1888.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 63 



great, warm-hearted teacher had won the pupil to himself and to 

 botany forever. Had Asa Gray been a man of but medium attain- 

 menis, his transparent and unselfish goodness would alone have 

 made him a model teacher, whose example and whose memory a 

 student must have revered to the end. 



Yet of all this personal power which Gray the teacher wielded, not 

 a trace was due to toleration of half done work. On the contrary 

 if he had a characteristic which absolutely predominated, it was 

 thoroughness. Not once in years did I ever know him to rest satis- 

 fied until he had obtained from a pupil the best results possible 

 under the circumstances. From the outset he not only encouraged, 

 but required a student to see, think and conclude for himself: often 

 without aid from books and always without unnecessary aid from 

 him. This may appear to many as harsh treatment, but systems of 

 teaching can only be judged by their result, and in this light Pro- 

 fessor Gray's method stands abundantly vindicated. How wretched 

 the system of education which "crams" a lad with facts and leaves him 

 unable to stand alone when beyond the authority of the preceptor. 

 To the fullest extent Doctor Gray recognized this, and to prevent 

 such a result insisted on mental discipline which left the student 

 with a Avell-grounded confidence in his own powers. But on the 

 other hand a student never could learn presumptuous trust from a 

 teacher who had nothing of the kind himself Those who received 

 from Professor Gray the largest share of judicious "letting alone" 

 were the ones disposed to hunt an easy solution to their problems. 

 It was never enough to simply reach a result in work. His common 

 custom Avas to question and cross question until there could be no 

 doubt in the mind of either teacher or taught, that the result Avas 

 fairh^ obtained. Often the conclusion of the student Avas treated as 

 a thesis to be sustained. 



Dr. Gray not seldom assigned to his advanced students, subjects 

 for original investigation and of course required a Avritten report, 

 often for publication. Nothing shows more clearly his conscien- 

 tiousness as a teacher than his strictness concerning these reports. 

 It Avas not sufficient that the conclusions should be correct, but they 

 must be stated in exactly the right Avay. An artistic turn of a sen- 

 tence, making it graceful as avcII as logical, was in his CA^es of the 

 utmost importance. "There noAv, that is neatly stated," is an ex- 

 pression Avhich yet rings in my ears. It was uttered by Doctor 

 Gray, when at last I had succeeded in "putting a point" as he thought 



