NovEMBER 17, 1899. ] 
Botany. The well-known Manual of the 
Botany of the Northern United States is 
still a classic. How Plants Grow and How 
Plants Behave ‘found their way where 
botany as botany could not have gained an 
entrance, and they set in motion a current 
which moved in the direction of a higher 
science with a force which can hardly be 
estimated.” * 
In conclusion let me quote the words of 
Dr. J. E. Sandys, of Cambridge, who, in 
conferring the Degree of Doctor of Science 
from that famous old University, said: 
This man who has so long adorned his fair 
science by his labors and his life, even unto a 
hoary age, ‘bearing,’ as the poet says, ‘the 
white blossoms of a blameless life,’ him, I say, 
we gladly crown, at least with these flowerets 
of praise, with this corolla of honor. For many, 
many years may Asa Gray, the venerable priest 
of Flora, render more illustrious this academic 
crown !+ 
SMITH. 
The brilliant work in chemistry done by 
J. Lawrence Smith, combined with the fact 
that prior to his election no representative 
of chemistry had ever been chosen as presi- 
dent of our Association, had doubtless much 
to do with his selection to preside over the 
gathering held in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1872. 
The wisdom of the choice was confirmed 
early in that year by his election to the 
National Academy of Sciences. 
Smith { was born in Charleston, South 
Carolina, in 1818, and studied civil engi- 
neering at the University of Virginia, but 
* Memorial of Asa Gray, p. 32. 
+ Asa Gray, by Walter Deane, with an electrotype 
portrait, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 
XV., p. 70. 
{ Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy 
of Sciences, Vol. II., p. 217. John Lawrence Smith, 
by Benjamin Silliman, witha Bibliography. See also 
Original Researches in Mineralogy and Chemistry, by 
J. Lawrence Smith, Louisville, 1884. This memorial 
volume contains several biographical sketches and a 
portrait of Dr. Smith. 
SCIENCE. 
711 
preferring medicine, he was graduated in 
1840, at the Medical College in Charleston, 
submitting as his thesis a valuable paper on 
‘The Compound Nature of Nitrogen.’ As 
was largely the custom in those days, he 
spent several years in Europe, passing his 
winters in Paris, where he studied chemis- 
try with Dumas, toxicology with Orfila, and 
physics with Becquerel, and his summers in 
Giessen studying with the immortal Liebig. 
While he was in Paris the celebrated poison 
case of Madame La Farge occurred, in which 
the question of the normal existence of 
arsenic in the human system was involved, 
and although he was a student under Orfila, 
he did not hesitate to differ with his master 
and review the entire question in a paper, 
in the conclusion of which in after years, 
Orfila himself agreed. It was in that way 
that his interest in medicine became subor- 
dinate to that of chemistry. 
In 1844 he returned to Charleston, where 
he entered on the practice of his profession, 
and during the winter delivered a course of 
lectures on toxicology in the medical college. 
The development of mineral wealth in the 
different states was beginning to be con- 
sidered an important matter, and in South 
Carolina Smith’s recognized ability and edu- 
cation led to his appointment as state as- 
sayer to test the bullion coming into com- 
merce from the states of Georgia and the 
two Carolinas. This place he accepted, and 
so relinquished his practice. 
It naturally followed that he should de- 
vote some attention to agricultural chem- 
istry, and the great marl beds on which 
the city of Charleston stands attracted his 
notice. It was he who “first pointed out 
the large amount of phosphate of lime in 
these marls, and was one of the first to 
ascertain the scientific character of this im- 
mense agricultural wealth.’”** Dr. Smith 
also made a valuable and thorough investi- 
*Dr. J. B. Marvin in Original Researches, ete., p. 
10. 
