THOMAS JEFFERSON IN RELATION TO BOTANY
By RODNEY H. TRUE from The Scientific Monthly, Volume 3. 1916
During the next decade, that preceding his first presidency,
Jefferson found his time very largely occupied with the duties
involved in the positions of Secretary of State, under Washington,
and Vice-president with John Adams, but incidentally he serves as
President of the American Philosophical Society, he writes an essay
on the study of Anglo-Saxon, he drafts the famous Kentucky
resolutions, makes preliminary plans for an educational institution
which in the later years of his life became the University of
Virginia, and prepares a parliamentary manual, still in very
general use in legislative assembles. During this period he was
the recognized leader of the newly formed Republican party and
as such was involved in what was perhaps the most bitter
partisan contest ever waged in our political history.
During this period there are many incidental proofs of his con-
tinued pleasure in botany as when on April 1, 1792, at Mrs. Trist's
desire he sends to Benjamin Hawkins:
"about a dozen beans of three different kinds, having first taken toll
of them as she has done before. They are of the scarlet flowering kind.
This is all I know of them. The most beautiful bean in the world is
the Caracalla bean, which though in England a greenhouse plant, will
grow in the open air in Virginia and Carolina. I could never get one
of these in my life. They are worthy your enquiry."
On June 2, 1793, writing from Philadelphia, he does a good turn
for his friend John by writing to James Madison:
"Bartram is exceedingly anxious to get a large supply of seeds of
the Kentucky coffee tree. I told him I would use all my interest with
you to obtain it, as I think I heard you say some neighbors of yours
had a large number of trees. Be so good as to take measures for bringing
a good quantity, if possible, to Bartram when you come to Congress."
During his stay in Paris from 1784 to 1789, Jefferson had made
the acquaintance of many men of science, and his reputation brought him
many correspondence-acquaintances. When, therefore, the French Rev-
olution, later became European chaos through the deeds of Napoleon,
many men of science found little opportunity to pursue their studies.
Jefferson received letters from several of these friends who desired a
quiet haven in America. The University of Geneva, with Edinburgh,
declared by Jefferson as the "eyes of Europe" was involved in the
general disaster. Washington, having received a present from
Virginia in the shape of some shares in the Potomac and James
River Companies, desired to place them where in some far-reaching
way they might work for the public good, and before bestowing them
sought Jefferson's advice.
With a boldness which was characteristic of him when great
opportunities were in sight, Jefferson proposed
to Washington the transfer bodily of the University of Geneva to
some place near the Federal city (Washington) where it should become
the beginning of the National University of America. He proposed
the organization of a professorship in agriculture which should
present this branch in a series of lectures. The University was
not transferred and Jefferson's glorious dream faded. One can not
but ponder what such a transfer would have meant to America. The
germ of the most important work in plant physiology lay in two
members of that faculty. Through the epoch-making work of Theodor
de Saussure and of Jean Senebier, aided by their above condemned
Austrian colleague Ingenhauss, the foundations for the understanding
of the processes of photosynthesis and respiration were laid. At
the time this bold conception captured Jefferson these men were
approaching their prime, only a few years later to dazzle the world
of science with their brilliant achievements. Had that work been
performed at the new National University of America situated near
the Federal city one of the great ideals of Jefferson's life
would have been realized.
