Abstract
THE last American mail brought the sad intelligence of the death of this indefatigable botanist, upon whom, in one sense, the mantle of Asa Gray fell barely four years ago. Early in the year he was seized with a bad attack of grippe, and although he rallied and was better for a time, he never recovered strength, and finally succumbed on the 9th inst., in the sixty-sixth year of his age. Of his early life we know nothing, but he appears to have published no botanical work previous to 1873, about the period that he was appointed Herbarium Assistant to Dr. A. Gray at Harvard. From that date, however, onward until within a few months of his death, he was, next to Gray, the most active writer on North American Phanerogams. Much of his work appeared originally in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, under the title of “Contributions to American Botany,“ numbered consecutively, the last being the eighteenth. These consist principally of monographs of North American genera and descriptions of novelties. He was also the principal author of the “Botany of California,” the last volume of which appeared in 1880; and since the death of Dr. A. Gray, he in conjunction with Prof. J. M. Coulter has edited the sixth edition of the deceased author's valuable “Manual of the Northern United States.” This work has been considerably decried by contemporary American botanists, because Watson did not introduce the changes in nomenclature consequent on a strict and unqualified observance of the law of priority. But in this conservatism he doubtless followed the wishes of his former master, and enjoyed the sympathies of those whose experience teaches them that it is much easier to make these changes in books than to carry them into practice. Watson had a still more important work in hand, for he had undertaken the continuation of Gray's “Synoptical Flora of North America.” How far this is advanced we do not know, but it is not probable that it will see the light on the same lines as the published volumes, or as he would have continued it. Unfortunately, an exceedingly useful work, commenced during the early part of Watson's engagement at Harvard, was never completed. We allude to his “Bibliographical Index to North American Botany,” which was only carried to the end of the Polypetalae. To a great extent, Gray's “Synoptical Flora” takes its place, so far as the Gamopetalae are concerned; but it is difficult to find one's way in the remaining groups. Though Sereno Watson was of a retiring disposition, and did not belong to the teaching body, nor take a prominent part in the gatherings of scientific men, yet the loss of him will be widely felt and deplored. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Linnean Society of London in 1890, but he was not a man who craved after honours and distinctions.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sereno Watson. Nature 45, 494 (1892). https://doi.org/10.1038/045494a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/045494a0