342 ASA GRAY. 



that Gray was treading on delicate ground, scientifically if not theologi- 

 cally speaking, when he affirmed the direction of variation in beneficial 

 lines. For what is meant by beneficial ? Beneficial to whom ? Bene- 

 ficial for what purpose ? In one sense, any variation which tends to 

 enable a living being to survive in the struggle for existence is benefi- 

 cial ; and to say that any being or structure has survived is the same 

 as saying that the variation from which it sprang was beneficial. But 

 Gray apparently uses the word beneficial in the sense of being fore- 

 ordained to be beneficial. 



Perhaps we must look to inheritance itself for an explanation of the 

 difference in the views of Gray and Darwin. The Gray family were 

 devout members of the Presbyterian Church, and throughout his life 

 Dr. Gray adhered faithfully to the orthodox faith of his fathers, 

 his own views being in harmony with those of the liberal branch 

 rather than with those of the conservative branch of that communion. 

 The agnostic position of Darwin may perhaps be inferred from his 

 own description of himself and his father as belonging " nominally 

 to [the] Church of England," an expression which leads one to be- 

 lieve that he was hardly to be counted a member of that or any other 

 denomination. When a young man, Gray certainly had no leanings 

 towards evolution. In his review of the " Vestiges of Creation," in the 

 North American Review of 1846, he wrote : "Although 'geology fully 

 proves' that there have been various creations, that different species were 

 created at different periods, and that some of the humblest and simplest 

 first appeared, while land animals, quadrupeds, quadrumana, and bimana 

 were not introduced until after the earth was fitted for their residence, 

 yet we are still to be convinced that they were not then created as per- 

 fect as they now are." But he was convinced later, when he studied 

 the relations of the North American flora to that of Asia, and he ac- 

 cepted without hesitation the view that the present species are not 

 special creations, but derived from previously existing species at a time 

 when the truth of the theory was scarcely recognized by any naturalists, 

 and at a date when in the public mind a belief in evolution meant athe- 

 ism. He had the courage to avow openly his convictions, but, on the 

 other hand, never allowed his convictions to be governed by wild 

 speculations. 



But we who have known Asa Gray so many years would now recall, 

 not the great botanist, but rather the kind-hearted, genial man, whose 

 sympathy cheered and whose wisdom guided, — whose heart was ever 

 young, whose brain was ever active. His long life, unclouded by great 



