Q 



28 ASA GRAY. 



erected in 1864, at a cost of $12,000 ; aud, mainly through the agency 

 of Mr. G. B. Emerson, a further sum of $10,000 was raised, the in- 

 come of which was to be used in defraying the current expenses of 

 the Herbarium. From a letter by Dr. Gray to the President of the 

 University, dated November 20, 1864, and a notice in the American 

 Journal of Science of March, 1865, we learn that the Herbarium then 

 contained at least 200,000 specimens, and the library about 2,200 

 botanical works, not including a good many pamphlets. There was 

 also a set of 335 very costly illustrated works, contributed by Mr. 

 John A. Lowell. 



Since 1864 the Herbarium has been constantly enlarged, principally 

 by exchanges, of which those from the Kew Herbarium especially were 

 of very great value ; so that it is now probably twice as large as in 1864, 

 and forms practically a National Herbarium, for it is by far the largest 

 and most valuable herbarium in America, and is excelled in size by but 

 few of the older and richer herbaria of Europe, as those at Kew, Paris, 

 Berlin, the De Candolle Herbarium at Geneva, and possibly that at St. 

 Petersburg. In the representation of the Phosnogams of North America 

 outside the tropics, it is probably unequalled by any herbarium except 

 that at Kew. The library at the time of Professor Gray's death was 

 roughly estimated to contain something over 5,000 volumes and 3,000 

 pamphlets, but these figures are probably too low. Many of the addi- 

 tions since 1864 are the gift of Dr. Gray. In building up this vast 

 collection, he gave not only much of his time and thought, but also an 

 actual sum of money, which comes well up in the thousands, and, to 

 crown all, manifested his devotion to the welfare and perpetuation of 

 the collection by bequeathing to the University for its support the 

 royalties on his publications. 



The Garden during his administration was improved by the addition 

 of several greenhouses, in which were cultivated a choice selection of 

 exotics, and the rather limited space of the Garden itself was filled with 

 good representatives of the flora of the temperate regions, the collec- 

 tion of Compositce being especially important. In the absence of a suf- 

 ficient endowment, activity on the part of the Director had to replace the 

 want of money, and he, utilizing the means at hand, succeeded in mak- 

 ing the Garden an exceedingly important means of exchange between 

 foreign establishments and our own botanists and collectors. European 

 botanists who visited the Garden wondered how, from such a small and 

 ill-endowed establishment, so much had been done in aid of other insti- 

 tutions. The explanation lay in the skill and energy of Dr. Gray 

 himself. 



