84 SOME AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANISTS 



tern of Anatomy, an excellent work, sent some 

 papers to the Transactions of the American 

 Philosophical Society and made a contribution to 

 the anatomy of the ethmoid bone, as described by 

 Tilghman. Bardeen says Wistar was undoubt- 

 edly the first to describe the posterior portion of 

 the ethmoid bone in its most perfect state; viz., 

 with the triangular bones attached to it. Anat- 

 omy was his forte, but he was learned also in the 

 natural sciences and collected a number of sub- 

 jects for the study of comparative anatomy. He 

 kept up a delightful correspondence with Correa 

 da Serra, the botanist, and such men as Hum- 

 boldt, Soemmering, Camper, Michaux, Mar- 

 shall and other scientists. 



When Humphry Marshall, the great botanist, 

 was seventy-one, young Wistar performed on him 

 the operation of couching for cataract, with 

 partial success, for the old man was at least en- 

 abled to distinguish his favorite plants as he 

 walked in his garden. Were the instruments 

 those in the case Wistar afterwards gave to his 

 pupil, Short,' another botanist, when the latter 

 left him for his home in the South? I had a 

 pleasant note from Dr. Thomas Wistar of Phila- 

 delphia in answer to one of thanks for a portrait 

 of his great uncle : 



' See Biography of Short. 



