16 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Another name occurs in this connection — that of Jacob Bigelow. 

 He was, as far back as 1825, engaged in the establishment of the 

 Cemeter}^ at Mount Auburn. My interest in him extends back 

 nearly to that date ; he was early the physician of our famil}'. It 

 was pleasant to renew my acquaintance with him in my college 

 life. From 1816 to 1846, he was Professor of the Application 

 of Science to the Arts of Life, in Harvard College. I took full 

 notes of his lectures on that subject, and have preserved them to 

 this day. He was a man of great learning ; verj' deliberate in 

 his utterance, and yet he always rewarded the listener in the end, 

 for every word of his was weighty and wise. He was universally 

 respected for his learning and skill as an author, and we owe 

 him much for his works. In 1814, when, as he says, there was a 

 " deficienc3' of botanical books," and " the common standard works 

 of the science had hardly so much as been heard of by name in 

 our book-stores," he made known to the public in a book entitled 

 " The Botany of Boston and Vicinity," a great number of Ameri- 

 can plants which had never been fully described. He gives us 

 their " popular names" ; but modestly adds, " the book does not 

 profess to contain a complete collection of the plants of this sec- 

 tion of the country." He was a man of varied attainments in 

 general science, no less than of the highest rank as a physician. 

 His labors as a member of this Society, and especially as among 

 the founders of the Cemetery at Mount Auburn, entitle him to 

 our perpetual gratitude. 



To one who has witnessed the advancement of this Society 

 almost from its beginning to the present day, it is pleasant to refer 

 to some of the men prominent in it. My first personal recollec- 

 tion of Henry A. S. Dearborn was in his connection with this 

 Society. His striking figure and intellectual face showed him to 

 be no ordinary man. Every movement indicated a rare personal 

 power and force of character. He was one of the founders, and 

 the first President, of our Society. A man of patriotic and disin- 

 terested spirit, everything which promised to advance the public 

 good or improve the taste and elevate the habits of the community, 

 attracted and secured his interest. He foresav? that this associa- 

 tion would create and foster not only a love of the beautiful in 

 nature, but in the highest sense both an inward and outward 

 prosperity'. In the establishment of Mount Auburn Cemeterj^, as 

 of this Society, he was an earnest worker. To the culture of 



