74 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 811 



alma mater on the occasion of the semi-cen- 

 tennial celebration of the college honored him 

 with the degree of doctor of science. This was 

 bestowed in the presence of the President of 

 the United States, the representatives of many 

 American and foreign institutions of learning, 

 and before an audience of perhaps 20,000 

 people. To his students, however, he will 

 always be known as " Professor Wheeler." 



Well known to many in the Department of 

 Agriculture, he was induced in 1902 to come 

 to the department, where he entered upon 

 systematic work in the Bureau of Plant In- 

 dustry, and continued in this work until about 

 two weeks previous to his death. His inti- 

 mate associates during this time were fre- 

 quently impressed with the wide experience 

 and knowledge that Professor Wheeler pos- 

 sessed — an experience and knowledge acquired 

 only through years of study of the same 

 plants, both in the herbarium and in their 

 natural haunts, and a knowledge not always 

 possessed by the herbarium botanist. Pro- 

 fessor WTieeler was not a mere collector, but a 

 real student in the field, and so he was able 

 to do a work in the department that perhaps 

 no one else could do. 



He wa-e elected a member of this society 

 in November, 1902, very soon after his coming 

 to Washington, and was its president for the 

 year 1907-08. His address as retiring presi- 

 dent of the society was entitled " Thirty-six 

 Tears with Michigan Plants." 



Professor Wheeler belonged to what we often 

 term " the old school," the type of scientist 

 represented by such men as Chester Dewey, 

 William Oakes, John Torrey and many others 

 that might be mentioned. He knew plants 

 intimately and loved them. He knew some- 

 thing of other sciences and the relationship 

 of systematic botany to them. His was a 

 broad outlook upon nature. Some time when 

 the present fascination for the newer fields of 

 botanical research broadens out to a full ap- 

 preciation of the value and relationship of 

 all lines of botanical investigation, the train- 

 ing and knowledge of the old-time systematist 

 will be appreciated as they have not been for 

 many years. 



We are inclined, perhaps unconsciously, to 

 measure the worth of men and the extent of 

 their influence by what they publish. Pro- 

 fessor Wheeler published little. His real in- 

 fluence among his fellows is not to be 

 estimated in printed pages, but in the im- 

 measurable inspiration he gave throughout 

 his life to his students and intimate associates 

 everywhere. 



One of these friends, drawn to him through 

 a mutual love of plants, has written of him as 

 follows : 



March 28, 1910. 

 Mb. C. H. Kauitman, 



Vice President of Botany Section, 

 Michigan Academy of Science. 



Dear Sir: Your letter of March 10, which 

 reaches me on my return from a long absence, 

 is the first notification I have had of the death 

 of Charles Fay Wheeler. This is a particular 

 sorrow to me, for I had known Dr. Wheeler inti- 

 mately and he was one of my very first botanical 

 acquaintances. It was more than thirty years 

 ago that, as a student, I visited him at Hubbards- 

 ton, Michigan. We had had some kindred corre- 

 spondence, and his letters were so genial, so full 

 of the love of plants, and so critical as to specific 

 differences that I became possessed of a great 

 desire to see him. I found him in his drug store; 

 but plants and the fields were clearly his first 

 love, and he took me to his collection and to some 

 of his favorite collecting grounds. The careful- 

 ness and accuracy of his observation impressed 

 me very much. He seemed to have an eye for 

 critical things and for those that escaped common 

 observation. He was at that time very keen on 

 Carex and Salix and the grasses. He was always 

 finding forms that did not fit the descriptions in 

 the books; and if any plant was rare he was sure 

 to find it if it grew within his range. 



In these years he was isolated from kindred 

 spirits, and he was hungry for botanical acquain- 

 tanceship; yet he was so exceedingly modest of 

 his own merits that he hardly dared to seek such 

 comradeship. I have never known a more modest 

 and unassuming man. In later years, of course, 

 he overcame his shyness to a great extent, but he 

 always was content to be the listener and the 

 student. It was a great thing for him and for 

 botany when he was asked to come to the agri- 

 cultural college and to aid in the botanical work. 

 From that time his work took on a larger aspect, 

 and he became one of the most critical and re- 



