Page:Early History of Medicine in Philadelphia - George W Norris.djvu/115

 has been justly styled one of the fathers of natural history in North America, and that in his specialty he was preeminent, and was pronounced by Linnæus to be the greatest practical botanist whom the world had seen. He established on the banks of the Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, the first botanical garden in America, corresponded with many of the distinguished philosophers of his time, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, as well as of several other scientific associations of Europe, and was made American Botanist to King George the Third, which appointment he held until his death in 1777. In 1751 he published an edition of Dr. Short's "Treatise on Plants," with an appendix containing a description of the medicinal properties of those peculiar to America, which is, I believe, the first attempt at the formation of an American Materia Medica. He performed many journeys in the pursuit of his favorite study, and published "Observations on the Inhabitants, Climate, Soil, etc., made in his travels from Pennsylvania to Onondaga." At the age of seventy he travelled through East Florida, in order to explore its natural productions, and afterwards published a journal of his observations. He died on the 22d of September, 1777, aged seventy-eight years.