Thurber, George, and Woolson, George Clark, compilers

George Thurber, botanist, naturalist, and editor, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, September 2, 1821 and died at his home near Passaic, New Jersey, April 2, 1890. In his early years he devoted himself eagerly to the study of chemistry and natural sciences in general, but especially to botany, so that at an early age he was already well known as one of the most prominent botanists of the country. This brought him in close intimacy with John Torrey, Asa Gray, George Engelmann, Louis Agassiz and other emminent scientists, whose warm friendship he enjoyed until his death.

In 1850 he obtained the appointment as botanist, quartermaster and commissary of the United States Boundary Commission for the survey of the boundary between the United States and Mexico. During the following four years his botanical work consisted mainly in the exploration of the native flora of these hitherto unknown border regions. His herbarium collected there comprised a large number of species new to scientists, some of which have been named after their discoverer, Cereus Thurberi being one of the most important; it is now cultivated for its fruit in the desert regions of North Africa. This historical herbarium formed the subject of Dr. Asa Gray's important work "Plantae Novae Thurberinanae," published by the Smithsonian Institute.

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