Hollick: Quaint Old Work on Seaweeds 87 



Jan. 5, 1851, Commercial Advertiser Jan. 10 and Feb. 7, 1851, 

 and the Evening Mirror Feb. 6, 185 1. These press notices throw 

 a flood of light on the scope of the work and the labor it repre- 

 sented on the part of the author without any possibility of ade- 

 quate financial returns. A few quotations from certain of these 

 notices may be of interest : 



Journ. Commerce, Dec. 27, 1850. — " No collection of the sub- 

 mersed plants that vegetate in our waters, has ever been made 

 at all approaching to the perfection of one just exhibited to us 

 by Mr. Charles F. Durant, of Jersey City. . . . The illustrations 

 are not pictorial, but natural specimens. . . . This is the first 

 work on algology ever published in this country, and, it is be- 

 lieved, the only one in the world wherein the science is illustrated 

 by natural specimens. As yet only one copy of this is completed, 

 and that is intended as a present to the New York Typographical 

 Society. . . . The whole edition will consist of fifty copies only, 

 and the great labor of collecting and expense of preparation 

 render it improbable that a second will be printed. . . ." 



New York Tribune, Dec. 28, 1850. — ^'We have examined a 

 curious and beautiful work by Mr. C. F. Durant. ... It would 

 form an invaluable addition to the cabinets of the curious, or an 

 exquisite ornament for the drawing room." 



New York Herald, Dec. 29, 1850. — " Mr. Durant has entered 

 upon a new field of science, and has brought his labors to such 

 excellent results, that we are gratified to call attention to his 

 admirable work. . . . He has set an example to lovers of nature 

 in so practical a way that we shall expect to find ladies and 

 gentlemen of leisure following in his steps, and making collections 

 on our sea coast. . . ." 



Times and Messenger, Jan. 5, 1851. — "Amidst the numerous 

 productions of the American press we are sometimes startled 

 by a great and unexpected work, which develops new evidences 

 of American skill, science, and enterprise. Audubon's great 

 work on the ornithology of our country surprised all Europe. 

 . . . We have now another splendid issue, in quarto form, pub- 



