JOHN TORREY. 

 By Nathaniel L. Britton. 



As a pioneer of American botany, John Torrey naturally finds a 

 place among the men whose works we gladly celebrate today in this 

 grand institution developed in the city where he was born; where he 

 resided the greater part of his life, and where he died. Today's recog- 

 nition of Torrey as a master of botanical science, is therefore peculiarly 

 appropriate in New York, where he is already commemorated by the 

 society which bears his name; by the professorship in Columbia Uni- 

 versity named in his honor, and by his botanical collections and library 

 deposited by Columbia University at the New York Botanical Garden. 



Dr. Torrey was born August 15, 1796, and died March 10, 1873, 

 nearly thirty-four years ago; the pleasure of his personal acquaintance 

 is therefore known to but few persons now living. We have abundant 

 evidence, however, that he was honored and beloved to a degree ex- 

 perienced by but few; righteousness was instinctive in him; aid to others 

 was his pleasure; he was tolerant and progressive, and his genial pres- 

 ence was a delight to his associates. 



He was educated for the profession of medicine, graduating from the 

 College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1818, but he soon abandoned it 

 and in 1824 became professor of chemistry at West Point; after three 

 years service there, he was elected professor of chemistry and botany 

 in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, a position which he held for 

 nearly thirty years, during part of this period lecturing on chemistry 

 also at Princeton : he was also United States assayer in New York from 

 1854 until his death. 



Dr. Torrey's attention was directed to botany during his youthful 

 association with Professor Amos Eaton, and his interest in that science 

 was subsequently stimulated during his medical studies by the lectures 

 of Professor David Hosack. It early became his favorite study, and, 

 notwithstanding his noteworthy services to chemistry, his fame rests 

 on his botanical researches, although they were accomplished during his 

 hours of rest and recreation, — largely during the night. 



His botanical publications began in 1819 with "A Catalogue of Plants 

 Growing Spontaneously within Thirty Miles of the City of New York," 

 published by the Lyceum of Natural History, now the New York Acad- 



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