(54) 



These books occupy a specially constructed cabinet which 

 stands near the center of the reading room. 



Manuscript letters of botanists, as well as many portraits 

 of botanists, are also on file. 



THE HERBARIUM 



The herbarium consists of dried specimens of plants sys- 

 tematically arranged in cases; it occupies the greater portion 

 of several rooms on the upper floor of the museum building, 

 and is available for consultation by permission. It contains 

 prepared specimens of all kinds of plants from all quaters 

 of the globe, and is the most extensive and complete col- 

 lection of its kind in America. It comprises the Garden 

 herbarium and the Columbia University herbarium. The 

 latter is one of the oldest collections of its kind in the 

 United States, having been begun by Dr. John Torrey 

 soon after the commencement of the last century. After half 

 a century of natural growth several large herbaria were 

 incorporated in it and large sets of special collections were 

 added to it. The Garden herbarium was begun with the 

 inception of the Garden. It has grown rapidly and now 

 far excels the Columbia herbarium in the number of speci- 

 mens. The rapid growth of the Garden herbarium and its 

 importance is due to the fact that it is built up of approxi- 

 mately thirty different herbaria which represent plants of 

 all groups from all parts of the globe. To this as a basis 

 have been added miscellaneous collections and the first 

 sets of the plants secured by members of the Garden staff 

 while exploring in different parts of the New World and 

 the Old. 



The great majority of specimens are mounted on her- 

 barium sheets, but many thousand specimens, such as 

 bulky fungi, fruits, seeds, and other parts of plants not 

 suitable for placing flat on herbarium sheets are contained 

 in cardboard boxes of multiple sizes. 



The herbarium now comprises approximately one and 

 one-half million specimens. All groups of the flowerless 

 plants and flowering plants are copiously represented. 



