lilNNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 89 



him ; quiet and retiring in disposition, he bound his friends 

 staunchly to him by his nobility of character and sympathetic 

 nature. 



William Ferguson wa^ born some time during 1820. He 

 arrived in Ceylon in December 1839. During his early career 

 as surveyor in that colony, he suflered terribly from exposure 

 to the climate. Several times liis life hung- in a balance from 

 inflammation of the lungs, malarious fever, dysentery, and 

 hepatic abscess. He afterwards became Superintendent of works 

 to the Colombo Municipality : but tlie position was rendered 

 irksome by the annoyances from some members of the Board. 

 During his long residence of -18 years in the Island he noted 

 many occurrences iu natural history, which were freely given to 

 other writers, such as Sir Emerson Tennant aud Dr. Tliwaites. 

 Plis sympathies were extended to all branches of natural history, 

 and ' Ferguson's Handbook,' 1885-86, gives a list of sixteen books 

 or papers written by him on Cingalese botany and zoology. 



He died early in tlie morning of August 1st, 1887, and was 

 buried the same eveniug in the Greneral Cemetery at Colombo. 

 His connexion with the Linnean Society dates from 6th February, 

 1862. 



No heavier loss has this year befallen the Society than the 

 death of Asa Gtkat. Not only was he the foremost American 

 botanist, and took rank in the world-wide community amongst 

 the leaders in botanic science, but to very many of us he was far 

 more as a dear personal friend, a delightful companion, and a 

 skilled adviser. 



He was born at Sauquoit, in the township of Paris, Oneida 

 county, state of New York, on 18th November, 1810, and when 

 a few years old his father removed to Paris Furnace, there set- 

 ting up a tannery. He was nearly twelve before he weut to 

 school, at first at the Grammar School at Clinton for two years, 

 and then at the Fairfield Academy ; thence he was transferred to 

 the Fairfield Medical School, his father wishing young Gray to 

 study the medical profession. Whilst here, in the winter of 1827 

 -28, Gray met with the article " Botany " in the ' Edinburgh 

 Encyclopaedia,' and it so deeply interested him that he at once 

 bought a copy of ' Eaton's Botany ' and longed for the spring. 

 Henceforward collecting plants became his chief delight. In the 

 spring of 1831 he finished liis medical course and took his degree 

 of M.D. 



Before this he had corresponded with Dr. Lewis C. Beck, a 

 prominent botanist at Albany, whilst Dr. John Torrey, whose 

 name was afterwards to be so closely linked with Gray's, named 

 a collection for him. His first course of botanical lectures was 

 given as Dr. Beck's substitute, aud iu 1833-3-1 he lectured on 

 botany and mineralogy at Clinton for Prof. Hadley, an old pupil 

 of Dr. Eli Ives. 



