21 



description, the amount of material being often meager and insuffi 

 cient, and the results have been published at places widely remote 

 from each other. Thus, what was in reality one and the same spe 

 cies, has often several names attached to it ; but to discover this fact 

 and clear up all the difficulties, so that all the synonyms should be 

 properly arranged under the real name, or the one having priority, 

 according to the universally recognized rules of scientific nomencla 

 ture, requires not only the extensive collections of the Survey, made 

 under the most favorable circumstances, in all kinds of localities, 

 and under all conditions of growth, but also an actual inspection 

 and diligent study of the original specimens collected by all bot 

 anists prior to our work. These are, luckily, mostly accessible in 

 the grand herbarium at Cambridge, which Professor Gray, the lead 

 ing botanist of the country, has for the past forty years teen gather 

 ing together. Without the aid of this gentleman it would be impos 

 sible for any one to get through with the immense undertaking of 

 bringing order into the chaos of California botany. And not only 

 has he kindly lent us the use of his herbarium and library, and 

 given his personal attention to the description of the great number 

 of new plants collected by our parties, but the same may be said of ev 

 ery other eminent botanist in this country: Engelmann, Torrey, Eaton, 

 Tuckerman, Lesquereux and Thurber, as well as several of the most 

 distinguished authorities in Europe, have lent us a hand in unravel 

 ing the twisted skein, and one gentleman is about to leave his home 

 in a western city and visit Europe for the purpose of comparing 

 specimens of the California pines and oaks with the authentically 

 named ones existing in the herbaria in England and on the Conti 

 nent. I should add, lest anybody's sensibilities be alarmed by the 

 excessive expenditure, that he receives no salary, and travels at his 

 own expense. 



We shall thus have a work, in the botanical department, in which 

 each plant, in every important group of families, will be authenti 

 cally named by the highest authority in that section of the science a 

 book which every student can use with perfect confidence in its 

 reliability, and which will be the indispensable guide of every teacher 

 of the science. And we could not have had it in any other way than 

 this : it required a combined effort of all the botanists in the coun 

 try, sanctioned by the State, to do this work ; and with all the facili 

 ties the survey affords, this task is an arduous one. 



The same thing may be said (mutatis mutandis] with regard to the 

 other scientific branches mentioned. I will not tire you by going 



