PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 
TWO CENTURIES OF NORTH AMERICAN LICHENOLOGY. 
BY BRUCE FINK. 
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 
Surely no apology is in order for offering here an address 
in which attention is directed for the short time to a 
limited field in one of the biological sciences. All men of 
science are interested to some extent in the history of the 
rise and progress of every phase of scientific inquiry, and 
even for the layman who may favor us with his presence 
this evening, it is hoped that the record of devotion, sacri- 
fice and completion of valuable work will afford something 
of interest. 
The history of American lichenology, so far as we have 
been able to trace its tangible origin, begins with the year 
1708, when appeared the first list of American lichens. 
However, lichenology in America is not a thing apart, but 
its beginning and much of its development are closely 
related to the work in Europe, begun considerably earlier 
and always in advance of our own. Lichens have for at 
least tw T o centuries excited more than passing interest in 
our own country, but we are yet too young a nation to 
have produced a large number of workers especially in- 
terested in a class of plants, comparatively inconspicuous, 
and having little economic value of such a nature that one 
may find a livelihood in their study. So it happens that 
lichens frequently receive some attention as objects of 
nature study both for children and adults, and are studied 
(ii) 
