12 



relations with that of Harvard. His private fortunes were melan- 

 choly. Captured by the whirl of speculation in real estate that 

 followed the civil war, he purchased land at an excessive price, and 

 spent the rest of his life in a painful struggle honorably to dis- 

 charge his financial obligations. 



Mr. Wm. H. Leggett, our editor until near the time of his 

 death in 1882, was a distinguished and successful educator, 

 maintaining a private school in the upper part of the city. He 

 was described as a " profound classical scholar," making a 

 specialty of Greek. Notwithstanding this predilection, he man- 

 aged to perform his botanical work in a most creditable manner, 

 and exerted a persuasive influence in interesting the young in this 

 study. It must not be overlooked that in founding our Bulletin 

 he assumed the financial responsibility for its success. 



Professor Alphonso Wood will be ever remembered by Amer- 

 ican botanists as the author of descriptive floras of the highest 

 scholarly character, and put together with a rare regard for edu- 

 cational principles. Those who are fortunate enough to have 

 owned and carefully used his books will recognize, in the light of 

 our present advancement, that his knowledge of plants was more 

 full and accurate than that of most of our American botanists 

 who have written similar works. His life was not a happy one. 

 The influences of prestige and station were deliberately turned 

 against him, and he was to a great extent suppressed. The 

 manuscript of his Class-book was used by him in teaching, and 

 steadily perfected, for ten years before its publication, which was 

 very successful. His work in life was that of an educator. He 

 taught in and presided over a number of institutions, and brought 

 educational and financial success wherever he went. In 1865 he 

 made an overland botanical journey to California, then to Puget 

 Sound, and home by way of the Isthmus. The specimens and 

 observations accumulated on this journey were very valuable, 

 but have never been systematically studied. He was professor 

 in the New York College of Pharmacy during the two years pre- 

 ceding his death, in 188 1. 



Mr. Coe F. Austin was born at Closter, N. J., in 1831, 

 and died in 1880. His chief characteristics were a marvelous 



