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ample and exceedingly varied botanical work in its different depart- 

 ments. Botanical teaching at the College of Pharmacy, now a 

 department of Columbia University, dates back almost to the be- 

 ginning of the College, in 1829. Although its work is technical, 

 an effort has always been made to keep in sight its scientific basis. 



At Columbia University itself, the department of botany is in 

 charge of Professor Lucien M. Underwood, one of the most eminent, 

 critical and conservative of botanical investigators, who has been 

 accorded the status in universal botany that he merits. The bulk 

 of the instruction work is under the immediate care of Dr. Carlton 

 C. Curtis, and none better is given in any modern university. It 

 seems most unfortunate that Dr. Curtis's great work should not 

 be more generally known and more definitely recognized. This 

 work is most ably supported by Professor Herbert M. Richards 

 and Dr. Tracy E. Hazen in Barnard College, the department for 

 women, which corresponds to Columbia College, for men. The 

 instruction work at the New York Botanical Garden is of the 

 most advanced character. Only those who have demonstrated 

 their ability to pursue original investigations are admitted, and 

 these are expected to engage while here in work of that character. 

 More than half a hundred such pieces of original investigation 

 have been conducted here in a single year. 



Of local societies engaged in botanical work we have a number 

 which are mere private associations, of a few persons, without 

 formal organization, besides others to be mentioned. We have 

 also a number, like the Linnaean Society, the Brooklyn Institute, 

 the Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences, the Bronx 

 Society of Arts and Sciences, the West Side Natural History 

 Society, and the local chapter of the Agassiz Association, which 

 are engaged in the general pursuit of science, of which botany 

 forms a part. Those devoted solely to botanical work of some 

 sort are the New York Horticultural Society, which holds meet- 

 ings, conducts lecture courses, and gives exhibitions, with the 

 award of prizes ; the Hulst Botanical Club of Brooklyn, a dis- 

 tinctly amateur organization ; the Botanical Club of the Normal 

 College, which aims to stimulate in its students and graduates a 

 love of study, outside of that required by the regular course of 



