CHAPTER VI. 



LETTERS TO DARWIN AND OTHERS. 



1860-1868. 



As before stated, Dr. Gray's letters to Dr. Darwin 

 previous to 1862 have been destroyed, save the one 

 dated January 23, 1860, which was published in Dar- 

 win's " Life and Letters," and is here reproduced for 

 the convenience of the reader, as well as Dr. Gray's 

 letter of January 5, 1860, to Dr. Joseph D. Hooker, 

 also published in Darwin's " Life and Letters." The 

 original letters to Darwin later than 1862 have been 

 more or less injured, apparently by the ravages of 

 mice, so that in copying them it has sometimes been 

 necessary to supply missing words. Where these are 

 not obvious, the supposed words are enclosed in 

 brackets. 



The letters in this chapter also include the period 

 of the civil war ; into which, as they show, Dr. Gray 

 threw himself with all his earnestness. He helped as 

 far as he was able in every way. A company of the 

 men who were too old or otherwise incapacitated from 

 going to the front was enlisted in Cambridge to guard 

 the State Arsenal there, and also to be ready to be 

 summoned in any emergency ; and he joined the ranks 

 and was faithful in the drilling and every duty to 

 which they were called. It is hard to realize, in these 

 days, how all the community worked together in all 

 possible ways ; it was the business of life. 



