180 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 



Berkshire, where it is now frequent. He gives it from Maiden and 

 Cambridge and calls it "a native of England." He says of Trifolium 

 officinale and Trifolium album {Melilotus officinalis and alba), p. 66, 

 "The yellow-flowered and the white, both finely scented are often 

 cultivated in gardens. The white is sparingly naturalized in some 

 places." Both are now naturalized, the white commonly, and the 

 yellow frequently. The Pitcher Plant,. Dewey calls the Side-saddle 

 Flower, " from the resemblance in shape and position of its curved and 

 hollow leaf to the horn of a side-saddle.". The name with the equip- 

 ment is now practically unknown. He says nothing about the insec- 

 tivorous habits of the plant. Agrostemma Githago, now rare, he calls, 

 p. 87, "a well known weed of wheat fields." Cerastium vulgatum he 

 speaks of, p. 89, as of "little consequence except as yielding seed for 

 the food of small birds." Pyrola (now Moneses) unifiora, common in 

 pine woods, he says is "found near Salem by Mr. Oakes." The 

 Canada Thistle {Cirsium arvense) had already become a menace, but 

 Cirsiurn pumilum he says, has been "found near Boston." Joe-Pye- 

 Weed {Eupatorium purpureum) is "said to have been recommended 

 to the whites by an Indian of the name." The Shakers "manufac- 

 tured the heads and leaves of Gnaphalium margaritaceum [Anaphalis 

 margaritacea] into mattresses, and which are said to be pleasant and 

 healthful." Rudbeckia hirta is not mentioned. Of Prunella, of which 

 the popular name in the books is Heal-all, Dewey says, " Not used to 

 heal anything." Galeopsis Tetrahit, he says, has "sprung up from 

 straw thrown out from crates of crockery." Thymus Serpyllum, now 

 common in the central towns of the County, he says is " cultivated in 

 gardens and naturalized in a few places, formerly used in cookery." 

 Dianthv^ Armeria, Saponaria officinalis, Rumex Acetosella, Plantago 

 major, Arctium minus, Leontodon taraxacum (= Taraxacum officinale), 

 Tanacetum, Inula, Tussilago, Veronica anensis, V . agresiis, and V. 

 serpyllifolia had all become naturalized in Dewey's time. 



Shortly after Dewey had become established as a professor at 

 Williams College, A. A. Eaton, though not a member of the faculty, 

 gave a series of lectures at the college on botany which created an 

 unusual interest among the students and even in the community. 

 Eaton, was born in Chatham, New York, a few miles from the border 

 of Berkshire County in 1776; he graduated from Williams College in 

 1799. In 1817 he lectured on botany to enthusiastic classes at Wil- 

 liams College, and at their request published the first edition of his 



