5o8 
RAYMOND J. POOL 
to California to give a series of botanical lectures in the university 
the following winter. The invitation was accepted and resulted in 
the appointment of Professor Bessey as a temporary ''Lecturer on 
Botany." 
In 1879 the University of Iowa conferred the degree of doctor of 
philosophy upon Professor Bessey in recognition of his publications in 
botany and as a partial reward for what he had already accomplished 
for the state of Iowa. 
After having served the state of Iowa and its Agricultural College 
faithfully and efficiently for a period of fifteen years there came in 
June, 1884, notification that he had been elected professor of botany 
in the University of Nebraska. He went to Lincoln but found nothing 
in botany at the institution that had called him, and^he was reluctant 
to leave the accumulation of his labors at Ames to go to a new state 
to build up another department from the very beginning. So he 
declined. A second offer was made in August of the same year. After 
another trip to Lincoln and a consultation with the regents this posi- 
tion was accepted and his inaugural address was delivered in Septem- 
ber, 1884. 
In Nebraska he began at once to collect data with reference to 
Nebraska grasses and the other plants of the state, and to make ad- 
dresses. With the late Governor Furnas he organized the first series 
of Farmers' Institutes, which thereafter were periodically enlivened 
by his presence. 
Bessey was a power among his fellow scientists, who were to be 
found in all parts of the world. From the time he first met Gray at 
Dubuque he seldom missed one of the annual gatherings, and he 
always took a keen interest in the administration of the various 
societies and in the scientific programs. The esteem of his associates 
was often reflected by the offices to w^hich he was elected. In 1872 
he became a member of the American Association and in 1880 was 
elected a fellow in the same. In 1889 he was president of the Society 
for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, and also of the Western 
Society of Naturalists. He was vice-president of the American 
Association and chairman of Section G (botany) in 1893, 1894, 
1902, and 1907. He was also a charter member of the Botanical 
Society of America, of which he was president in 1895. That same 
year he was also president of the department of science of the National 
Educational Association. He was chosen to be botanical editor of 
