

Miscellaneous Intelligence. 139 



endeared him to a wide circle of friends and correspondents, — no less 

 than the painful circumstances of his death, in respect to which a mis- 

 apprehension has obtained currency, which it is the duty of friendship 

 to correct, — all conspire to claim a tribute to his memory in the pages 

 of the American Journal of Science. The writer regrets that the ma- 

 terials at hand for a biographical notice of his lamented friend are so 

 scanty. There are, no doubt, many interesting reminiscences which 

 might be furnished by the surviving companions of his earlier years. 

 But the life of the naturalist who, instead of gathering the novelties of 

 far distant regions, consecrates himself to the assiduous and complete 

 investigation of the flora and fauna of his native district, is seldom 

 eventful. The story of the life of William Oakes may be told in few 

 words. He was born at Danvers, Massachusetts, on the first of July, 

 1799. He received his earlier education in the common schools of his 

 native town, with the exception of a few months passed, while prepar- 

 ing for college, under the tuition of the late Benjamin D. Oliver, Esq., 

 then a practicing lawyer at Danvers. He entered Harvard College in 

 the year 1816, and was graduated with credit in 1820. His fondness 

 for natural history, which he brought with him to college, was devel- 

 oped under the instructions of the late Professor Peck, and his vaca- 

 tions, and probably no small portion of his time while in college, were 

 given to those studies which were to form the favorite occupation of 

 his life. After his graduation, he spent two years at Cambridge as a 

 law student. The next year he studied in the office of the late Hon. 

 L. Saltonstall, at Salem. On the completion of his professional stud- 

 ies, in January, 1824, he removed to Ipswich (where he resided until 

 his decease), and commenced the practice of law. This, however, he 



entirely abandoned in the course of two or three years, and devoted 

 himself, with characteristic ardor, to the more congenial pursuit of nat- 

 ural history in all its branches, and especially of botany, which was 

 from the first his favorite department, and in which he was already a 

 distinguished proficient. 



Mr. Oakes, although interested in every department of the science, 

 early restricted himself to New England as the particular field of his 

 'abors, and seldom, if ever, herborized beyond its limits. There is 

 scarcely a New England plant that he has not collected with his own 

 hands, and prepared an abundance of surpassingly excellent specimens, 

 and also subjected to a critical examination in a fresh state, the results 

 of which were carefully recorded for future use. As early as the year 

 1830, he had already explored the alpine region of the White Moun- 

 tains of New Hampshire, in conjunction with his friend Dr. Pickering; 

 and had projected a Flora of New England, to be arranged according 

 to the Natural System, with a Linnaean artificial key to the genera. 

 The appearance of Dr. Beck's Botany of the Northern States in 1833, 

 u Ron a similar plan, caused him to abandon his own undertaking for a 

 tirT >e ; but he afterwards resumed the scheme with increased ardor and 

 u pon a more elaborate scale. All his explorations, and his special un- 

 dertakings converged upon this, as the principal work of his life. To- 

 wards this he had unweariedly amassed an immense store of materials, 

 and if his premature death has left them in a state which shows little 

 progress made towards their final elaboration, this i« to be attributed 



