Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/362

 356 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

Pacifio Ocean, and several kinds of new living plants, which I raised from the seed of his collecting which jon and himself were pleased to give me. In eon- seqnence of a hint to that effect, given me hj Oovr. Lewis on his leaving this City, I never yet parted with one of the plants raised from his seeds, nor with a single seed the produce of either of them, for fear thej would make their way into the hands of any botanist, either in America or Europe who might rob Mr. Lewis of the right he had to first describe and name his discoveries, in his in- tended publication; and indeed, I had strong reasons to believe this opiM>r-

tunity was coveted by which made me still more careful of the

plants.

On Governor Lewis's departure from here, for the seat of his government, he requested me to employ Mr. Frederick Pursh, on his return from a eolleet- ing excursion he was then about to undertake for Dr. Barton, to describe and make drawings of such of his collection as would appear to be new plants and that himself would return to Philadelphia in the month of May following. About the first of the ensuing November, Mr. Pursh returned, took up his abode with me, began the work, progressed as far as he could without further explana- tion in some cases, from Mr. Lewis, and was detained by me, on expectation of Mr. Lewis's arrival at my expense, without the least expectation of any future remuneration, from that time till April last; when not having received any reply to several letters I had written from time to time, to Oovr. Lewis on the subject, not being able to obtain any information when he might be expected here, I thought it a folly to keep Pursh longer idle, and recommended him as gardener to Dr. Hosack of New York* with whom he has since lived. The original specimens are all in my hands, but Mr. Pursh had taken his drawings and descriptions with him, and will, no doubt, on the delivery of them expect a reasonable compensation for his trouble. As it appears to me probable that you will interest yourself in having the discoveries of Mr. Lewis published, I think it a duty incumbent on me to give you {the Ms, is here torn) preceding infor- mation, and to ask your advice as to the propriety of still keeping the living plants I have from getting into other hands who would gladly describe and publish them without doing due honor to the memory and merit of the worthy discoverer. I am, sir, with the most sincere esteem, your well wisher, etc.

Bkhnd. McMahok

It is not necessary to philosophize on the sad state of those times when botanists were jealous of each other's new species. The part played by McMahon, the gardener, seedsman and botanist, as a sort of central, connecting Lewis, the collector, Pursh, the botanist, and Jef- ferson, the prime mover in the whole enterprise is clearly indicated.

Not to tarry longer, it may be said that from the seeds placed with McMahon and Hamilton for propagation at the hands of expert gar- deners came several plants well known to us all. The osage orange, or bois d'arc {Maclufu pomifera Schneider) in time came into very gen- eral use in the central and southern parts of the country as a hedge plant. Others are mentioned in subsequent letters.

On February 18, 1812, McMahon sent to Jefferson among other of Lewis's plants, (1) ^^ Bibes odoratissimum (Mihi), an important shrub, the fruit yery large, of a dark purple colour, the flowers yellow, showy and extremely fragrant*'; (2) Symphoricarpos leucocarpa (Mihi), which he described and to which he gives the English name of Snow- berry bush, which it still retains; (3) "The yellow currant of the

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