188(>. ] 
SKETCH OF CURTIS. 
55 
one of the most distinguished, would never be written. Happily, Dr. 
Thos. F. Wood, of Wilmington, IST. C., an old friend of Dr. Curtis, has 
recently published, in the “ Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scien¬ 
tific Society,” for the year 1884-1885, pp. 9-31, "‘A Sketch of the 
Botanical Work of the Key. Moses Ashley Curtis, D. D.,” which 
gives an admirable account of his career. Nearly all the facts of per¬ 
sonal history in this brief account are drawn from the article of Dr. 
Woods’, and the writer here begs leave to express his thanks to that 
gentleman for permission to use these facts and for other information 
kindly furnished, lie has also liad recourse to the brief account in 
Silliman’s Journal, Vol. 105,'p. 391 (1873). 
Moses Ashley Curtis was born May 11th, 1808, in Stockbridge, Mass. 
His father was Eev. Jared Curtis, of that place, and his mother a 
daughter of Gen. Moses Ashley. He graduated at Williams College, in 
the class of 1827, when only nireteen, and three years later went to 
Wilmington, N C., as tutor in the family of Gov. Dudley. It is quite 
evident that he had ecquired a strong taste for out-door life and for bot¬ 
anizing, during his youth, among the Berkshire hills, for at once he ea¬ 
gerly began the study of plants about Wilmington, not only determining 
the species, but observing the habits of the peculiar plants of the region. 
Dr. Wood presents a charming picture of the young tutor at this period, 
as follows : “ Especially on Saturdays, he made excursions among the 
sand-hills and savannahs near Wilmington. At that time, Wilmington 
was a village of about 4,000 inhabitants, and the field for botanizing 
existed where now are busy streets. Close up to the village reached the 
pine forests, abounding with a flora rich and novel to the enthusiastic 
young botanist, while the savannahs, with their strange and interesting 
Sarracenia, Pyxidantliera and Droseras^ and the thousands of gaudy 
heads of Liatris and the brilliant yellows of Coreopsis and Solidago 
charmed the eye and filled his portfolia. * * * He found absorbing 
pleasure in the quiet of the fields and forests ; and no doubt he looked 
forward to the holiday with eager expectation, that he might exchange 
the constrained duties of the school room for the freedom of the woods 
and for pleasant intercourse with the old and new floral friends he was 
to meet. *** He was habitually accurate in his studies, and the 
results were early relied upon by his correspondents. Coming into a 
new field of botanical study, it was quite natural that he should have 
directed his attention to the habits of the very local Dionma muscipula. 
Saturday after Saturday, he would visit the savannahs, and, lying at 
length upon the ground, would watch its peculiarities.” 
The result of this loving study was the completion, in T 33, and the 
publication, in 1834, in the Boston Journal of Natural History, 
Vol. 1, of his first contribution to science, an “ Enumeration of 
Plants gromhng Spontaneously around Wilmington, N. C.” 
Remarks were added on new or obscure species. His account of Dionma. 
was extended, and his observations and conclusions so accurate and care¬ 
fully expressed that, at present, there is little in his account that, living. 
