The Holland Society of New York - Yearbook (New York, NY)

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li fu -- 5 23- .. Gigli- igf Wflf. lin, 'A :fir ,J-:1 .1 'lf '13 1 +-, V: . 5 farf. Q17 -Qi? i -4, '31 i 'O' Y 5 TE! .' S51- 44- ,35- :- i. - I if Q ' Q I . . f f 7-5 .+- Q- 8 -5 . Q, .A ' ,lr r ,1. ti,if-Sf, jf gi . . VA, ,a f sf 252 'G 114 ,. , ' P . . . -fi., 5-U ' . 1 'sd 't , . :j1, ' QQ, ' ' 'XE in -Q 4 ' -5-r . ' ' ' A 1 I 5 I 111. 'iii fn, . A. 59. , JM, M, V , if ' :fi if .Y vi' :Al IL, If i, 'fag ,G '. .4 it r K ' - C 1 ...ai fp s T' M, .M Y' .. 5 lx '34 f-5 :i, is 4. 5. - .N i ' ,la L 1 JJ grip L 1 Iii 1? .L ., fy 3, ., .' ...JN l el- V Q... ., Um,- - at i., L1 ' ,ati ng 4 '1' l.i,l-gxssl , 3 vp' 'I' 1. ?!: itz 1 ,fill if' 5 5 il 'liiiilifif . fi' - A Wliai 4' fl 9 x fl: .. ..v i I 'Milli . . pt- .: 'Ii '+ , ...V - 4-1-- 1 L 1.-w..-1 5. .5 , ..,. -5 vi' I r L15 .. . 5 .- ..i I -' .1-7' . 1 , is 1:1 if . f- ' .1 - .im -3 I Q v .im v' Q. -. - 'V . , , I king: ,r .47 H. S U -6 . iii' . fir V ligififii 2 fl'lE3lf ll' 1i f'fl i s :,,'., 2 31,26 1 'HI 5' NL 'g flin ..,'i hill Z slir 'Q i id!! 'fx S 32 f nh, E ' , if ii! . gf I z- 2 1 I ' s il 5 l ,,: if-fi at fi 5 xp. A. fn Pig .5 n. , 1, fu! -F u- :- 251' io- f', .V ,, ,.,., .gg W . , , i .Wi 1 ig-1. 4, 1... ,. '. Y . 1 4 .N 5 4-- i ii E. l3Qg' i. wr-- 1 4, - , 1 X 'ME - Q 'V' g ily' f fl ' . iiaii- ' I . . wg.. 2 ' . .J . . t JZ-l SW J - i ,., ,. ', fl' 1, ' '-4 , ,1,,. il Q . -.. , i. . , . 1.1 - 1 .,.I, ,, ' i ' i .ui- rl: ,.i 248 College and Institute, and other learned institu- tions on various natural science subjects. . He perfected the -Holtz Electrical Machine, building one for Vassar College and one for Stevens Institute. But, although very inventive, he never would allow his contrivances to be patented. . He visited Florida and made large collections of the birds of that State, Cthen very much more abundant than now,D and also secured a number of ine skeletons and skins of alligators, all of which he presented to Vassar College. He, of-ten spoke of the pleasure this collecting trip gave him, and was very proud of the fact that of the several hun- dred bird-skins-many of them very minute- not one had been mutilated by careless shooting. ' In 1876 he was induced to enter the business world again to assist a friend-a fellow-apprentice at Matteawanf-and furnished a large part of the capital of a machinery company in New York City. This reinvestment of his capital marked a turning point in his hitherto successful financial career, and when he iinally retired from business in 1 894 he had lost the bulk of his fortune. During all of this busy life in the machine works of Matteawan, Fishkill Landing and New York City he -had always found time-for nature study. He was an enthusiastic and expert microscopist, and an-authority on some of -the lower orders of plant life, especially the diatomaceae. i r He was one of the founders of the American Microscopical Society, which was the first society of its kind in this country, and served as its treasurer -until his death. He was also for a considerable time the president of the New York Microscopical Society. - In late years, beginning about 1886, he became interested in photography and was one of the founders of the first amateur photographic society in New York, the Camera Club. General pho- 'Gqgraphy soon gave place' to special work, and, his tastes always turning towards botany, it

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247 shortly after reaching his home September 3, 8 8 1 2 , and before his only child, born October 5, 1827, during his absence, at his grandfather Van Norden's house in Leonard Street, had completed his first year. A few years later the Widow removed with her t F' son o ishkill village, Where in 1835 she married judge Joseph I. Jackson, of the Supreme Court of Dutchess County, and here at the village school, and later with some private tuition Mr Van Bru , , t nt received his education and prepared to enter Union College. He passed the examinations, but at this juncture his step-father decided against college training for him and apprenticed the lad to the Matteavvan Machine Works. This event seems to have been the single bitter recollection of a very happy childhood and early youth. . h He Was very ingenious and- inventive, with a natural capacity for mechanics, and soon out- Stripped his fellow-app1'GgT1131QSS, bems allowed bY the management to take individual contracts long before he had attained his majority. One of these was a portion of the iron Work-the coliimpslios the old Crystal Palacenof New York CNY-' nm bg- WaY he had earneglllguite a nleagtcgplpppof money 1S EL Te A M ' forleihpgligaii iifgid 595611251 others estalpiiipgi -E132 Fishkill Landing Machine Worlgs at Fi? ltgct and Hudson, and it was largely.OW1118 to 15 UCCGSS- management that this business was .runtie Civil fully and uninterruptedly, SVSU iimngan Bmnt WHT, and that in I869' when T. mfortable retired from it, he had made a CO Q une. , - - forgfom that tim? mm I8i7f12ii-ebiisiiiisiu keepsief and' haiimg no reg to those scientific abled to turn his attention this heart. Duf- Pufsuits which always lay nealigss he was President ing this period of seven yea . Gf the Poughkeepsie Academy of Sciences, and lectured frequengy before that bodY, Vassar

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249 Eitigirally followed that floral photography bgcame pecia ty, and to h1m belongs the hono f th finest work ever done in ' , 'B r O e Oil-tiging its Originator' this line as well as that 1S eep interest in the succ ' , ment Of .the New York Botanicafsggildjitavglisgh at that time existed mostly in the hopes of, botan- 1S'CS, WHS the impelling cause of his first lecture on 'QT he Wild Flowers in and about New York City given -early 1n the nineties before the Torrey Botanical Club, for he 'very truly surmised that the interest of the New York public would be aroused by seeing its own wild flowers, growing within its own city limits, thrown upon the screen in all the beauty of natural colors and often lovely environment, as in Bronx Park, the longed-for abode of the Botanical Garden. From that time until the close of the 'last season -June, 1 9o3 ,-he lectured frequently in New York, Brooklyn and elsewhere, though he was averse to accepting out-of-town invitations, partly be- cause of the additional exertion, but principally because his interests all lay in his native city. r r Thus floral photography came to be the latest branch of scientific work that he followed, and it was followed to the last-even after the beginning of his last illness-with an enthusiasm, a aeal, and a persevering industry almost incredible in a man of his years. 0 1 The results were o.f steadily increasing excel- lence,--some of the latest work being the best he had ever done. His love of microscopic effects led him to photograph his Horal subjects, when possible, in detail, and some of the recent en- largements of the minute parts or organs of plants are beautiful and instructive. A U He rarely strayed from the floral field, but 111 18 8- he made some wonderful enlargementsof 9 9 the silk worm and other mothS, 35 Well as ahselilis if fb t e hundred negatives showing t e 1 'e ?1iSi'f:OI?3ilQfO01:11' Common milk-weed. butterfly. Th1S