x7, 44.) TO W. J. HOOKER. 415 
Berlandier’s plants up to end of Composite. Also I 
have done, along with Torrey, the botany of several 
expeditions across the continent for railroad surveys, 
which are soon to be published. Work goes slowly 
and I grow old. This little holiday will not be a bad 
thing for me, though it puts me back a little. 
TO W. J. HOOKER. 
CAMBRIDGE, October 23, 1855. 
Now that I am quietly settled at home again, my 
episode seems almost like a dream, —a very pleasant 
one, however, since it gave me the pleasure of seeing 
once more some most valued and near friends. I was 
absent only six weeks and one day, of which twenty- 
two days were passed upon the water. 
I found all well here on my return, but I was 
deeply grieved to learn the news of our beloved friend 
Dr. Torrey’s bereavement. It was about a month ago 
that the companion of his life, almost from his youth, 
was removed to a better world, after an illness of only 
afew days. . .. She was one of the most actively 
good, self-denying persons I ever knew. There are 
many to mourn at her departure out of her own fam- 
ily, especially among the poor and the distressed. . 
he was one of my earliest and best friends, one to 
whom I owe more than to almost any person; and I 
feel the loss as I should that of a near and dear rela- 
tive. 
I wrote you a line, with some inclosures, while at 
sea, and posted it at Halifax, N. S. 
When I send the package from ‘Highton, 1 1 wish 
1 Isaac F. Holton, M. D., 1813-1874; teacher and professor of 
natural science in Vermont, pa missionary pastor in Illinois. Pub- 
lished in 1857 New Granada, Twenty Months in the Andes. 
