I90 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



These botanical labors, as already mentioned, were supple- 

 mentary to his regular duties as a teacher of chemistry and other 

 branches of science, which he performed for more than thirty 

 years. In 1857 Torrey entered upon the office of United States 

 Assayer, and while thus engaged carried out many commissions 

 of a confidential or especially difficult nature. 



In his last years, as professor emeritus in Columbia College, 

 he continued to lecture at intervals. He also served as a trustee 

 of the College and bequeathed to it his very valuable herbarium 

 and his botanical library. 



Torrey was twice President of the New York Lyceum of 

 Natural History and also presided over the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science. He was a member of the 

 Order of the Cincinnati. 



(From Asa Gray, in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, vol. I, 1877, pp. 265-276.) 



JOSEPH GILBERT TOTTEN 

 Born, August 23, 1788; died, April 22, 1864 



The lifetime of General Totten extended nearly from the close 

 of the Revolution to the close of the Civil War, and his period 

 of public service covered more than fifty years. He was born in 

 New Haven, Connecticut, August 23, 1788. His father, Peter 

 G. Totten, was the son of Joseph Totten who came to America 

 from England before the Revolution. Totten's mother died 

 when he was three years old and his father having been 

 appointed consul of the United States at Santa Cruz, in the West 

 Indies, he was placed in charge of his uncle Jared Mansfield, 

 "a graduate of Yale College, 1777, and a learned mathe- 

 matician." 



Upon the organization of the Military Academy at West 

 Point in 1802, Mansfield was appointed a teacher in that institu- 

 tion. Young Totten accompanied his uncle to West Point and 

 afterwards was appointed a cadet. He remained in the 

 Academy during the term of 1803, but in November of that year 

 his uncle Captain Mansfield became Surveyor-General of Ohio 



