161 
minerals; the collection of the shells of land snails was especially 
noteworthy and is an important part of the Museum’s scientific 
equipment; he subsequently presented the New York Botanical 
Garden with a considerable part of his herbarium. Prior to 
these gifts, at about the time of Dr. Torrey’s death in 1873, 
Mr. Crooke presented Columbia College with the valuable, gen- 
eral herbarium formed by the Swiss Professor Meisner, and with 
an herbarium illustrating the flora of the southeastern United 
States prepared by Dr. A. W. Chapman, of Apalachicola; these 
are incorporated in the general herbarium of Columbia College 
deposited at the New York Botanical Garden. 
The natural history collections accumulated by Mr. Crooke 
were mainly brought together by purchase; he did not collect 
extensively himself, although, during his long residence at Colo- 
rado, while developing his mining interests there, some speci- 
mens, especially minerals, were personally obtained by him. 
He made important discoveries and original observations in 
chemistry, physics and metallurgy, Sere in new technical 
processes of manufacture, many o ich were patented. He 
was a charter member of the Torrey emer Club, and in the 
early days of that organization, aided its work materially. The 
writer has been favored with Mr. Crooke’s intimate acquaintance 
since boyhood and his direction to lines of scientific inquiry was 
induced by this companionship and suggestion. 
In botany, Mr. Crooke is commemorated by the genus Crookea, 
of the St. John’s-wort Family, native of the southeastern United 
States, dedicated to him by Dr. John K. Small in 1903. 
N. L. Britton. 
SUMMER LECTURES, Io1l. 
Lectures will be delivered in the Lecture Hall of the Museum 
Building of the Garden, Bronx Park, on Saturday afternoons, 
at four o'clock, as follows: 
July 1, ‘Wild Flowers of Summer,” by Dr. N. L. Britton. 
July 8, “Swedish Botanical Gardens,” by Dr. W. A. Murrill. 
