CHAPTER H. 



EARLY UNDERTAKINGS. 



1831-1838. 



DR. GRAY'S autobiographical fragment closes ab- 

 ruptly, and is valuable chiefly for the glimpse which 

 it gives of his ancestry and his boyhood. He kept 

 no diary, but he carried on a voluminous correspond- 

 ence, and his letters thus contain a record of his 

 hard-working, eager life. The earliest tell of the 

 struggle for position, his doubts if his loved science 

 could furnish him a maintenance, and his resolution 

 to make any sacrifice if he could devote himself to 

 its study. His wants outside of appliances for scien- 

 tific investigation were few, and he had a hopeful 

 temper. He said in later life that when he was ready 

 for anything it always came to him, and he never 

 dwelt upon the hardships of his early years ; indeed, 

 he forgot them. 



After leaving Fairfield Medical College he divided 

 his years between teaching in Bartlett's school in 

 Utica (some of his old pupils still recall his field 

 excursions with his class, and his eager delight in 

 the search after plants), in journeys botanical and 

 mineralogical, and in some shorter and longer stays 

 in New York, where for a good portion of the time 

 he was a member of Dr. John Torrey's family. Dr. 

 Torrey was a keen observer, a lively suggester of new 



