128 BOTANY IN ESSEX COUNTY 



possessed, how should we, to-day, think to accomplish 

 any important results? The microscope furnished by 

 Mr. Cole, the liberal amateur, was too costly a piece of 

 mechanism to be even hoped for, except by few. Drying 

 paper could not then be had, cheaply, at any natural his- 

 tory store. Indeed, no natural history store itself then ex- 

 isted. Horse-cars and steam railroads were not at the 

 doors and street corners to take the collector swiftly to 

 the woods and fields. Yet, patiently and surely, the 

 work proceeded and collections were formed and new 

 truths discovered. 



To-day five editions of Asa Gray's Manual of Botany 

 are broadcast over the land and countless variations, by 

 his publishers, of Dr. Gray's other works are with it. 

 Alphonso Wood has scarcely fewer followers, while the 

 publications from innumerable other authors bring up the 

 rear. Works on local floras are abundant. A good com- 

 pound microscope can be had by almost any thrifty botani- 

 cal student, and an excellent magnifying glass can at least 

 be owned by all. Drying paper is on sale, as are also reg- 

 ulation size herbarium sheets and genus covers, in almost 

 every city. Herbaria for consultation are everywhere 

 accessible. We can run off in the cars, collect our box of 

 plants, and be back to dinner, or, to Boston or Cam- 

 bridge for consultation and exchange of ideas as quickly. 

 In fact, we live in an age of such unheard-of advantages 

 and luxury that, doubtless, we do not appreciate our priv- 

 ileges and have not half respect enough for the botanists 

 of fifty years ago. The change is none the less marked to 

 the student of vegetable physiology than to the collector 

 of plants. Charles Darwin has come upon the scene and 

 left it again, but left behind him an impression never to be 

 effaced ; he has revolutionized botanical study in many of 

 its branches as much as he has that of zoology. 



