750 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS. 



bel, already old, but still actively engaged ia investigations upon vege- 

 table anatomy; Spach ; Decaisne, then a young aide naturaliste at the 

 Jardiu des Plautes, of which he was afterward to become the distin- 

 guished director ; Auguste St. Hilaire, the naturalist of the Duke of 

 Luxembourg's expedition to Brazil, and at that time in the full enjoy- 

 ment of a great reputation earned by his works upon the Brazilian flora ; 

 Jacques Gay ; Gaudichaud, the naturalist of the voyage of L'Urauie and 

 LaPhysicienne; the young Swiss botanist Bdmond Boisser, the Spanish 

 traveler, and later one of the most important contributors to systematic 

 botany in his classical "Flora Orientalis;" Adrien de Jussieu, grand- 

 nephew of Bernard, and sou of Laurent de Jussieu, himself a worthy 

 and distinguished representative of a family unequaled iu botanical 

 fame and accomplishment, 



" At Montpellier Dr. Gray passed several days with the botanists 

 Delile and Dunal, and then hurried on to Italy, where at Padua, in the 

 most ancient botanical garden iu Europe, he made the acquaintance of 

 Visiani, at that time one of the principal botanists in Italy. At Vienna 

 he saw the learned Bndlicher, the author of a classical " Genera Plan- 

 tarum;" and at Munich, Von Martins, the renowned Brazilian traveler, 

 the historian of the palms, and the earliest contributor to that stupen- 

 dous work the " Flora Brasiliensis," which bears his name ; and here, too, 

 was Zuccarini, the collaborator with Von Siebold in the "Flora Ja- 

 ponica." Geneva then — as at the present time, was a center of scientific 

 activity; and there he made the personal acquaintance of the De Can- 

 dolles, father and son, and worked in their unrivalled herbarium and 

 library. He saw Schlechteudal at Halle ; and at Berlin, Klotzsch, Kunth, 

 and Ehrenberg, — familiar names in the annals of botanical science. 

 Alphonse De Candolle and Sir Joseph Hooker alone are left of the bril- 

 liant group of distinguished naturalists who cordially welcomed the 

 young American botanist in 1839." * 



Dr. Gray also, while abroad, performed a great service for the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan iu superintending the selection of works for the 

 nucleus of its library ; and the University showed its appreciation of his 

 judgment and of the benefit to the institution, by honoring him and 

 itself at its semi-centennial celebration the past summer by conferring 

 on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. 



Again at home, and now well equipped for conquering dififlculties 

 about American species, he went at the Flora with new vigor. The first 

 volume was completed by Torrey and Gray in 1840 and the second in 

 February, 1843. In the interval between these dates, during the sum- 

 mer of 1841, Gray spent five to six weeks in a botanical excursion through 

 the valley of Virginia to the summits of the high mountains of North 

 Carolina. A letter about the trip, addressed to Sir William J. Hooker, 

 published in this Journal in 1842, first gives an account of the excur- 

 sions into these regions by his predecessors, Bartram, Michaux, and 



*rrom a sketch of Pr. Gray by Pr<if. C. S. Sargent, 



