88 



will come into play if the rod dries again, tending to hold the 

 seed down in its place in spite of the contraction, and to drag 

 down the opposite end instead; another moistening will cause 

 the seed to burrow deeper. — Knowledge. 



DEATH OF THOMAS MEEHAN. 



The long and eventful career of Thomas Meehan was ended 

 by his death at Germantown. Pa.. November 19, at the age of 75 

 years. Air. Meehan came of an old Irish family and was born 

 near London, England, March, 31, 1826. As a boy he showed a 

 marked fondness for botanical study and at the age of 15 pub- 

 lished his first scientific paper. Subsequently he pursued a course 

 of study at the famous Kew Gardens, and having decided to make 

 horticulture and botany his life work, emigrated to America, land- 

 ing in Xew York on his twenty-second birthday. Shortly after- 

 ward he went to Philadelphia, where the rest of his life was spent. 



His sterling qualities as citizen and scientist won him many 

 unsought honors. He was elected and continuously re-elected a 

 member of the Philadelphia City Council for his district for a 

 quarter of a century, and was also a member of the Board of 

 Education for nearly as long. He has been vice-president of the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Sciences for twenty-three years and was 

 State Botanist of Pennsylvania under Governor Hoyt. As a 

 member of the City Council. Mr. Meehan began a movement to 

 secure more small parks for the city and succeeded in adding 

 twenty-three to the number. The first <»f these was the famous 

 Bartram's garden, and among the others was the garden of 

 McMahon, an early Philadelphia horticulturist. 



Mr. Meehan s contributions to science are said to number 

 nearly a thousand titles, and his reputation as a botanist extends 

 to the veriest novice in the science. As a writer he was clear, 

 comprehensive and forceful, with the true literary touch so rarely 

 attained by men of science. He was quick to see the nonsense in 

 any preposterous proposition and was one of the staunchest ad- 

 vocates of a conservative course in species-making and naming. 



