SOME AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANISTS

One of the first reuniting links between England and the Pilgrim Fathers was a floral one. Confronted at the outset with epidemics incidental to acclimatization and poor sanitation, the few doctors in America eagerly scanned the ponderous herbals they had brought over and searched the country in hopes of finding the well-known febrifuges and other remedies they had used in the old country. Ship's captains were given letters to friends asking for plants and seeds required, but these, too, received after interminable delays, had to become acclimatized. In searching for remedies many new and wonderful plants were discovered and sent as specimens or exchanges to the great European botanists, arousing their eager interest in the new country and a great desire to have such plants in the botanic gardens then flourishing.

Boerhaave at Leyden was in the habit of making large exchanges, and Dr. Fothergill, who sent us the anatomic