AMERICAN 
JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
Vol. VII October, 1920 No. 8 
BYRON DAVID HALSTED^ 
Jime 7, 18^2- August 28, 1918 
F. L. Stevens, L. H. Pammel, and Mel T. Cook 
"I loved Byron for the genuineness of his rehgious faith, for the sim- 
phcity and "beauty of his relationship to his fellows, for his ardent desire 
for service to the world and catholic tolerant spirit exercised toward those 
who differed from him in faith and thought." This appreciation of Dr. 
Halsted by an intimate friend will find response in the hearts of all who knew 
him. However brilliant the achievements of the individual from the world 
viewpoint, whether in finance, art, literature, or science, it is to the person- 
ality, the characteristics, traits, inclinations, and moralities, that we turn 
in making the ultimate estimate of the man. Dr. Halsted's genial nature, 
generosity, patriotism, and broad interest in art, music, literature, and 
athletics, as well as his scientific attainments, are the attributes that claim 
our homage. 
He was one of the few of America's eminent pioneers in plant pathology, 
the first graduate student to take work under Dr. W. G. Farlow, the first 
to take the doctorate in cryptogamic botany at Harvard. He taught plant 
pathology at Ames when the subject was in its infancy in America, and 
there also he began a series of publications on plant pathology. Inde- 
fatigable and full of enthusiasm as a worker and keen as an investigator, 
a bibliography of his titles would number approximately four hundred, with 
contributions chiefly to plant pathology, and plant breeding. 
Dr. Halsted entered Michigan Agricultural College in 1867 and was 
graduated in 1871. He entered Harvard University in 1874 and received 
the degree of Doctor of Science in 1878 with a thesis on the "Classification 
and Description of the American Species of Characeae." He was managing 
editor of the American Agriculturist for five years, then went to the chair of 
botany of the Iowa Agricultural College, which position he held from 1885 
to 1889, when he was elected to the professorship of botany at Rutgers 
College and the position of botanist of the New Jersey Agricultural College 
Experiment Station. In both institutions he endeared himself to students 
and faculty and laid broad, enduring foundations for botanical departments. 
1 Prepared at the request of the council of the Botanical Society of America. 
[The Journal for July (7: 261-304) was issued August 6, 1920.] 
305 
