PREFACE 9 



han and John H. Redfield, ever willing coad- 

 jutors of the younger generation, were active in 

 the meetings at the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 in Philadelphia; when Asa Gray, almost the cre- 

 ator of our North Americanbotanical science, was 

 looked up to as the great leader of us all ; and 

 when Eaton was cataloguing and figuring the 

 ferns of North America. Times have changed 

 and other interests seem to thrill the boys of to- 

 day, but neither they nor any subsequent genera- 

 tion will ever discover a passion purer, sweeter 

 and more refining and more exhilarating than the 

 field botanical excursions, followed by the subse- 

 quent painstaking closet work of identification, 

 which occupied their fathers and grandfathers. 

 I fear reviewers will accuse me of being some- 

 what capricious in my selections, for some other 

 names besides those chosen are also worthy of 

 extended notice. 



It is a pleasure to acknowledge my debt first 

 of all to Davina Waterson, who has devoted her 

 time and her talents to this work from start to 

 finish for several years, and without whom it 

 could never have been completed ; for, although 

 the lives are brief, they have been prepared only 

 after a painstaking search for facts in current 

 journals, in reports, as well as in biographies. 



I am glad, also, to thank Prof. J. H. Barnhart, 

 Prof. N. L. Britton, Dr. G. T. Stevens, Prof. Uri 



