106 SOME AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANISTS 



lington says she had " superior intellectual en- 

 dowments ' and her education had " received a 

 classical finish quite unusual among American 

 females at that day. 



" They were both Quakers, and were promptly 

 turned out of meeting for being married by 

 a Presbyterian ' hireling preacher.' Baldwin 

 apologized and was taken back. When he en- 

 tered the navy in 1812, he was again expelled 

 from the meeting and was never reinstated, 

 although he made strenuous efforts. He declared 

 that he had gone to the war " not to make wounds 

 but to heal them," but the reply was that war was 

 such a horrible affair that no good Quaker 

 more especially a doctor should have anything 

 to do with it, and he should at least set a good 

 example to the nation." 



As a complement to his botanical pleasures he 

 received one day a letter from a botanist of Lan- 

 caster, Pennsylvania, the Rev. Henry Muhlen- 

 berg, who said: 



"Sir: 



" Will you forgive me, if I, as a stranger, 

 intrude upon your studies and beg your acquaint- 

 ance? Doctor Heister, the present physician of 

 the Lazaretto, informs me that you are a great 

 friend of Botany. I have been the same for 

 nearly forty years and have collected, of Ameri- 

 can plants in particular, whatever I could get. 



