BARNHART: HISTORICAL SKETCH 13 
versary of the presentation (December 22, 1817) by Dr. Torrey, to 
the Lyceum of Natural History, of the manuscript of his catalogue 
of plants growing spontaneously within thirty miles of the city of 
New York. An account of the celebration was published at the 
time in the American Naturalist,* and in the Bulletin, a few years 
later, it is clearly stated that it "still further united the members, 
and the present organization was effected.” t It is at least from as 
early as December 20, 1867, therefore, that we may without dis- 
pute date the establishment of the Club; and it is that date of 
which we are now (somewhat prematurely) celebrating the fiftieth 
anniversary. Unfortunately, no complete list of those present at 
the meeting of organization has been preserved, and if we do not 
count the guests, only eleven members of the Club are positively 
known to have been there; it is probable, however, that there were 
fifteen or more. 
For the years 1868 and 1869 there are no records of the Club 
extant, although regular monthly meetings seem to have been 
held throughout the year, both winter and summer. The speaker 
has in his possession an original written notice referring to the 
meeting of February, 1868, which reads: ''The meeting of the 
Botanical Club is unavoidably postponed until Friday eve. next, 
Feby 21st." The same year, June 30, the Club lost its first mem- 
ber by death: William Wallace Denslow, “опе of the earliest, most 
enthusiastic, and, with the disadvantage of feeble health, one of 
the most indefatigable.” f 
The beginning of the year 1870 found the Club still a very 
informal association. It had no written constitution, no officers, 
no formal list of its membership. It was even without a name, 
being known to its members familiarly as "the Club," or more 
formally as “ће Botanical Club," and to outsiders as the “ Bo- 
tanical Club of New York." At this time William Н. Leggett, 
one of the earliest and most faithful of the founders, started, as a 
private venture, a modest four-page monthly sheet to which he 
gave the name "Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club." Of 
course this journal, which was the first botanical periodical in 
erica, was issued with the approval of the Club, but the entire 
* Am. Nat. 2: 41-47. 
1 Bull. Torrey Club 1:45. 1870. 
f Bull Torrey Club 1: 45. 1870. 
