Dr. Porters Address. 13 



her. He was born on his father's farm near Colum- 

 bia in 1838, and his love of nature dates from early 

 childhood. After taking a course of instruction in 

 the Normal School at Millersville, he entered Lafa- 

 yette College, from which he received the degree of B. 

 S. in 1868. Here, without neglecting the duties of 

 the class-room, all his available time was spent in 

 ranging through the fields and woods around Easton 

 in search of minerals and plants, and when, at a 

 later period, he attended lectures in the Medical De- 

 partment of the University of Pennsylvania, two of 

 his summer vacations were employed in exploration 

 and collection for the herbarium of the college, in the 

 northern tier of counties and those west of the Alle- 

 ghenies. Having attained the degree of M. D., he 

 accepted the position of assistant-surgeon in the State 

 Hospital for the Insane at Harrisburg, but forced by 

 failing health to give up the practice of his profession, 

 he sought relief in the warmer climate of Florida, 

 where for two years he traveled extensively and made 

 large collections of rare plants, a number of them 

 either new to our flora or new to science. To one of 

 these the distinguished botanist, Dr. Asa Gray, gave, 

 to honor him, the name Garberia. But, alas ! the 

 milder atmosphere and living in the open air, al- 

 though they no doubt prolonged his days, did not 

 suffice to cure his malady and he came north again, 

 to die at Renovo, Clinton county, in the year 1881. 



Amongst the Pennsylvania-Germans of the present 

 time, there are not a few whose excellent work in the 

 various departments of the natural sciences will be 



