

[Extract from Journal of Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society.] 



OF THE 



BOTANICAL WORK OF THE Rev. MOSES ASHLEY 



CURTIS, D. D. 



Read before the Mitchell Society at the University of North 

 Carolina, May 22D, 1885. 



B^r THZOnyC^A-S IF- ^WOOID. 



In the early days of this century botany was the science of great 

 expectations in America. The florid narratives of the old chroni- 

 clers were being displaced by a generation of scientific men, whose 

 zeal and earnestness fitted them for the vast work of the exploration 

 and study of the flora of a new continent. 



From the very beginning in this country, the science of botany 

 was an aristocracy of learning, except in the matter of lineal trans- 

 mission, and even in this direction we have two illustrious examples 

 in the case of the Bartrams and Michaux. The pioneer teachers 

 were admitted authority in their broad domain, and received the 

 encouragement and patronage of the mother country in our colonial 

 state, and the sympathy and respectful admiration of the people 

 when we became federated States. This was a very natural state 

 of things, for although the science of botany was so well cultivated 

 that it became a matter of national pride, still the real botanists 

 were very few. 

 .^ As we look through the superb volumes which remain the perma^ 

 ;^ nentmonumentsof the work of these men, we find a striking repetition 

 Q^ of a very few names referred to as authority, but these men were 

 ^ able, industrious, and with v^ery few exceptions, men of marked lon- 

 r;^ gevity, having the capacity of exciting enthusiasm among the young 

 c men who attended their instruction. It was not until the century 

 Oi was nearly twenty years old that botanical works began to multiply 

 ^ in such numbers as to be of use to the student; so at the time Dr. 



