26 PROGRESS OF BOTANY 



ductions, generally, were rather injurious than beneficial to the 

 science. 



In this year, also, appeared at Philadelphia, a posthumous work 

 of the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, upon the Grasses and i'yperaceous 

 Plants of North America. It was written in Latin, and edited by 

 his son. The detailed descriptions as far as they go, are gene- 

 rally accurate and satisfactory ; but the work was left incomplete 

 by the estimable author. 



The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences now began the 

 publication of a J wrnal of their proceedings, in which may be 

 found a number of valuable papers on American plants.* 



In 1818, a work of great merit, upon the Genera of North 

 Plants, with a catalogue of the species, and descriptions 

 of such as were then new, or imperfectly known, was published at 

 Philadelphia, by THOMAS Xuttall, Esq. This excellent perform- 

 ance gave a decided impulse to botanical studies in our country. 



In the same year, appeared a compendium of a Philadelphia 

 Flora, descriptive of plants found within ten miles round that city, 

 by Dr. W. P. C. BARTON. Although apparently a hasty compila- 

 tion, and marred by frequent inaccuracies, this was nevertheless a 

 convenient and very useful companion to the herborizers of that 

 district. 



In 1819, Doctor John Torrey and others, a committee of the 

 New )' rl Lyc< um of Natural /. '. published a Catalogue of 



Plants growing within thirty miles of the city of New York. 



In 1820, A Compendium of Physiological anil Systematic 

 Botany, with Plates, by Geor*;:: Sumner, M.D., was published at 

 Hartford, Connecticut. 



In 1821, Dr. W. P. C. Barton commenced the publication, at 

 Philadelphia, of a Flora of North America, illustrated by coloured 

 figures drawn from nature. This, though entirely without method, 

 was tolerably well executed, and was extended to three volumes 

 quarto, when it was discontinued. 



In 1*22, a Monograph of the Genus Viola, by the late amiable 

 and Rev. Lewis Dayid von Schweinitz, of Bethlehem, Pennsyl- 

 vania, was published in Silliman's American Journal of Science, 

 vol. v. This excellent Journal which commenced in 1818, and 

 is chiefly devoted to the natural sciences contains many valu- 



* The Herbarium of the Philadelphia Academy is also one of the richest and 

 most valuable in the United States. 



