THE MYCOLOGICAL WORK OF MOSES 

 ASHLEY CURTIS 



C. L. Shear and Neil E. Stevens 



That America's first eminent mycologists were both clergymen, 

 and both, though northern men by birth, became residents of 

 North Carolina early in their careers is perhaps to be regarded 

 as more than a coincidence (7, pp. 54). A century ago there 

 were few professional botanists in this country and botanical 

 work was carried on as an avocation by men of other callings, 

 largely by physicians (13), and clergymen, while the state of 

 North Carolina is unsurpassed in this country in the variety of its 

 plant forms. 



In the particulars cited, the life of Moses Ashley Curtis bears a 

 strong resemblance to that of his great predecessor Lewis David 

 de Schweinitz. In other aspects, however, they were strikingly 

 different. Schweinitz was educated largely in Europe, began his 

 botanical work there, and returned to Europe at least twice. At 

 the age of forty-one, when his botanical work was well under 

 way, he left the South and made his home in Pennsylvania. 

 Curtis, on the other hand, was educated wholly in this country, 

 appears never to have visited Europe, and spent most of his adult 

 life in the Carolinas. His contact with foreign and most Amer- 

 ican botanists was chiefly through correspondence. The writers 

 have already presented the available data on the life and work of 

 Schweinitz (18), in the belief that the interpretation of his work 

 by present day botanists would be thus facilitated. With a sim- 

 ilar purpose, they have collected in the present paper such facts 

 as are available regarding Curtis' mycological work. 



The most complete sketch of the life of Moses Ashley Curtis 

 is that published by Dr. Thomas F. Wood (21) who was a per- 

 sonal friend of Curtis. This contains a good portrait. Briefer 

 sketches, one by Dudley (7), one by Scribner (17), and an un- 

 signed one in Popular Science Monthly (22), probably written 



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