JOHN TORRE Y. 3o ' 3 



Dr. Torrey took an early and prominent part in the inves- 

 tigation of the United States species of the vast genus Carex, 

 which has ever since been a favorite study in this country. 

 His friend, Von Schweinitz, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 

 placed in his hands and desired him to edit, during the au- 

 thor's absence in Europe, his "Monograph of North Amer- 

 ican Carices." It was published in the " Annals of the New 

 York Lyceum," in 1825, much extended, indeed almost wholly 

 rewritten, and so much to Schweinitz's satisfaction that he 

 insisted that this classical monograph " should be considered 

 and quoted in all respects as the joint production of Dr. Tor- 

 rey and himself." Ten or eleven years later, in the succeed- 

 ing volume of the " Annals of the New York Lyceum," 

 appeared Dr. Torrey's elaborate Monograph of the other 

 North American Cyperacem, with an appended revision of 

 the Carices, which meanwhile had been immensely increased 

 by the collections of Richardson, Drummond, etc., in British 

 and arctic America. A full set of these was consigned to his 

 hands for study (along with other important collections), by 

 his friend Sir William Hooker, upon the occasion of a visit 

 which he made to Europe in 1833. But Dr. Torrey gener- 

 ously turned over the Carices to the late Professor Dewey, 

 whose rival Cartography is scattered through forty or fifty 

 volumes of the " American Journal of Science and Arts ; 

 and so had only to sum up the results in this regard, and add 

 a few southern species at the close of his own monograph ot 



the order. 



About this time, namely, in the year 183G, upon the organi- 

 zation of a geological survey of the State of New York upon 

 an extensive plan, Dr. Torrey was appointed botanist, and 

 was required to prepare a Flora of the State. A laborious 

 undertaking it proved to be, involving a heavy sacrifice ot 

 time, and postponing the realization of long-chenshed plans. 

 But in 1843, after much discouragement, tin-- blora oi the 

 State of New York," the largest if by no means the mostim. 

 portant of Dr. Torrey's works, was completed and published, 

 in two large quarto volumes, with one hundred and sixty-one 

 plates. No other State of the Union has produced a 1 lora to 



