63 



fc» "-"^ x^«.^...^ 



while especially prominent is the great family of the Compositas, 

 to which Dr. Gray has been so devoted. You were almost 

 always sure, on going past the house to the herbarium, to see 

 him either working at his study table, which was in the centre of 

 the room, or bending over his microscope, which stood in the 

 east window. A fireproof building, annexed to the house in 

 1864, contains the Library and Herbarium, both the gift of Dr. 

 Gray, who said to the writer not long ago, *' I have been all my 

 life accumulating this library for you younger botanists to work 

 with/' The library now contains about 8,000 books and pamph- 

 lets, while the Herbarium ranks among^ the leading herbaria of 

 the world. 



In 1842 appeared the first edition of T/ie Botanical Text- 

 Book, comprising an Introduction to Structural and Physiologi- 

 cal Botany and the Principles of Systematic Botany, with an 

 account of the chief natural Families of the vegetable Kingdom, 

 and notices of the principal officinal or otherwise useful plants. 

 This work was published shortly after his removal to Cambridge, 

 having been written previously in New York, in the midst of his 

 other engrossing labors. This w^ork^ so ably written in that 

 clear and lucid style that characterizes all his writings, quickly 

 passed through the first edition, and a second, third, fourth and 

 fifth edition appeared in the years 1845, 1850, 1853 and 1857. 

 Volume I of the sixth and last edition, pubHshed in 1879, 

 under the same title, was entirely new, the other editions having 

 been rewritten in good part. This edition it was decided to 

 divide into distinct volumes, to better treat of the wide range of 

 subjects, Dr. Cxray writing the first part, which treats of Struc- 

 tural Botany or Organography on the Basis of Morphology, to 

 which is added the principles of Taxonomy and Phytography 

 and a Glossary of Botanical Terms. Volume II, on Physio- 

 logical Botany, by Prof Geo. L. Goodale, was published in 18S5. 

 Volume III, on Cryptogamic Botany, by Prof Wm. G. Far- 

 low, is soon, it is hoped, to appear, while Volume IV, on the 

 Natural Orders of Ph^nogamous Plants, Dr. Gray, said neariy 



ten years ago, that he rather hoped than expected himself to 

 draw up. It is certainly not to be wondered at that he never 

 accomplished it. 



