510 
RAYMOND J. POOL 
of the main groups of the plant world. This monumental work was 
begun many years ago, the first paper in the series dealing in particular 
with the higher plants being entitled: ''The Phylogeny and Taxonomy 
of the Angiosperms" which was read as the address of the retiring 
president of the Botanical Society of America at its third annual 
meeting at Toronto, Canada, August 17, 1897. This paper contains 
a further statement of the thought and principles of a still earlier 
production — "Evolution and Classification" — which was given as 
the vice-presidential address of the chairman of the botanical section 
of the American Association at the Madison, Wisconsin, meeting in 
1893. For a quarter of a century Professor Bessey worked upon the 
"phyletic idea" in taxonomy, the above papers being among the 
earlier ones upon that subject. His last paper entitled: "The Phylo- 
genetic Taxonomy of Flowering Plants" was one of a memorable 
series of papers read by invitation at the Twenty-fifth Anniversary 
Celebration of the Missouri Botanical Garden, at St. Louis, October 
15, 1914. The gathering at St. Louis at that time was his last meeting 
with the botanists of America. 
But after all has been said about all of the other features of this 
great man's life we still must conclude that the most powerful and 
far-reaching effects of his captivating magnetism were recorded in 
the classroom, in the laboratory, in the college and in the university 
as a teacher and guide for the young. Professor Bessey utilized this 
potential to the limit, for he was one of the greatest teachers that 
the world has known. His powerful presentation of subject matter 
in the classroom was magnified by a personality which, because of its 
quaint paternal cordiality, won the admiration of thousands of 
students. 
His lectures, delivered with a heavy clear voice and in non-technical 
phraseology, were always illustrated by means of quickly executed 
blackboard sketches which served at once to portray morphological 
features graphically and to drive home to the students' understanding 
exactly what he was talking about. He was so skilled with this 
method that he seldom used charts or diagrams prepared before class 
time. His small alarm clock and the black cloth-covered record book 
with pencil attached were inseparable adjuncts to every lecture. 
Among the many services Professor Bessey rendered to the teaching 
of botanical science that might be mentioned was the introduction in 
1873 at Iowa Agricultural College of the laboratory method of instruc- 
