HENRY P. SARTWELL. 1 



Dr. Henry P. Sartwell died at Penn Yan, New York, 

 on the 15th of November, at the age of seventy-five years. 

 He was, we believe, indigenous to the western part of the 

 state of New York, and when a medical student resided at 

 Gorham, Ontario County. More than forty years ago he was 

 established as a physician in the neighboring town of Penn 

 Yan, where he passed his honorable and useful life, engaged 

 to the last in the practice of his profession. It is said that 

 the illness of which he died was brought on by over-exertion 

 in attendance at the bedside of a sick friend. He was fond 

 of all branches of natural history, and a diligent observer and 

 collector in more than one ; but in botany he has secured an 

 enduring reputation. He was in his way a model local bota- 

 nist. He thoroughly explored the district within his reach ; 

 he prepared admirable specimens in great numbers, and dis- 

 tributed them with a free hand. Few botanists in this coun- 

 try have contributed to so many herbaria, home or foreign, 

 none more disinterestedly and generously. He accumulated 

 a large herbarium, specially rich and attractive in plants of 

 western New York, in Carices and Ferns. Desirous of insur- 

 ing its preservation and future usefulness, and needing in his 

 old age the very moderate sum which it would bring him, he 

 a few years ago transferred his herbarium to Hamilton Col- 

 lege, where it is valued and well cared for. Most local bota- 

 nists, when they have nearly exhausted the resources of the 

 district they are confined to, are liable to sink into inactivity. 

 Dr. Sartwell avoided this destiny, and prolonged to the last 

 his enjoyment and usefulness, by making a specialty of the 

 great genus Carex. Dewey, Torrey, Tuckerman, Carey, 

 Boott, all who have published within the last thirty years 



1 American Journal of Science and Arts. 2 ser., xlv. 121. (1868.) 



