GEORGE EDWARD POST 2OI 



collecting and studying the flora, with no idea 

 of undertaking the Herculean task that was 

 finally accomplished in the face of such obstacles. 

 He himself drew most of the illustrations, and 

 superintended the execution of the woodcuts. In 

 the Introduction he remarks: " The very large 

 number of species found in a country so limited 

 is to be accounted for by its microcosmic char- 

 acter .... the district covered by our work 

 contains 126 Orders of phaenogams and aero- 

 gens, 850 genera, and about 3,500 species. The 

 significance of these figures will appear if we 

 recall that our region is only about as large as 

 England, or as the State of New York." The 

 number of species described in this Flora and 

 there are doubtless others awaiting discovery 

 is nearly three times as great as that contained 

 in Bentham's Illustrated Handbook of the Brit- 

 ish Flora. 



Being an authority on the botany of the Holy 

 Land, he was in constant demand for articles on 

 kindred topics for various Bible Dictionaries and 

 for religious and scientific periodicals. 



He studied the plant and animal life about him 

 to such advantage as to gain membership in 

 European societies and to give the college text- 

 books in Arabic on the botany, mammals and 

 birds of Persia, besides treatises on Surgery and 

 Materia Medica. For his work in the missionary 

 and medical fields, he received the decoration 



