fa.e-e 2 - Smth B:tnrac."l Library 



"by Alice Gary Atwmd of the DeTjartiient of Arr icul turo . 



At the ti-^ie of Dresent-^tion to ths Snnithsoninn . GaDtain Smith's suDerh 

 X)lant collection w^s the finest in existence for Gentral A^i.ericn, It is of 

 erept scientific im-cortonce heco-ase it includes so "Tio.ny tyoes, th-^t is, 

 SToeciTiens which h-ove served for the descrintion of nen'' SDecies, It cont-oins 

 also, Tiany valuable sets of iDlants froTi re^iote Darts of the rovli. Fron China 

 is a series of several thousand soecimens pre-cared by the Iri?h hot.anist, 

 Henry; fron Tibet and central Asia, the Schlasinwei,? herbarium; froTi Syria, 

 the Post collections; and there are fron India, Australia, Europe and Africa 

 other sets of alrnost equal i'-noort eiice. About half the herbarium was turned 

 over to the Smithsonian several years esc, and has been the basis of much im- 

 portant work by the Institution's botanists. 



Captain Smith became an Honorary Associate of the Smithsonian Institution 

 many years a.-o. Born in 1829, he is the oldest livin£r OTadn-ate of Yale, being 

 a member of the class of 18-17„ During the Civil War he held a cat)taincy of 

 artillery in the Confederate Arm,y, He Dractisod lavv for several years before 

 and after the war. His interest in botany dates from 1874. He was a close 

 friend of Asa Cray and Sereno f/atson, of Ear\^acd, end of Sir Jose-oh Hooker, 

 who was Ions lirector of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,, He is still well 

 r oAe-nbered in Central America as the result of his botanical crxoeditions to 

 that region, 



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