JOHN TORREY. 3G7 



In two instances these commissions were made personally 

 gratifying, not by pecuniary payment, which, beyond his sim- 

 ple expenses, he did not receive, but by the opportunity they 

 afforded to recruit failing health and to gather floral treasures. 

 Eight years ago he was sent by the Treasury Department to 

 California, by way of the Isthmus ; and last summer he went 

 again across the continent, and in both cases enjoyed the rare 

 pleasure of viewing in their native soil, and plucking with his 

 own hands, many a flower which he had himself named and 

 described from dried specimens in the herbarium, and in which 

 he felt a kind of paternal interest. Perhaps this interest cul- 

 minated last summer, when he stood on the flank of the lofty 

 and beautiful snow-clad peak to which a grateful former pupil 

 and ardent explorer, ten years before, gave his name, and 

 gathered charming alpine plants which he had himself named 

 forty years before, when the botany of the Colorado Rocky 

 Mountains was first opened. That age and fast-failing strength 

 had not dimmed his enjoyment, may be inferred from his 

 remark when, on his return from Florida the previous spring, 

 with a grievous cough allayed, he was rallied for having gone 

 to seek Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth. " No," said he, 

 "give me the fountain of old age. The longer I live, the 

 more I enjoy life." He evidently did so. If never robust, he 

 was rarely ill, and his last sickness brought little suffering, 

 and no diminution of his characteristic cheerfulness. To him, 

 indeed, never came the " evil days " of which he could say, 

 " I have no pleasure in them." 



Evincing in age much of the ardor and all of the ingenu- 

 ousness of youth, he enjoyed the society of young men and 

 students, and was helpful to them long after he ceased to 

 teach, — if, indeed, he ever did cease. For, as Emeritus 

 Professor in Columbia College (with which his old Medical 

 School was united), he not only opened his herbarium, but 

 gave some lectures almost every year, and as a trustee of the 

 college for many years he rendered faithful and important 

 service. His large and truly invaluable herbarium, along 

 with a choice botanical library, he several years ago made over 

 to Columbia College, which charges itself with its safe preser- 

 vation and maintenance. 



