Introduction 
made me willing to shrink into any corner of 
the world, however obscure and however re- 
mote.” 
The injury to his eye proved to be less serious 
than he had at first supposed. In June he was 
writing to a friend: “I have been reading and 
botanizing for some weeks, and find that for 
such work I am not very much disabled. I leave 
this city [Indianapolis] for home to-morrow, 
accompanied by Merrill Moores, a little friend 
of mine. We will go to Decatur, IIlinois, thence 
northward through the wide prairies, botaniz- 
ing a few weeks by the way... .I hope to go 
South towards the end of the summer, and as 
this will be a journey that I know very little 
about, I hope to profit by your counsel before 
setting out.” 
In an account written after the excursion he 
says: “I was eager to see Illinois prairies on my 
way home, so we went to Decatug, near the 
center of the State, thence north [to Portage] 
by Rockford and Janesville. I botanized one 
week on the prairie about seven miles south- 
[ xii ] 
