SKETCH OF PROF. GRAY. 491 



The laboring-man, fatigued by the wearisome hod, takes his noon- 

 ing in any sequestered spot ; but his inactive brain requires not sleep 

 to refresh it, for no task has been imposed upon it, and he needs but to 

 rest his limbs in the pleasant shade. A too prolonged exertion is fol- 

 lowed by muscular irregularities, cramps, exhaustion, and rheumatic 

 incapacities, effects disagreeable enough, but generally of temporary 

 duration, and with little or no permanent effect on the general consti- 

 tution or on succeeding generations. 



SKETCH OF PEOF. GKAY 



WHEN we enumerate the few great living botanists, the list must 

 include Dr. Asa Gray, Fisher Professor of Natural History at 

 Harvard University. To the average reader, this may not imply any 

 great distinction, as a botanist is too commonly looked upon as merely 

 one who can call plants by name. Making specimens and naming plants 

 no more make a botanist than taking an altitude makes an astronomer. 



It is not our purpose to show here the scope of botany, nor to con- 

 sider its claims to an equal rank with other departments of science. 



Suffice it to say that it affords exercise for the keenest observation 

 and the most skilful diagnosis ; that the closest reasoning, the most 

 thoughtful weighing of evidence, the acutest application of the logic 

 of facts, in short, those qualities of mind that are required in any other 

 scientific pursuit, are demanded of one who would take a high rank as 

 a botanist. We would not be understood as speaking disparagingly of 

 the humbler laborers in botany, for each one in his way does something 

 for the general good. In all sciences the units are accumulated by pa- 

 tient workers whose isolated facts seem to have but little importance of 

 themselves, but, when brought by some master-mind into relation with 

 other facts, they often prove to be the missing links to a heretofore in- 

 complete chain. 



Prof. Gray was born at Paris, Oneida County, New York, Novem- 

 ber 18, 1810, and took the degree of M. D. at Fairfield College in 1831, 

 but relinquished the medical profession for the purpose of prosecuting 

 the study of botany. He was appointed botanist to the United States 

 Exploring Expedition, in 1834, but, in consequence of the delay of that 

 enterprise, resigned his post in 1837. He was elected Professor of Bot- 

 any in the University of Michigan, but, before that institution went 

 into operation, he took the position of Fisher Professor of Natural His- 

 tory in Harvard University, in 1842, where he now is. 



One of the earliest if not the very first contribution of Dr. Gray to 

 botanical literature is his " North American Graminese and Cyperaceae." 

 Two volumes of this were published in 1834-35, each containing a 

 hundred species, illustrated by dried specimens. Several new species 



