242 DAVliNPt)RT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



OBITUARY NOTICE OF DR. GEORGE ENGELMANN, OF ST. LOUIS. 



By C. C. Parkv. 



A little over ten years ago the writer was called on to present before 

 this Academy an obituary notice of one of its honorary members, then 

 the oldest and most distinguished American botanist, Dr. John Torrey, 

 of New York Cit"y. Now the sorrowful duty again devolves on me to 

 notice the recent decease of another shining light of American botan- 

 ical science, still nearer home. Dr. George Engelmann, of St. Louis, 

 Missouri, a corresponding member of this Academy, died at his resi- 

 dence on the 4th instant, just two days after reaching his seventy-fifth 

 year. 



Born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, in 1809, he completed his 

 medical and scientific studies, part of the time as an associate of Agassiz 

 and Braun, soon after coming to this country, and finally settling in 

 St. Louis. Here, in this rapidly growing western town, he took up the 

 engrossing duties of medical practice, devoting only his scant leisure 

 hours to a study of the plants of the adjoining district. As the far 

 western regions became open to exploration, his examinations extended 

 over the entire region to the Pacific coast. While not till a late day 

 an extensive traveler, his retired office at St. Louis became the point 

 of rendezvous to which most government explorers resorted to obtain 

 the most reHable information, to compare barometers, and on their 

 return to deposit some of the botanical results of their explorations. 

 Later still, numerous correspondents, attracted by his growing reputa- 

 tion, availed themselves of his extensive and accurate knowledge of 

 western American botany, to send botanical specimens to him for deter- 

 mination and study. His valuable suggestions, his pertinent inquiries, 

 and his instructive explanations, never failed to awaken, a deeper inter- 

 est in the subject and incite a more intelligent zeal in all thus brought 

 into friendly contact. 



As an early correspondent of Dr. Torrey and Professor Gray, he was 

 soon engaged as a collaborator in some of the more difficult natural 

 orders of American plants. His published papers (of late mainly con- 

 tributed to the proceedings of St. Louis Academy of Science) were 

 models of accuracy, thoroughness, and systematic order. Whatever 

 he took in hand was mastered in all its details, and, as far as possible, 

 exhaustively worked out. His special delight was in unraveling the most 

 difficult and imperfectly known classes of plants. In this way he took 

 up the parasitic dodders, the forbidding spiney cactuses, the aquatic 

 rushes, the century plants, and the pines and oaks; his elucidation of 

 all these being largely assisted by his skillful pencil. While cautiously 

 non-committal on (loubtful or imperfectly known points, on subjects that 

 he had carefully examined his authority was unquestioned, and he rarely 

 made mistakes, or in such occasional instances was ever ready to make 

 the needful correction. He disliked, above. all things, a vague indefinite- 

 ness of description, avoiding himself, and severely criticising in others, 

 the use of such terms as somewhat^ nearly^ almost, etc. In fact, for all 

 shams, scientific or otherwi-se^ he had an instinctive abhorrence. In his 



