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could be compared with him in this respect except perhaps B. S. 

 Barton, and Barton's personahty was cold and formal when com- 

 pared with that of Eaton. His manual, prepared specifically to 

 meet the needs of the amateur, was popular for many years, and 

 went through eight editions. The last eighteen years of his life 

 were chiefly occupied with labors incident to the establishment 

 and administration of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at 

 Troy. Among the many inspired by him was Mrs. Almira H. 

 Lincoln, afterwards Mrs. Phelps, whose text-book did so much 

 to popularize the study of botany. 



At this time there was no group of botanists in New England 

 comparable to those in Philadelphia and New York ; yet at least 

 two New England botanists of this period should be mentioned. 

 One was Dr. Jacob Bigelow, author of a Boston flora which ap- 

 peared in three editions. He was one of the most famous of 

 Boston physicians, and lived to be nearly 92 years of age. The 

 other was Professor Chester Dewey, well known for his work on 

 the difficult genus Carex. 



Another man who was doing remarkable work at about the 

 same time was Stephen Elliott, of Charleston, South Carolina. 

 Isolated from most other botanists, with meager facilities for the 

 prosecution of scientific work, occupied much of the time with 

 his duties as a member of the legislature of his state, he never- 

 theless published, at intervals, beginning in 18 16, a descriptive 

 flora of South Carolina and Georgia which challenges our admi- 

 ration. 



We now come to a new era in the development of American 

 botany. Hitherto most American botanists had been interested 

 in other natural sciences as well, and in so far as they had devoted 

 their attention to botany they had covered essentially the same 

 ground. Morphology and physiology were still in the back- 

 ground, but although taxonomy held the field, specialization was 

 the order of the day. 



The acknowledged leader of American botany during this 

 period was Dr. Asa Gray. At first in New York, and later for 

 many years at Harvard, he made a name for himself, as a man of 

 sound scholarship, of broad culture, and of commanding person- 



