20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. [1836, 
among them a copy of De Candolle’s “ Organogra- 
phie” and “ Théorie Elémentaire.” These or at least 
the former came from Professor Lehmann,! of Ham- 
burg, with whom for a year or two I had corresponded 
and exchanged plants, or received books in exchange 
for plants. I had made a still earlier exchange with 
Soleirol, a French army surgeon, who had collected 
in Corsica. While at home I blocked out and partly 
wrote my “ Elements of Botany.” Returned to New 
York in the autumn; went into cheap lodgings, ar- 
ranged with Carvill & Company to take my book. I 
think they gave one hundred and fifty dollars, which 
was a great sum for me. We got it through the press 
that winter. John Carey had then come down to New 
York, and was a great help to me in proof-reading, and 
the little book was published in April or May, 1836. 
I think it was in the autumn of 1836 that the Ly- 
ceum of Natural History, New York, having with a 
great effort erected their hall, on Broadway just below 
Prince Street, I was appointed curator; had a room 
for my use, some light pay, proportioned to light 
duties, and this was my home for a year or two. 
There I wrote my papers, “ Remarks on the Structure 
and Affinities of the Ceratophyllacez ” (which dates 
February 20, 1837), — not a very wise production, and 
some of the observations are incorrect; also the better 
paper, really rather good, “ Melanthacearum Ameri- 
ce Septentrionalis Revisio,”’ published in 1837. 
Dr. Torrey had planned the “ Flora of North Amer- 
ica,” but had not made much solid progress in it. iL 
having time on my hands, took hold to work up in a 
pevllacnary way some of the earlier orders for his 
use. This was to pass the time for a while, for in the 
1 J. G. C. Lehmann, 1793-1860; professor at Hamburg. 
