546 DR - MOSES MARSHALL [1788. 



merchant, London, a box of seeds for thee. The plants and tor- 

 toises, designed to be sent, through some impeding circumstances, 

 were neglected. 



At this time, I have sent a small box containing three tortoises, 

 perhaps one male and two females, which I hope may arrive safe : 

 to favour which, I have placed grass sods at bottom of the box. 

 There are, also, a few potatoes and grains of corn, a few pieces of 

 apple, and mushrooms put therein. This I mention, as it may 

 lead to discover whether they subsist without nourishment during 

 the voyage or not. Mushrooms and strawberries are substances of 

 which they are known with certainty to feed upon. At this time 

 I am not altogether prepared : by another opportunity I may pro- 

 bably transmit thee some considerable observations relative to their 

 natural history. 



In a corner of the box, are a few small plants, which I believe 

 are yet undescribed, viz., a species of Sedum ; a species of Portu- 

 laca, the root perennial, the stem short, thickly set with cylindrical 

 succulent leaves standing somewhat erect ; from the centre shoots 

 forth a very slender, naked, reddish stem, four or five times the 

 length of the leaves, branching at top, and supporting reddish 

 flowers, which expand about noon, and continue open about three 

 hours.* Also a species of Veronica, and a small Evergreen from 



1758. He received a tolerable education, both English and classical, and studied 

 Medicine with Doctor Nicholas Way, in Wilmington, Delaware, from 1776 till 

 1779. He had an extraordinary opportunity of being initiated into Surgery, in 

 attending the soldiers who were wounded in the battle of Brandywine, September 

 11th, 1777. After practising Medicine a short time, he seems to have become an 

 inmate in the family of his uncle Humphry, devoting his time and services, ex- 

 clusively, as an aid to his uncle, in the business of collecting and shipping plants 

 and seeds to Europe. He made several long exploring journeys, in that pursuit, 

 through the wilds of the West and Southwest. He was a good practical botanist, 

 well acquainted with most of our indigenous plants, and rendered valuable as- 

 sistance to his uncle, in preparing the Arbustum Americanum. On the 6th of 

 April, 1796, Governor Mifflin appointed him a Justice of the Peace; in which 

 office he did excellent service, as a peace-maker, in the community around him. 

 In all his acts he was a remarkably cautious, upright, conscientious man. The 

 editor had the happiness to know him well, and passed many pleasant, instructive 

 hours with him, investigating the plants in the Marshallton Botanic Garden. Dr. 

 Marshall discontinued the business of sending plants and seeds to Europe, soon 

 after his uncle's death, and the garden, in consequence, has ever since been 

 almost wholly neglected. Dr. M. died on the 1st of October, 1813, aged fifty-four 

 years and ten months. 



* This is a good description, as far as it goes, of the little Talinum terctifolium, 

 Ph. ; written long before the plant was generally known to the botanists, or pub- 



