Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/283

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PARRY 251

general F. M. Chase) is borne by a peak of the Snowy Range, to the northwest of Empire City.

Besides contributing largely to the col- lections of his botanical friends and of various societies at home and abroad, he made for himself one of the finest herbaiia in the land, a collection, systematically classified and arranged, comprising over 18,000 determined specimens representa- tive of nearly 6,800 species, together with some 1,400 specimens determined only as far as the genus.

To bring the Mexican rose into cultiva- tion, for example, he made an extra trip into Lower California. He was at espe- cial pains to introduce the remarkable Spiraea csespitosa or "tree moss," found in the Wasatch Mountains. Every re- gion he explored was viewed not alone with the botanist's searching eye, but was studied as well in its topographical and climatic aspects, as affecting its economic possibilities.

Deeply affectionate, almost extrava- gantly fond of children, and with a sense of humor which often sparkled in his home conversation, he was yet so reticent that only the intimate few were aware of these traits in his character. With no expensive habits and almost no wants save knowledge, he looked on money as of value chiefly for the amount of this it could procure and diffuse.

Dr. Parry discovered during his exten- sive explorations hundreds of new plants afterwards described by Dr. Gray and by Dr. Engelmann, and his name is firmly fixed in the history of West American botany. While his greatest service has been rendered to botanical science, yet horticulturists will not soon forget that it was Dr. Parry who discovered Picea pun- gens, the beautiful blue spruce of our gardens ; Pinus Engelmanni, Pinus Torre- yana, Pinus Parryana, Pinus aristata, and a host of others of beauty and value. Through his zeal and enterjDrise many plants now familiar to American and European gardens were first cultivated. Zizyphus Parryi, Phacelia Parryi, Frasera Parryi, Lilium Parryi, Saxafraga Parryi,


PARRY


Dalea Parryi, Primula Parryi, and many other plants of great beauty or utility bear his name in commemoration of his labors and worthily do him honor.

In the vicinity of San Diego, in 1 882, as Mr. Orcutt further relates, "he redis- covered the little fern Ophiglossum nudicaule, which he had first found in 1850, and which ever since had been unseen. In the neighborhood of Todos Santos, or All Saints Bay, were discover- ed the new Ribes viburnifolium, Parry's Mexican rose (Rosa minutifolia, Engel- mann), and a dwarf horse-chestnut (Aesculus Parryi) among other new plants;" also, later, in the same region, "the new spice bush (Ptelea aptera. Parry)." The Parry lily (Lilium Parry,) Watson) was discovered in 1876 on the ranch of the Ring brothers in Southern California, near San Gorgonio Pass.

A tolerably full list of his writings can be seen in the "Proc. of the Davenport Acad, of Science," vol. vi.

Parry died on the twentieth of February, 1890, at his home in Davenport.

C. H. P.

Parry, John S. (1843-1876).

John S. Parry, a Philadelphian obstet- rician, the only son of Seneca and Priscilla S. Parry, was born on the fourth of Janu- ary, 1843, in Drumore, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

His mother, when widowed, worked her farm and educated her four children well. John was known as a boy as "the Uttle doctor," and when seventeen studied medicine under Dr. I. M. Deaver, then matriculated at the University of Penn- sylvania, and took his M. D. there in 1865.

When he became a resident in the Philadelphia Hospital he had an oppor- tunity of studying an epidemic of puer- peral fever and gathering notes for a valu- able paper. On leaving the hospital in 1866, he married Rachel P., daughter of William and Annie Sharpless, of Phila- delphia, and settled to practice in that town, but acted as visiting obstetrician to the Philadelphia Hospital and with his