388  Memoir  of  Edson  Sewell  Bastin,  {AmA^nsiPis^m 
chemistry,  a  fact  which  points  to  his  broad  knowledge  of  nearly  all 
branches  of  science.  Soon,  however,  he  was  assigned  to  the  chair 
of  Materia  Medica  and  Botany.  In  1878  he  met  a  sad  loss  in  the 
death  of  his  wife,  who  left  him  one  son,  Edson  S.,  only  three  months 
old. 
In  1883  he  resigned  from  the  Chicago  University  in  order  to  give 
his  whole  time  to  the  College  of  Pharmacy,  and  in  the  same  year  he 
was  married  to  Ellen  Beardsley  Reed. 
During  the  next  several  years  the  world  commenced  to  see  some 
of  the  results  of  Professor  Bastin's  labors.  He  first  established  a 
botanical  and  microscopical  laboratory,  then  issued,  in  1887,  his 
first  book,  the  "  Elements  of  Botany,"  which  in  1 889  appeared  in  a 
second  edition,  enlarged  and  entirely  rewritten,  under  the  title  of 
"  College  Botany."  It  has  been  adopted  by  a  large  number  of  insti- 
tutions not  connected  with  pharmacy. 
In  1890,  after  having  resigned  his  position  in  the  Chicago  College 
of  Pharmacy,  Professor  Bastin  entered  upon  his  duties  as  Professor 
of  Botany  and  Materia  Medica  in  the  school  of  Pharmacy  in  North- 
western University.  Here  he  organized  his  second  botanical  and 
microscopical  laboratory,  which  was  a  model  of  completeness.  In 
May,  1 89 1,  he  was  again  left  desolate  by  the  loss  of  his  wife,  and  in 
August,  1892,  he  was  married  to  Abbie  Beardsley,  who,  with  two 
little  daughters,  survives  him. 
Up  to  this  time  Professor  Bastin's  writings  had  been  largely  con- 
fined to  his  text-books;  but  in  1892  several  papers  appeared  in  The 
Apothecary  from  his  pen,  viz.:  "The  Flora  of  the  South  Shore  of 
Lake  Michigan,"  and  "  Starches  in  Root  Drugs."  He  also  published 
contributions  on  "  Plant  Hairs,"  "  Notes  on  Vegetable  Histology," 
"Plant  Crystals,"  and  "Detection  of  Stem  Admixtures  in  Root 
Drugs." 
In  the  autumn  of  1893,  Professor  Bastin  was  called  to  the  chair 
of  Botany  and  Materia  Medica  in  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Phar- 
macy. This  position  gave  him  the  opportunity  to  carry  on  the 
research  work  which  it  had  long  been  his  aim  to  do,  and  he 
entered  upon  his  duties  with  an  immense  amount  of  enthusiasm. 
Notwithstanding  the  interruption  and  distraction  necessarily  accom- 
panying the  moving  of  his  family  to  a  new  city,  he  had  in  one  year 
established  the  third  botanical  and  microscopical  laboratory  organ- 
ized by  him,  he  had  conducted  two  large  classes  through  a  college  year 
