REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 89 



mercy. Blessed are the pure iu heart, for they shall see (lod. Blessed 

 are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.' So 

 appropriate were these words that scarcely one of those present could 

 refrain from tears, realizing how great, how benevolent, how sim[)le- 

 hearted had been the friend whom they had lost." 



A memorial meeting was held January 11,1888, iu the lecture-room 

 of the Columbian University of Washington, under the Joint auspices of 

 the Philosophical, Anthropological, and Biological Societies of this city, 

 at which addresses were made by members of the several societies 

 commemorating the lite and scientific work of Professor Baird. 



An oil portrait of Professor Baird, of life-size, painted by Mr. Henry 

 Ulke, of this city, was purchased by the Regents for the Institution. 



PROFESSOR ASA GRAY, REGENT. 



In addition to the loss of our honored Chancellor and Secretary, the 

 Institution has further been called upon to mourn the decease of one of 

 the oldest and most distinguished members of the Board of Regents, 

 Dr. Asa Gray, whose death took place on the 30th day of January last 

 (1888), and brought the mournful loss not only of a great man of sci- 

 ence, intimately and long connected with the Institution, but of one 

 personally endeared to all who knew him. 



Professor Gray may be said to have been identified with the Institu- 

 tion from its very beginning as a chosen and trusted counselor of its 

 first Secretary, and an active member of the Board from January, 1874. 



Born iu the town of Paris, Oneida County, N. Y., on the 18th of No- 

 vember, 1810, Professor Gray was at the time of his death, therefore, 

 over seventy-seven years of age, though few would have so supposed, 

 judging from his continued activity and vigor. lie was graduated at 

 the Fairfield College of Physicians and Surgeons, Herkimer County, 

 N. Y., in 1831, as doctor of medicine. Relinquishing, however, his pro- 

 fession, he devoted himself to the study of botany under Profissor 

 Torrey ; and he prosecuted for years this branch of natural history 

 with such zeal and energy as ultimately to even surpass the tame of 

 his distingushed preceptor, and to become the acknowledged chief of 

 Am<irican naturalists in his chosen field. 



In 1842 he was elected the Fisher professor of natural history at 

 Harvard College, a position he retained for more than thirty years. 

 From this college he received, in 1844, the degree of A. M., and from 

 Hamilton College, in 18G0, the degree of LL. D. He published various 

 botanical manuals and systematic treatises, several of which becaiuc 

 universally-accepted popular text-books. He was one of the original 

 members of the National Academy of Sciences, iiuiorporated by act 

 of Congress Maich 3, 18G3. Fronj 18G3 to 1873 he was president of the 



