The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-11-12

tans. nor did tho first member OF his family
who emigrated to this country reach 1t In the
seventeenth century. His great. great-grand-
father was one Of many Scotch Irish colonists
who. In 1719. came from Londonderry to
Worcester. Mass. Robert Gray. his great
grandfather. died In Worcester In 11G8. One OF
Roberts children Moses Wiley Gray the grand
father OF the author Of these letters, removed
in 1894 to Oneida county. New York. and set-
tled In tho sauquoit Valley. where he died in
1903 At this time Moses Gray. the father OF
Asa was in his eighteenth year. He used to
say that he had only SIX weeks OF schooling. 1t
n certain that, soon after his fathers death
Moses was apprenticed to a tanner and currer
at Sauauoit, and here. in 1870 Asa Gray was
born in q little house. which had boon n
shoe shop on the premises OF the tan
yard. Some months lnter. his father
and m other removed to Paris Furnace Hollow.
now called Clayville. and sot up small tan
nery there. or this. Asa Gray long retained
some vivid rscolloctons. especially those con-
neeted with the first use to which he was put.
namely. the driving round the ring OF the old
horse which turned bark mill and tho supply
ing the said mill with its grist Of bark. Hewas
sent to q neighborinE district school when
three years old. His earliest "reminiscences Of
school are OF spelling matches. in which. at six
or seven years Of age he became a champion
We find In o foot note an anecdote relating to
this period. neighbor who survived to q
great ago was fond. 1t seems. OF recounting q
story OF DR.. Gray's boyhood which he said no
had from DR.. Gray's father. One day the boy
had been sent to hoe q certain amount OF corn.
and his father found him reading instead OF at
his work. He gave the boy his choice to finish
his task and then read comfortably. or to sit
there in the field all day in tho hot sun and
read. He chose to read all day. and his father
then made up his mind that no might mako
something OF scholar. but would never make
farmer. 1t was. accordingly. decided to give
him better education than tho district school
afforded. and during year or two OF early
boyhood he was sent to private school taught
by son the pastor OF the parish.
At the age OF IL or nearly he was despatched
to the Clinton Grammar School. nine. miles
away. whore he was drilled after a fashion
in the rudiments Of Latin and Greek for
two years. excepting the three summer
months. when he was recalled to assist In the
cornfeld and bayfield,. From Clinton Gram
mar School he was transferred to Fairfield
Academy. and 1t was intended that he should
20 to college. but his father being sraitened for
money at the time. persuaded him to give UP
that idea and to enter at once upon the study
of medicine. which he did. beginning with the
session OF 1S26-27. at the country medical
school In Fairfield. He had already. 1t seems.
attended it's courses In chemistry. given by
Prof. James Hadley. his earliest scientific ad-
wiser. In those days he had n passion for
mineralogy. as we'll as for chemistry but in
tho winter OF 1929 he picked up and read
with lively interest the article Botany" in
Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopedias. He at
once bought Eaton's Manual OF Botany"
and pored over its pages. In the following
spring he sailed forth into the woods. found
an early specimen OF a plant in flower. and
with tho help OF Eaton's manual ran it down to
Its scientific name.
This pleased him and no went on collecting
aud examining all tho flowers he could lay his
hands on. After taking his degree OF NJ D. at
the Fairfield Medical School In the session OF
1829-3O. . little before he was 81 years Old. no
went to New York. bearing letter ofintrodnc-
ton to DR.. Torrey. the author Of Flora Of the
Northern United States" He also took parcel
of plants to be named. Unfortunately Dr.
Torrey was out OF town. The neIt winter how
eyer. he wrote to DR.. Gray. naming the latter's
plants and inviting the correspondence which
continued for many years. Dr. Gray must
have already convinced the professors at
the Fairfield Medical School that his acquire
ments In botany wore relatively considerable
for. In 1881. he was invited to deliver a course
OF lectures on the subject Not loLG afterward
he was appointed professor OF natural sciences
at Q school kept by Mr.. Bartlett in Utica.
and for two or three years. he taught chemis-
try. mineralogy and botany to boys. making
with them botanical excursions through the
nsighboring counties. The summer vacations
hb devoted to botanizinG in central New York.
northeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
One OF those summers he took Prof.
Hadley's place at Hamilton College, Clinton,
and gave course OF instruction in botany and
mineralogy. In the following winter he got u
furlough from the Utica school that he might
accept DR.. Torreys invitation to be his assist
ant during a course OF chemical lectures in
the Now York Medical School. the principal
attraction to Gray being the privilege OF living
near. the herbarum. 1t was in Decemb err
1884. that he read to the Lyceum OF Natural
History paper on the new or rare plants of
tho State Of New York. 1t was also about this
time that no began the long series OF his con-
tributions to the american journal OF Science
In 1885. while passing the summer on his
fathers farm. he blocked out and partly wrote
his Elements OF Botany" which was pub
lished In Now YORK In 1886 and brought him
$50 In the autumn OF the same year he was
appointed curator Of the Lyceum Of Natural
History in New York. and this city became his
homo for q yeaS or two. While in Now York
he assisted DR.. Torrey in beginning the Flora
OF North America" two parts OF which were
About this time no was appointed professor
of natural history In the newly chartered
University OF Michigan. the trustees Civ
ing him years leave OF absence In
Europe. together with salary for that year
OF $l.5OO. and putting into his hands $4,000
with which to lay foundation for their gen.
eral library. At Glasgow he was the guest Of
DR.. William ]. Hooker. who. going up to Lon
don with him. introduced him to Bentham.
took him to tho Royal Society and to the Lin
imam Society. and gave him a full supply OF
letters to Continental botanists. In Paris he
met most OF the eminent French botanists and
formed acquantances which afterward were
kept up by correspondence. At Geneva no
saw the De Candoles. father and son. to whom
many OF the letters in these volumes are ad-
dressed. On his return homo he found Michl,
gan University ready to give him furtherfur-
Tough Of year or two without pay so he again
took hold OF Flora OF North America" and
by June OF 1910 had issued two additional
parts. In the spring Of 1874 the first part OF