334 ASA GRAY. 



Gray was the De Candolle of America, whose mission it was to bring 

 together the scattered and crude works of the earlier explorers and 

 botanists and the vast unwrought material of his own day, and to com- 

 bine them with his surpassing skill into one grand comprehensive work 

 which should fitly describe the flora of a continent. But while recog- 

 nizing the resemblance between De Candolle and Gray in their mode 

 of work and the purpose for which they strove, we can only marvel 

 how it was possible for a poor farmer's boy in America, without a 

 university education, to become the peer of oue of Europe's best 

 trained botanists. 



From his training and early surroundings we might have expected 

 him to be energetic and original, but we should not have expected to find 

 him highly polished and cultured. His associates at Fairfield and Clin- 

 ton were persons of scientific tastes, and, even if their attainments were 

 not of the highest quality, they encouraged his fondness for natural his- 

 tory. But it is not easy to see how he obtained the literary training 

 which enabled him to write with the ease and elegance found even in 

 his earlier works, for although a man may by nature be a good observer 

 of natural objects, a finished style comes only with training and expe- 

 rience. From his teacher, Avery, he could not have received much in 

 the way of training; for Dr. Gray himself says that he did not give 

 him the sharp drilling and testing which was needed. His residence 

 with the Torrey family in New York first placed him in a society 

 where literary excellence as well as scientific knowledge was prized ; 

 and while he profited by the accuracy and strict scientific methods of 

 Dr. Torrey, then the foremost American botanist, the frequent conver- 

 sations and kindly criticisms of Mrs. Torrey made good many of the 

 literary deficiencies of his early training. He was also aided while in 

 New York by the criticisms and suggestions made on some of his earlier 

 manuscripts by the cultured botanist, Mr. John Carey. But he must 

 have been an apt pupil, for, while still with Dr. Torrey, he showed 

 that in point of clearness and accuracy he was not much inferior to his 

 highly respected teacher, and in the second volume of the " Flora" he 

 proved himself to be quite his equal. 



The plan of the " Flora of North America" originated with Dr. 

 Torrey ; but when his pupil went to Cambridge to assume the duties of 

 his new position, neither of them suspected the magnitude of the task 

 which they had undertaken, nor the modifications which the plan must 

 ultimately undergo. The pupil was now in a more fortunate position 

 than his teacher, for Gray was henceforth able to devote himself to his 

 favorite science, while Dr. Torrey could only employ his leisure hours 



