Dr. Porter's Address. 3 



English. Him likewise, the master honored by 

 giving his name to a genus of shrubs (KalmicL), 

 the largest species of which abounds on our hills and 

 mountains, conspicuous for its shining, evergreen 

 foliage and clusters of beautiful flowers. Popularly 

 known as "Mountain Laurel," it is deemed by many 

 worthy of being chosen for the heraldic emblem of 

 the nation. 



But the Linnaean influence on the Germans of 

 Pennsylvania has borne richer fruit. 



Henry Muhlenberg, or, as his full baptismal name 

 reads, Gottlieb Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg, son of 

 the Rev. Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg, the 

 patriarch of the Lutheran Church in the United States, 

 was born in Montgomery county, in the year 1753, 

 and sent, in 1 763, with his two older brothers, to Halle, in 

 Germany, to receive there such linguistic and theologi- 

 cal culture as would fit them for the office of the holy 

 ministry. After an absence of seven years, he re- 

 turned home in 1770, and, ordained by the Synod at 

 the early age of 17, became the assistant of his father 

 in serving congregations in and around Philadelphia. 

 In 1777, on the approach of the British troops to that 

 city, he was compelled to flee, because he and his 

 kinsfolk had become particularly obnoxious to the 

 Tories on account of their patriotism. At length, in 

 1780, he accepted a call to Trinity Church, Lancaster, 

 and remained there till the day of his death in May> 

 1815. 



This then was the theatre both of his pastoral and 

 scientific labors for the long period of 35 years. His 



