ASA GRAY. 769 



delpbia. The pfarden, such as it was, was then put under the charge 

 of William Carter, a gardener, and the lectures oa botany were given 

 by T. W. Harris, the well-known entomologist and librarian of the 

 college, and Dr. A. A. Gould, of Boston. Not long before 1842, the 

 directorship of the garden was oflered to Mr. George B. Emerson, of 

 Boston, who declined the position soon afterwards accepted by Dr. 

 Gray in connection willi the Fisher professorship. 



On Dr. Gray's accession there was no herbarium, no library, only 

 one insignificant greenhouse, and a garden all in confusion, with few 

 plants of value. In 1844 he moved into the house which had been 

 built for Professor Peck in the Garden, and with his characteristic 

 energy he soon brought together an herbarium and library, and ar- 

 ranged the Garden systematically. At the time of his marriage a 

 small wing was added to the house, of which the lower story served 

 as a stud}' and herbarium until 1864. But the plants soon overran 

 the limits of the herbarium, and finally the wbole house was crammed 

 with plants — plants in the dining-room, in the attic, in the closets, 

 and in the bedrooms; for whatever he could spare from a salarj- of 

 $1,000 at first, and $1,600 afterwards, was spent on his herbarium 

 and library. In 1864, dreading the danger from fire to a collection 

 kept in a wooden house, he ofiered to present his collections to the 

 college, on condition that a suitable building should be erected for 

 their reception. Through the liberality of Mr. Nathaniel Thayer of 

 Boston, a brick building to be used as an herbarium and library was 

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

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

 of which was to be used in defraying the current expenses of the her- 

 barium. 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 CandoUe Herbarium at Geueva, and possibly that at St. 

 Petersburg. In the representation of the ph;i?nogams of North America 

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

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

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

 pam|)hlets, but these figures are |)rohably too low. Many of the addi- 

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

 H. Mis. 142 49 



