108 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



sional addresses, introductory lectures to his regular courses, 

 many practical papers on medical subjects, etc. He also pub- 

 lished an extensive appendix to a work on the Practice of 

 Medicine, by Dr. Thomas, of Salisbury, England. Adopting 

 the nosological arrangement as a system best calculated to 

 illustrate diseases, he was induced to prepare a work on that 

 subject, which ran through several editions. 



Botany was not the only branch of science in which he be- 

 came interested while abroad. To quote from a sketch of his 

 life by a friend: "He attended in the winter of -1193-94. the 

 first course of lectures on mineralogy that was delivered in 

 London by Schmeisser, a pupil of Werner. With this addi- 

 tional knowledge of mineralogy, which Dr. Hosack had begun 

 to study at Edinburgh, he continued to augment the cabinet of 

 minerals which he had commenced in Scotland. This collec- 

 tion was brought by him to the United States, and was, we be- 

 lieve, the first cabinet that crossed the Atlantic ; it was after- 

 ward deposited in Princeton College, in rooms appropriated 

 by the trustees, but fitted up at the expense of the donor, 

 similar to those at the J&cole des Mines at Paris. To render 

 this donation immediately useful, it was accompanied by a 

 collection of the most important works on mineralogy." 



Having a large circle of friends and acquaintances, and 

 being fond of company, Dr. Hosack used to set apart his Sat- 

 urday evenings for entertaining them. " Surrounded by his 

 large and costly library, his house was the resort of the learned 

 and enlightened from every part of the world. No traveller 

 from abroad rested satisfied without a personal interview with 

 him ; and, at his evening soirte, the literati, the philosopher, 

 and the statesman, the skilful in natural science, and the ex- 

 plorer of new regions, the archaeologist and the theologue met 

 together, participators in the recreation of familiar inter- 

 course." Many a distinguished American and many a for- 

 eign visitor, coming with a letter from some European 

 friend of Hosack, has left on record his delightful ex- 

 perience in a visit to the doctor, either at his city house or 

 his place in the country. 



Of the scientific honours most prized by Americans in his 

 day membership in European societies Dr. Hosack had a 

 goodly share. He also received the honour of having a genus 

 of plants named for him. The various species of Hosackia, 



