Journal of Medicine, for March, 1845, an account of his observations, 
(made in autumn) on the flora of the prairies of Illinois. He 
traversed the central portions of the state, and returned by a different 
route, which gave him an opportunity of seeing and examining the face 
of the country and its productions, under a great variety of aspects. 
Being an enthusiastic botanist, and traveling in a light covered wagon 
well prepared for making extensive collections, his ooservations are of 
great value, and add much to our knowledge of the peculiar vegetation 
of the central portions of the state. I cannot resist the temptation to 
copy a few of his very graphic descriptions: 
"In a geographical point of view, the surface of Illinois may 
be very appropriately, as it is naturally, divided into three districts. 
First--the heavily timbered tracts which, for the most part, occupy 
the southern portion of the state, bordering on the Ohio river, and 
which, extending into the middle and northern portions, are found 
in detached bodies, surrounded by prairies, and in these situations 
are called ’groves.' These e-roves are, for the most part, contiguous 
* 
t to and often bounded by water courses, which have preserved them from 
J the action of fire. Secondly--the open prairies of from one to twenty 
* miles in diameter, entirely destitute of trees, and indeed of all 
other woody plants, except along the margin of water courses which 
occasionally pervade them. Thirdly—the 'barrens,' or tracts somewhat 
intermediate between the two former, being sparsely covered with oak 
trees of several different kinds, and of considerable size, with a dense 
undergrowth of various shrubs and annual plants. The third region 
bears a close relationship, both in appearance and productions, to 
the districts in Kentucky, which are called 'barrens'- -tracts of 
country which seem to be in a state of transition from more open 
