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statesman which was considered as one of the best, being 

 copied by Sparks in his life of Franklin. Dr. Cutler 

 prepared, in 1783, "An account of some of the vegetable 

 productions, naturally growing in this part of America, 

 botanically arranged," which was published in the first 

 volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences in 1785. He here described some 

 three hundred and fifty species of flowering plants sug- 

 gesting several points which have been followed by later 

 botanists. It was Dr. Cutler's intention to extend this 

 work, and there are in existence several manuscript vol- 

 umes which he prepared toward this end. These valua- 

 ble manuscripts are in the possession of Prof. Edward 

 Tuckerman, who intends that their final destination shall 

 be the library of Harvard ; and it is to be hoped that they 

 may at some future day be printed, with such notes as 

 would be required to make them of use to the present 

 generation of botatoical students. Dr. Cutler's death oc- 

 curred in 1823, after more than fifty years' service in one 

 parish. He has been called the father of American botany, 

 a term certainly appropriate for the times and for this 

 region, where his mantle fell on the shoulders of Osgood, 

 Nichols, Oakes, and Pickering. 



Dr. George Osgood, son of George and Elizabeth 

 (Otis) Osgood, was born at Fair Haven, March 25, 1784. 

 He studied medicine with his father and settled in Dan- 

 vers in 1804, where he had for many years an extensive 

 practice. Dr. Osgood acquired, by his association with 

 Cutler, Nichols and Oakes, a taste for and knowledge of 

 botany which lasted him through life. He contributed to 

 Dr. Bigelow much valuable information while the latter 

 was preparing his "Florula Bostoniensis ," and in 1853 

 published in the Salem Observer a local list of flowering 

 plants. He died May 26, 1863. 



