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course of botanical lectures by a strawberry festival, . . . 
to be practical as well as theoretical.” ‘‘ The disciples of 
the illustrious Swede must have a foretaste of them,” he said, 
‘¢if they cost me a dollar a piece.”* His character and 
social position are thus summarized: 
*¢ In all prominen ts concerned with the arts, the 
drama, literature, ee city improvements or state affairs, 
Dr. Hosack bore a conspicuous part; . . . he was distin- 
guished beyond all rivals in the art of healing ; universally 
acknowledged, also, to have been the most eloquent and im- 
pressive teacher of scientific medicine and clinical practice 
this country had as yet produced. His manner was pleasing, 
and his descriptive powers and his diagnosis were the admi- 
ration of all. . His early efforts to establish a medical 
library in the New York Hospital, his codperation with the 
numerous charities which glorify the metropolis, his primary 
formation of a mineralogical cabinet, his ee le on 
fevers, quarantines and foreign pestilen . . and his ad- 
venturous outlay in establishing the patonical garden, evinced 
the lofty aspirations which marked his whole career as a 
citizen. It was a frequent remark in New York during his 
lifetime that Clinton, cies and Hobart were the tripod 
upon which the City s 
«Through his oe for society he exerted a strong 
personal influence. He gave Saturday evening parties, and, 
eres by his large and costly library and his works of 
, there never was a more genial and captivating host. 
Great divines, jurists, etc., . and distinguished foreigners 
were summoned to his ener and charmed with his 
liberal hospitality. His home was the resort of the learned 
and enlightened from every part of the world. o European 
traveller is satisfied without a personal interview with 
Dr. Hosack; . . . the Duke of Saxe Weimar mentions in 
his diary the social prominence of the Hosack Saturday 
evenings.” 
His son, Alexander Eddy Hosack, was a surgeon of dis- 
tinction, who died at Newport, R. I., in March, 1871; his 
widow bequeathed $70,000 for the Main Hall in the New 
York Academy of Medicine, where a tablet commemorates 
* Dr. Francis’ Old New York, 30-31; 84, 85; Lamb’s Hist. N. Y., 2: 581~ 
583. 
