132 SOME AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANISTS 



and difficult botanical expeditions, and bought 

 the rich herbarium of Berlandier, the fruit of 

 research in Texas and Mexico. He gathered 

 books also — some 3,000 of them — one-fourth of 

 them rare botanical works. His vast collection 

 of dried specimens passed into the hands of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 

 This was originally meant for the Smithsonian 

 Institution, but they had no room for it. 



One grieves a little to learn that a curious 

 debility and ennui came over him when he was 

 sixty-seven. The old interests failed to attract; 

 and two years later, pneumonia, following on 

 typhoid, ended his life on March 7, 1863. 



Gray, writing to Sir William Hooker concern- 

 ing him, says : " He was one of our oldest bot- 

 anists, the best of men and kindest of friends. I 

 feel the loss very much. Although we never met, 

 he was one of my most valued friends." 



His name is commemorated by a number of 

 plants: "Genus Shortia, galacifolia, founded 

 by Prof. Asa Gray, on a plant of the Pyrola 

 family, discovered by Michaux on the mountains 

 of North Carolina ; a cruciferous plant, Vesicaria 

 Shortii, described by Torrey and discovered by 

 Short on the banks of Elkhorn Creek, Lexington, 

 Kentucky; a leguminous plant, Phaca Shortiana, 



