134 



Mr. Wm. H. Leggett, our editor until near the time of bis 

 death in 1882, was a distinguished and successful educator, 

 maintaining a private school in the upper part of the city. He 

 was described as a "profound classical scholar," making a 

 specialty of Greek. Notwithstanding this predilection, he man- 

 aged to perform his botanical work in a most creditable manner, 

 and exerted a persuasive influence in interesting the young in this 

 study. It must not be overlooked that in founding our Bulletin 

 he assumed the financial responsibility for its success. 



Professor Alphonso Wood will be ever remembered by Amer- 

 ican botanists as the author of descriptive floras of the highest 

 scholarly character, and put together with a rare regard for edu- 

 cational principles. Those who are fortunate enough to have 

 owned and carefully used his books will recognize, in the light of 

 our present advancement, that his knowledge of plants was more 

 full and accurate than that of most of our American botanists 

 who have written similar works. His life was not a happy one. 

 The influences of prestige and station were deliberately turned 

 against him, and he was to a great extent suppressed. The 

 manuscript of his Class-book was used by him in teaching, and 

 steadily perfected, for ten \-ears before its publication, which was 

 very successful. His work in life was that of an educator. He 

 taught in and presided over a number of institutions, and brought 

 educational and financial success wherever he went. In 1865 he 

 made an overland botanical journey to California, then to Puget 

 Sound, and home by way of the Isthmus. The specimens and 

 observations accumulated on this journey were very valuable, 

 but have never been systematically studied. He was professor 

 in the New York College of Pharmacy during the two years pre- 

 ceding his death, in 1881. 



Mr. Coe F. Austin was born at Closter, N. J., in 183 1, 

 and died in 1880. His chief characteristics were a marvelous 

 energy and capacity for work, and great independence and orig- 

 inality in selecting his lines. His energy was closely confined, so 

 far as general botany was concerned, to the local flora, and no 

 other man has done so much to make known the flora of northern 

 New Jersey. He was at the time one of the \'ery {^\\ local 



