11 



thing by American botanists well underway until about five years 

 later. 



From this time up to the establishment of the New York 

 Botanical Garden the history of our Club is practically that of 

 botany in this city, for very little was done that was not directly 

 or indirectly connected with us or, one might say, actually cen- 

 tered about us. This fact is of the utmost importance in our 

 study, since upon it depends the essential character of most of 

 what has since occurred. 



The Club's history is so voluminous that it requires separate 

 and extended treatment, and I can here do little but refer to its 

 influence. Its first officers were George Thurber, president; 

 Timothy F. Allen, vice-president ; J. J. Crooke, treasurer ; 

 James Hogg, corresponding secretary ; P. V. LeRoy, recording 

 secretary ; William H. Leggett, editor; P. V. LeRoy, curator. 



Some of the more influential of the early members call for 

 attention at this point. 



Dr. Thurber, our first president, was characterized by profound 

 conscientiousness and great determination. He began -life as a 

 pharmacist, in Providence, and developed a strong leaning toward 

 chemistry, of which subject he became a teacher. His love of 

 botany grew out of his study of drugs. In 1850 he went as 

 botanist, quartermaster and commissary to the Mexican Boundary 

 Commission, the botanical results of which were published by 

 Torrey in 1859. He received the degree of A.M. from Brown 

 University, and the honorary degree of M.D. from the Univer- 

 sity Medical College, of this city. He was in the U. S. Assay 

 Office for two years and left from motives of honor. He was at 

 various times a teacher in Cooper Union, the New York College 

 of Pharmacy and Michigan Agricultural College, and was presi- 

 dent of several horticultural societies and of this Club until 

 1880. For twenty-two years he was editor of the American 

 Agriculturist, in which capacity he exerted an influence over the 

 character of young people, in the agricultural sections of the 

 country, that was and is of great national importance. His most 

 important contribution to botanical work was perhaps the main- 

 tenance of a botanical garden at Passaic, New Jersey, in close 



