
21 
statesman which was considered as one of the best, being 
copied by Sparks in his life of Franklin. Dr. Cutler 
prepared, in 1783, “An account of some of the vegetable 
productions, naturally growing in this part of America, 
botanically arranged,” which was published in the first 
volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences in 1785. He here described some 
three hundred and fifty species of flowering plants sug- 
gesting several points which have been followed by later 
botanists. It was Dr. Cutler’s intention to extend this 
work, and there are in existence several manuscript vol- 
umes which he prepared toward this end. These valua- 
ble manuscripts are in the possession of Prof. Edward 
Tuckerman, who intends that their final destination shall 
be the library of Harvard; and it is to be hoped that they 
may at some future day be printed, with such notes as 
would be required to make them of use to the present 
generation of botanical students. Dr. Cutler’s death oc- 
curred in 1823, after more than fifty years’ service in one 
parish. He has been called the father of American botany, 
a term certainly appropriate for the times and for this 
region, where his mantle fell on the shoulders of Osgood, 
Nichols, Oakes, and Pickering. 
Dr. George Osgood, son of George and Elizabeth 
(Otis) Osgood, was born at Fair Haven, March 25, 1784. 
He studied medicine with his father and settled in Dan- 
vers in 1804, where he had for many years an extensive 
practice. Dr. Osgood acquired, by his association with 
Cutler, Nichols and Oakes, a taste for and knowledge of 
botany which lasted him through life. He contributed to 
Dr. Bigelow much valuable information while the latter 
was preparing his “Florula Bostoniensis,” and in 1853 
published in the Salem Observer a local list of flowering 
plants. He died May 26, 1863. 
