that the truth alone would ultimately prevail. In fact, 

 his breadth of view and the comprehensiveness of his sympathies 

 were characteristics which impressed themselves upon even casual 

 acquaintances. His work as a teacher of college students was 

 not confined to exclusively botanical lines until he had reached 

 nearly middle age. In his earlier manhood he not only taught 

 geology, zoology and chemistry, in addition to botany, but also 

 published several papers dealing with geological, zoological, and 

 biological subjects. And his personal acquaintance with plants 

 was remarkably wide even outside of the ferns, the Hepaticae, 

 and the fungi, the groups in which he found his special fields for 



xordingly, his outlook upon botanical science as a 

 whole had a breadth and sanity that is all too rare in the men 

 that have been schooled in an age of more extreme specialization. 

 Any just estimate of the scientific work of Professor Underwood 

 cannot fail to emphasize its influence in popularizing botanical 

 knowledge and in rendering it more accessible. Sufficient evi- 

 dence of the importance of this phase of his work is found in the 

 fact that his « Our Native Ferns and their Allies," with slight 

 variation in title, passed through six editions from 1881 to 1900. 

 This little book was essentially a pioneer in its field, was admirably 

 conceived and charmingly written, and it cannot be an exaggera- 

 tion to assert that it has done more to stimulate and popularize the 

 study of the American ferns than has any other single agency. 

 The " Descriptive Catalogue of the North American Hepaticae" 

 was hkew.se a pioneer in its line. It brought together in a con- 

 venient form information that had previously been very difficult of 

 access to the ordinary student. It, unhappily, was never reprinted, 

 but that it met a real demand is evidenced by the difficulty with 

 wh,ch even second-hand copies were obtainable within a few years 

 after its publication. His " Moulds. Mildew* ™j tu„„u - 



