THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 101 



his father's, doing nothing of account for a year, and spend- 

 ing another year keeping a sort of apothecary shop in 

 Wilmington, which, he says, " came to nothing and less," 

 that in the spring of 1782 he " came up into the country 

 and inoculated for the small-pox about Londongrove, 

 making his home at Samuel Sharp's, and afterward about 

 Kennett with Dr. Pierce, making a home there." After 

 inoculation was over, in the spring of 1782, he stayed 

 at his father's, professing to practice medicine, but really 

 doing very little, if we may judge from his diary, 

 until 4th month 27th, 1784, when he became an inmate ol 

 the family of his uncle Humphry. The years of 1782 and 



1783 appear to have been unprofitably spent, and his diary 

 indicates that at that time he was drifting into idle com- 

 pany and questionable habits. 



Having laid aside his youthful follies, and having 

 found occupation that was agreeable and suited to his 

 talents, we enter upon the period of his scientific work from 



1784 to 1801. 



It is difficult to determine when Dr. Marshall began 

 the study of botany. His intimacy with his uncle Humphry 

 and a few entries in his diary suggest that he had made a 

 beginning before he entered his uncle's family, and in 1786 

 the latter, in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, the President 

 of the Royal Society of London, solicits employment for 

 Dr. Marshall, and suggests that if the society should want 

 any one on this side the water to explore our western 

 region in search of botanical specimens, fossils, minerals or 

 inflammables, that Dr. Marshall would be willing to serve 

 them, and states that he is " well versed in the knowledge 

 of botany." 



