108 THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 



CASPAR WISTAR, M. D. 



Caspar Wistar, M. D., * a skillful physician, and learned 

 professor in the University of Pennsylvania, President of 

 the American Philosophical Society, was born in 1760. He 

 died on the 22nd of January, 1818. In the same year a 

 genus of leguminous plants, Wistaria, was dedicated to his 

 memory by Mr. NuttalLf 



BENJAMIN SMITH BARTON. 



Benjamin Smith Barton, { one of the younger children 

 of the the Kev. Thomas Barton, an Episcopal clergyman, 

 was born at Lancaster, Pa., February 10, 1776. His 

 mother, being a sister of David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, 

 he received a double inheritance of intellectual ability, but 

 the benefits of parental care and training were lost to him 

 at an early age. His mother died when he was eight years 

 old, and his father died when he was fourteen. 



Mr. Barton, before his death, intending to go to Europe, 

 had placed his younger children in the care of a friend in 

 the country, where they remained until after their father's 

 death. During this period the young boy devoted much of 

 his time to reading, having a fondness for civil history. 

 His interest in natural history, especially in botany, 

 appeared early, and very likely had received some encourage- 

 ment from his father, who is known to have been a student 

 of nature. 



* For sketch and life see 1849. Darlington — Memorials of Bartram and 

 Marshall, 568. Also The Gardener's Monthly, (Meehan) II : 3(50. An oil painting of 

 Dr. Wistar is found in the College of Physicians, 13th and Locust Streets, Philadelphia, 

 presented by Mrs. Mifflin Wistar. Also one at the American Philosophical Society. 



t For a discussion as to whether the spelling should be Wisteria, or Wistaria, 

 see Meehan' s Monthly, VIII : 47, iii. 



X Popular Science Monthly, April, 1896. The main facts given in this sketch 

 are derived from that journal. The portrait reproduced in that journal, p. 167, is 

 from an engraving in his biography, by W. P. C. Barton. A portrait is also to be 

 found in the Academy of Natural Sciences. 



