98 SOME AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANISTS 



His first important step after returning to 

 America was the marrying of Catherine Warner, 

 " a lady of great worth " ; his next, to remove to 

 Alexandria, Virginia, believing it would become 

 the capital of the United States. But the call of 

 the metropolis was too strong, and he returned 

 in 1792 ; and in that year, seeing the necessity for 

 studying in the European hospitals, left his wife 

 and baby with his parents and spent two years in 

 Edinburgh and London, meeting Robert Burns 

 and all the celebrities of the day, listening to 

 learned divines on Sunday, and getting all he 

 could during the week from men like Munro, 

 Black, Gregory, Duncan, in Edinburgh, and in 

 London consorting mainly with Sir Joseph 

 Banks and his set, who, like himself were genuine 

 botanists. 



During the winter in London, with the con- 

 currence of Sir Joseph Banks and other scientists, 

 his Observations on Vision was published in the 

 Transactions of the Royal Society, 1794, and the 

 author was duly thanked. He took full ad- 

 vantage of his stay, dissecting under Dr. Andrew 

 Marshall, studying chemistry and mineralogy 

 and visiting the hospitals. He had the good 

 fortune also to make the acquaintance of William 

 Curtis, author of the Flora Londinensis, who had 

 just completed a botanic garden at Brompton, 

 London. Hosack went there nearly every day, 



