BARNHART: HISTORICAL SKETCH 15 
again, after a long interval, been one of our fellow-members for 
the last seven years. 
In 1871 the Club decided upon incorporation, desiring, as it 
was facetiously expressed by Dr. Thurber, to "enjoy the privilege 
of sueing and being sued." An act of incorporation was passed 
by the Assembly of the State of New York, April 21, 1871, but it 
was seriously defective, and the Club refused to accept it and 
failed to organize in compliance with its provisions. The first 
defect, for which it is not unlikely that Dr. Torrey was responsible, 
was that the corporate name was given as the “Хеу York Bo- 
tanical Club." The other defect was a mere reflection of the 
corrupt politics of that period, and consisted in the inclusion 
among the incorporators of two members of the infamous “Tweed 
ring." To remedy the defects the act was amended by the legis- 
lature, April 29, 1872, but even then the Club was very slow to 
effect organization under its provisions. The charter was ac- 
cepted unanimously at the meeting of January 7, 1873, and a com- 
mittee appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws; but these 
were not adopted until March 25, and the first officers were not 
elected in accordance with them until April 29. 
Meanwhile, on the tenth of March, the beloved president, 
whose inspiring influence had brought the Club into existence, 
and whose name it bore, Professor John Torrey, had breathed his 
last, and the Club had become a monument to his memory. Few 
are the botanists now living who remember Torrey, but his kind- 
ness, his gentleness, his patience, his earnestness, his scholarship— 
these still seem vividly real, even to us who know them only by 
the recorded testimony of those who both respected and loved 
him. 'The Torrey Botanical Club could bear no name more de- 
serving of honor. ; 
The first president elected under the provisions of the new con- 
stitution was Dr. George Thurber, well known as a student of 
grasses. He had been botanist to the Mexican Boundary Survey, 
and first head of the department of botany at the Michigan agri- 
cultural college, before coming to New York; and he was at this 
time, and for many years afterward, editor of the American A gri- 
culturist. Fortunate it is that his inaugural address, rich in 
reminiscence, was printed in full in the Bulletin. The vice-presi- 
