xvi Obituary . — William Gilson Far low. 
(1879), a title which he bore until his death although he had not been 
engaged in active teaching for some years previously. 
The pamphlet contains striking evidence of the activity that prevailed 
in the cryptogamic department during the first twenty years of its existence, 
in the form of a list of the numerous papers, all relating to Algae or Fungi, 
published as the outcome of work accomplished within it. Among the 
authors, besides Farlow himself, are many whose names have since become 
well known, such as Thaxter, Humphrey, Davis, Richards, Burt, Peirce, 
Galloway. Were there a similar record of the doings of the department 
during the succeeding twenty years, it would be at least as brilliant as that 
of the earlier period. 
Farlow goes on to contrast the position of his study at the beginning 
and at the end of the period under review. He points out that whereas in 
1872 he had ‘found it impossible to obtain instruction in Cryptogamic 
Botany anywhere in the United States, there are in 1896 many institutions 
scattered over the country where a student can in a few weeks acquire the 
knowledge which it took the writer several years to gather together in 
different European countries ’. It is for us to say, what Farlow himself could 
not say, that this great change was, directly or indirectly, due to his own 
efforts. When it is remembered that these ‘ institutions scattered over the 
country ’ taught not only Cryptogamic Botany but all the other branches of 
the science as well, some idea can be formed of the revolution that had been 
brought about, affecting the national attitude towards Botany so profoundly 
that in no country in the world has botanical organization, both academic 
and practical, become more extensive and efficient than in the United States. 
Farlow had brought back with him from Europe not only the information 
necessary for his work, but also, what was far more important, the inspira- 
tion of the modern spirit, of which, as he points out, Sachs’s ‘ Lehrbuch ’ was 
to him the embodiment. Without at all under-estimating the value of his 
published work, it may be truly said that Farlow’s real significance is that 
of a pioneer or missionary. 
He readily associated himself with those who had been working on 
similar lines in this country, when they founded a modern and adequate 
periodical for the publication of the results of botanical research. He at 
once accepted the position of American Editor, and his name appears on 
the title-page of vols. i-xx of the ‘Annals of Botany’ (1887-1906). His 
co-operation was invaluable, and contributed largely to establish the friendly 
relations existing between English-speaking botanists on opposite sides of 
the Atlantic. 
S. H. V. 
