236 THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. [Deo'r 



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their considerations of personal comfort in the all-absorbing bent of | 

 their intellects. Such a man was John Bartram, whose name adds 

 lustre to the scientific character of Philadelphia. Such a man was 

 John Templeton, who, in a similar position in a different sphere of 

 action, achieved similar results in Botanical science ; both have passed 

 away from the scene of their operations — but they are not forgotten, 

 nor shall they be. 



Time effects mighty changes in the history of countries, even a cen- 

 tury produces such as to command the attention of the antiquarian. 

 We have only to go back a century, and we find on the banks of the 

 Schuylkill, near Gray's Ferry, the plain and hospitable John Bartram, 

 interesting himself in the offspring of his neighboring woods and 

 thickets, collecting with care and preserving with attention the mi- 

 nute mosses, as well as the more showy flowering plants so abundant 

 in the woods of Pennsylvania, and the various species of trees and 

 shrubs which compose the arborescence of this rich section of country. 

 To find a man in such a sphere of life as John Bartram occupied, de- 

 voting so much of his time to such pursuits, must have been a matter 

 of surprise to his more practical neighbors ; and it was only when 

 chance cast in his way some fellow-student, who, in the same pursuit 

 of natural history, had been led into his domains, that his achieve- 

 ments were at all likely to be acknowledged or appreciated. Science 

 however, was in a comparatively advanced state in the mother coun- 

 try, and here Bartram found a mart for all his botanical novelties, 

 and ardent friends in the promotion of his favorite science, for at this 

 period the botanical world could number a few great luminaries. Bar- 

 tram's researches and discoveries were appreciated by such men as 

 Collinson, Sloane, Gronovius and others ; and the copious biography 

 lately published, compiled by Dr. Darlington of West Chester, has 

 placed his remarkable achievements in botanical discovery fully on 

 record. In forming a judgment of the value of such men, we must in- 

 form ourselves of the state of knowledge at the time in which they 

 labored. W r ith regard to Bartram, we may say he was alone on this 

 continent, the most indefatigable collector of indigenous plants; but 

 he was not content with their mere discovery — he knew that the pub- 

 lication to the scientific world of the riches of America's woods and 

 marshes was the great end to be accomplished. And how precisely 

 he sets about describing his interesting novelties — the attempts at their 

 identification and comparison are striking and original. We need not 

 detail the gradual course of correspondence which was carried on by 

 Bartram and British botanists of note. By his promptness and atten- 

 tion to the wishes of his patrons, he became celebrated in Britain as a 

 collector of American plants, and was respected by the most eminent cv 

 men in science. His claims on those in his own immediate circle^?) 



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