Evening star., 1926-05-27

mendous part in the future of New
York city.
After graduating from the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania in 1871, and
later from Edinburgh. Scotland, DR..
Hosack diligently studied botany, first
under Curtis in his botanical garden
at Brompton. and then with James F.
Smith. Upor f)r. Hosack's return to
New York the country was made
richer by his gift to the Lyceun1 of
Natural History of duplicate OF the
Linnaean herba rum. which he had
brought with him from Europe.
In 1895 Hosack was made professor
of botany in Columbia College, and in
1897 professor of materia medica.
These two chairs he retained until
1911. when he resigned to accept the
professorshop of materia medica and
of clinical medicine in the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, where he
remained until 1926.
According to DR.. Francis, Or.
HoSack became the leading practi-
tic 1er of his time. and for 80 years
."yed Il large and lucrative prac.
t;ce. For 90 years he was one of
the physicians of the New York Hos
pital He attended Hamilton at his
fatal meeting with Burr, July II.
1904, and the following day remained
with Hamilton until his death. He
was one Of the organizers of the New
York Historical Society and for eight
years it's president. For several years
has was president of the New York
Horticultural Society. His views and
ideas were admired and his writings
were famed. From 1914 to 1924 he
edited with DR.. MitchilD the Ameri-
can Medical and Pathological Register,
in four volumes.
In all of this time. DIR. Hosack's
realization of the worth of a. sclen-
tific garden for medical purposes had
grown. end in 1898 he made request
that Columbia College should give a
small sum annually toward this proJ.
ect, to he an aid in the STUDY or
materia metlica Not succeeding in
obtaining this assistance. he applied
in 1900 TO the State Legislature foT
aid. but again failed. Still having
in mind the Rose Hill gardens at
Port Tobacco and the "Curtis" gar
dens at Brompton, England, Or.
Hasack determined to undertake the
work of establishing a garden at ms
own expense. According to the
Bulletin of the New York Botanical
Garden. volume 4, page 324
In so, he no%sh, }.,Gt 81 n So. city g. 1917 ss
60 and CD in al sbo4r from no
re street to- to Fifth:frst street and from Middle 70
ns r"sd aho, % bffs aSs"e Of sS'h
for So S07 80. in money. and nuit ZEN rem % 20
Is nsid bushels eSerH % MsT n or its eav
sieni in gold or Nrdc silver con We're mostly under
ctHatSm Ry isoo havnr tSs ahont 1000 Of
plants. with one SPACIOUS green no. nousf Sf 1So
tS9 Ss piots devoted to psqs
ncrcled by shrubs bs and nse wa anp feet
Sr.na Sish and snf"sea fMe and y oachaf feet thick
DR.. Iiosacks expenditures for the
garden exceeded his expectations ana
after failing to obtain assistance from
the LEGISLATURE, he was cornpel!eo, IN
1908, to offer the garden for sale: II
was not sold, however, until lelo'
when the State Legislature passed an
act entitled Act for promoting Meo'
ical Science in the state or ne"
York" This authorized the purchase
and the property thus passed TO the
People of the State at price o'
S74.26S15. just soS,00o less imam pr'
Hosack's outlay upon IT.
II is interesting to compare tn's
nrice with an estimate of the value
in 1915. In report of the Fifth Ave.
nue Rank Of New York. it is stated
that the tract upon which DR.. Hosack
laid out the E,lgin Garden. in ls"l, ny
1915 was worth S30.370.00n.
The Legislature directed. upon pur-
chasing the garden. that the place
should be used and employed tor the
benefit of the medical schools or the
state: that there should be no future
charge or expense to the State; and
that the physicians and medical stu
dents should at all times have access
TO E,lgin Garden free from any ex-
pense. Thus, as the regents OF the
college were forbidden to incur any
exnense to the State. the garden was
committed to the management OF the
College Of Physicians and Surgeons
in Nav, 1911, to be kept and pre-
served in a condition fit for all med
lcal purposes and open to medical
students"
In June of 1911 the garden was
leased for five years to Michael Denl'
son. DR.. Hosacks former gardener,
who agreed to keep it in good condl-
tion. In the meantime DR.. Hosack
was called to the chair of materla
medica and clinical medicine, and was
largely instrumental in the union OF
the College of Physicians and Sur
geons with the medical department
of Columbia. In 1912, at the time
of his lectures on botany before
classes of the college, DR.. Hosack was
able to make use of the garden IN
his teaching.
BY 1918, however, the garden need
4