296 THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 



Dr. Brinton. The collections he made during the A^irginia 

 campaign were captured hy the Confederate, Colonel Mosby, 

 at Belle Plain, May 12, 18(34, and burned with the supply 

 wagons. Dr. Brinton, himself, barely escaped capture. On 

 May 13, 1865, he was brevetted Captain and Major for 

 o-allant and meritorious services, and on November lOth, of 

 the same year, he resigned from the army. His services to 

 the Union were marked by his usual application and 

 devotion to duty, and his report at the close of his term of 

 office was considered a remarkably accurate record for one 

 handling a vast amount of material under such turbulent 

 conditions. 



Returning to Philadelphia, he continued m the prac- 

 tice of medicine for a few years. Desiring more leisure time 

 for the study of his chosen science, he abandoned medicine 

 and engaged in various manufacturing pursuits. On 

 October 29, 1878, he was elected a member of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences, and in the same year he connected 

 himself with the Botanical Section of that institution. 

 He was faithful in attendance and contributed many speci- 

 mens, notes, and verbal communications. He was an inde- 

 fatio^able collector, and made numerous excursions in Penn- 

 sylvania and neighboring states. He made a special 

 study of the peculiar flora of the pine barrens of New 

 Jersey, in which he was recognized as an authority. He 

 acceptably tilled numerous positions of honor and trust in 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences, and at the time of his 

 death was a member of the Board of Councillors. During 

 the session of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science in Philadelphia, in 1884, he was elected a 

 member, and he acted as guide to an excursion of visiting 

 botanists to the pine barren region of New Jersey. 



