114 SOME AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANISTS 



study medicine with Dr. John Vaughan, of Wil- 

 mington, Delaware. He took also private French 

 lessons, studied hard at Latin, Spanish and Ger- 

 man and received his medical degree from the 

 University of Pennsylvania in 1804. 



He had the good fortune of being able to attend 

 the botanical lectures of Dr. Benjamin S. Barton, 

 and it is easy to imagine the shoots of his botanic 

 ideas taking root in the firm earth of accurate 

 knowledge. 



A voyage to India as ship's surgeon gave him 

 leisure for study and reflection, but does not 

 seem to have given him " travel fever " also, for, 

 the following year, he settled down to practise in 

 West Chester, after marrying Catherine, daugh- 

 ter of Gen. John Lacey, of New Jersey. 



In 1812 international science yielded to inter- 

 national strife, and Darlington became major of 

 the " American Grays," organized to defend 

 Philadelphia. Shortly after he figured as a poli- 

 tician advocating the restriction of slavery. He 

 was nominated by the secretary of war as visitor 

 to West Point. He served on the Board of Canal 

 Commissioners to connect the Great Lakes with 

 the Atlantic, yet, in the midst of much civic busi- 

 ness, he found time to botanize and found the 

 Chester County Cabinet of Natural Science and 

 to publish, in 1826, his Florula Gestrica. Later, 

 in 1837, a new edition appeared as Flora Ces- 



