122 SOME AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANISTS 



ished, he went out one dark evening and left it 

 at the Committee's rooms; but it was returned 

 as too late for examination, and he tried again 

 next year with Phthisis Pulmonalis, sending in 

 the first paper also. Both received prizes, and 

 the award was his once more the next year for 

 his Treatment of Injuries occasioned by Fire and 

 Heated Substances. 



So promising were his abilities at this time 

 (1811) that Dr. James Jackson invited him to 

 become his partner and " be at hand at all needed 

 times." Bigelow easily succeeded in that part 

 of the practice which Jackson declined, and was 

 also his successor as president of the Massa- 

 chusetts Medical Society and of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences. 



" Finding that a considerable taste had sprung 

 up among my pupils for the study of plants, I 

 began to collect materials for a description of the 

 native plants of Boston and its vicinity, which I 

 published in 1814 under the name of Florida 

 Bostoniensis. This limited volume passed 

 through three editions with enlargements, and 

 was for several years the principal book used by 

 herborizers in New England 



" The Abbe Correa da Serra, when he visited 

 Boston, perused my herbarium and afterwards 

 gave me letters to eminent botanists of Europe, 

 so that I was able to open a correspondence and 



