of the old Mountain House at Cresson, which stood at the willows, on the north-west side of the railroad and the pike. Charles Sumner was a guest there during his convalescence after the Preston-Brooke affair. Dr. Jackson was a surgeon in the 3d Pennsylvania regiment in the three months' service, and reenlisting became medical inspector of the 23rd army corps, which position he was filling at the time of his death.
He was while at Cresson a member of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia, the American Association of Science, the American Medical Association, the Medical Society of Pennsylvania, the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Pittsburg, and of the Lyceum of Jefferson College at Canonsburg. He was the author of a volume named “The Mountain.” The preface is dated Cresson, Pa., July, 1860. The reader will not be entertained as by a romance, but he will gain a vast amount of information on almost every topic relating to the Allegheny mountains, especially in Cambria county. He points out that the soil is good for most everything which grows in this climate, however, reserving that Indian corn does not flourish very well, excepting one or two varieties, as the seasons are too short.” He is enchanted with hydrology and minutely describes all the mineral springs at or near Cresson. The “Ignatius Spring,” also known as the sulphur spring, which is about a half-mile south of the old Mountain House, he writes was named for “the venerable huntsman Ignatius Adams, who first discovered its life preserving powers.” And adds; “by drinking this water, dwelling in the woods and eating venison, he had lived to near the good old age of one hundred years.”
If the Doctor gave as much attention to the actual study of the flora of the mountain as his book indicates, it is a valuable production. He apparently describes every tree which grew there. He states that the white ash frequently attains to five feet in diameter and 120 feet in height; the sugar maple, 110 feet, and also the rock and curly maple the same height. In referring to the beech he says: “It would seem in the beech the spirit of grace and beauty had found its most appropriate image and symbol of perfection.” The Canadian fir-tree familiarly known as the “hemlock” is very abundant. They sometimes attain a circumference of 20 feet with a height of 130 feet. “The white pine is scattered over the whole mountain in almost every position, rocky heights, or ravines, but prevails exten-
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