Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 73.djvu/501

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BOTANY AT ST. LOUIS
497

was resumed on the twenty-first, and on July 13 they reached Franklin, then the uppermost town of any importance on the Missouri. Here Baldwin was left behind at the house of Dr. Lowry, where he remained until his death on August 31. During his stay in Franklin Baldwin botanized as much as his limited strength would permit, and entries were made in his diary as late as August 8, the date of the last entry. A list of plants found around Franklin by him during this time attests the earnestness with which he pursued his beloved science. The journals of the expedition show that he collected about one hundred species in the vicinity of St. Louis and on the Missouri to Franklin.

His companions all unite in praise of his devotion to science and his persistence under such extremely trying circumstances. Notwithstanding his extensive travels and his earnest study of the botany of several different sections of this country and of South America, he published but little. Two short articles, presented for publication just before starting with the expedition, are all that are known to have been published by him. He left numerous manuscripts and notes which have aided Torrey and Gray in their work on the flora of America. His herbarium was extensive and very valuable, and has contributed much to the works of Pursh and Nuttall. Baldwin also contributed to Muhlenberg's catalogue, and he maintained an active correspondence with many of the foremost botanists of his day. Nuttall has honored him by naming a genus of the Compositæ Baldwiniana, and has thus connected him in a most permanent manner with that science to which he so earnestly devoted himself.

The Long expedition proceeded and on September 17 went into winter quarters near Council Bluffs. Major Long meanwhile went east, and on his return brought with him Dr. Edwin James, who had been appointed to take the place of Dr. Baldwin.

Edwin James[1] was born in Weybridge, Vermont, on August 27, 1797. Edwin was the youngest son of Deacon Daniel James, who was a native of Rhode Island, and had moved to Vermont at the beginning of the Revolution. In youth he was very industrious and applied himself to his studies with perseverance. His education was obtained at the district school, and later he attended Middlebury College, where he graduated in 1816. Subsequently he studied medicine with his elder brother in Albany, New York, for three years. During this time he became interested in botany and the natural sciences, which were then being taught by Professor Amos Eaton. Upon the recommendations of Captain Lewis Le Conte and Dr. John Torrey he was appointed to the place left vacant by the death of Dr. Baldwin. The trip with Major

  1. Thwaites, R. G., "Early Western Travels," Vol. 15.
    Parry, C. C, Amer. Jour. Sci. and Arts, 2d series, 33: 428-430, 1862.
    Sargent, C. S., "Silva of North America," 2: 96, 1891.