332 



GRAY, ASA. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



by Harvard, while that of LL. D. came to him 

 from Hamilton in 1864, from Harvard in 1875, 

 and from McGill in 1884. In 1887, on the 

 occasion of his last visit to Europe, he was 

 everywhere received with distinguished honors. 

 Cambridge gave him the degree of Dr. Sc., 

 Edinburgh gave him her LL. D., and Oxford 

 her D. C. L. In 1874 he was appointed a re- 

 gent of the Smithsonian Institution, succeed- 

 ing Louis Agassiz in that office. He was 

 elected a fellow of the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences in 1841, was its president in 

 1863-'73, and in 1871 presided over the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence, delivering his retiring address at the 

 Dubuque meeting on "Sequoia and its His- 

 tory." Dr. Gray was one of the original mem- 

 bers of the National Academy of Sciences, but 

 afterward passed to the grade of honorary 

 membership. Besides his connection with 

 societies in this country, he was either corre- 

 sponding or honorary member of the Linnean 

 Society and the Royal Society in London, and 

 of the Academies of Sciences in Berlin, Munich, 

 Paris, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and Upsala. 

 He was a large contributor to periodical litera- 

 ture, and his separate papers include nearly 

 two hundred titles. For many years lie was 

 one of the editors of the " American Journal 

 of Science," and his " Botanical Contributions " 

 were long published in the " Proceedings of 

 the American Academy of Sciences and Arts." 

 He also wrote biographical sketches of many 

 who have achieved eminence in science; of 

 these the more important American subjects 

 were Jacob Bigelovv, George Engelmann, 

 Joseph Henry, Thomas P. James, John A. 

 Lowell, William B. Sullivant, John Torrey, 

 and Jeffries Wyman. On his desk at the time 

 of his death was left the unfinished necrology 

 for 1887 of botanists. Dr. Gray's series of 

 text-books are used throughout the United 

 States, and have passed through many editions. 

 They include "Elements of Botany" (New 

 York, 1836), republisshed as "Botanical Text- 

 Book" (1853), and now called "Structural 

 and Systematic Botany " (1858); "Manual of 

 the Botany of the Northern United States " 

 (Cambridge, 1848; 5th ed., New York, 1867); 

 " First Lessons in Botany and Vegetable 

 Physiology" (New York, 1857); "Botany for 

 Young People and Common Schools," com- 

 prising " How Plants Grow " (1858) and " How 

 Plants Behave" (1872); "Field, Forest, and 

 Garden Botany " (1868), which has been bound 

 with the " First Lessons in Botany " under the 

 title " School- and Field-Book 'of Botany " 

 (1875); "Structural Botany or Organography, 

 with Basis of Morphology" (1879), being the 

 first volume of the series called "Gray's Bo- 

 tanical Text-Book " and " Elements of Botany " 

 (1887), which is a revision of the " First Les- 

 sons in Botany." The funeral services were 

 held on February 2 in Appleton Chapel of 

 Harvard, and his remains were buried in Mount 

 Auburn Cemetery. Of the several memoirs 



of his life, that by Walter Deane (with por- 

 trait), in the " Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical 

 Club" for March, 1888, and that by William 

 G. Farlow, in the "Memorial of Asa Gray," 

 issued by the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences" (Cambridge, 1888), are the most 

 important. See also a "List of the Writings 

 of Dr. Asa Gray, chronologically arranged," 

 with index, in the "American Journal of Sci- 

 ence" for September and October, 1888. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, UNITED KING- 

 DOM OF, a monarchy in western Europe. The 

 reigning sovereign is Victoria I, Queen of 

 Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of In- 

 dia, who was born on May 24, 1819, and suc- 

 ceeded to the throne on June 20, 1837. The 

 heir -apparent is Albert Edward, Prince of 

 Whales, born Nov. 9, 1841, and the next in suc- 

 cession is his eldest son, Albert Victor, born 

 Jan. 8, 1864. 



The legislative power is vested in the House 

 of Lords and House of Commons, constituting 

 together the Parliament of the British Empire, 

 which holds annual sessions, usually lasting 

 from the middle of February to the end of Au- 

 gust. The House of Lords, in the session of 

 1887, consisted of 560 members, made up of 5 

 peers of the blood royal, 2 archbishops, 22 

 dukes, 20 marquises, 120 earls, 29 viscounts, 

 24 bishops, 294 barons, 16 Scottish representa- 

 tive peers, and 28 Irish representative peers. 

 Twelve new peerages were created in 1887. 

 The reform bill of 1884, with the redistribu- 

 tion-of-seats act of 1885, fixed the number of 

 seats in the House of Commons at 670, of 

 which England and Wales fill 495, Ireland 103, 

 and Scotland 72. 



The total number of registered electors in 

 1887 was 5,848,173, of whom 4,492,875 be- 

 longed to England and Wales, 779,389 to Ire- 

 land, and 575,909 to Scotland. The county 

 electors in England and Wales numbered 2,582,- 

 610 ; in Ireland, 662,741 ; and in Scotland, 326,- 

 055. The borough electors numbered 1,895,- 

 440 in England and Wales, 112,556 in Ireland, 

 and 235,450 in Scotland. The university con- 

 stituencies furnished 14,825 electors in England 

 and Wales, 4,092 in Ireland, and 14,404 in Scot- 

 land. The members of Parliament receive no 

 compensation. 



Most of the members of the present Cabinet 

 were appointed on Aug. 3, 1886. It is com- 

 posed as follows : Prime Minister and Secretary 

 of State for Foreign Affairs, the Marquis of 

 Salisbury ; Lord High Chancellor, Lord Hals- 

 bury, formerly Sir Hardinge S. Giffard ; Lord 

 President of the Council, Viscount Cranbrook, 

 formerly Gathorne Hardy; Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer, George Joachim Goschen; Secre- 

 tary of State for the Home Department, Henry 

 Matthews ; Secretary of State for War, Edward 

 Stanhope; First Lord of the Treasury, William 

 Henry Smith ; Secretary of State for the Col- 

 onies, Sir Henry Thurstan Holland ; Secretary 

 of State for India, Viscount Cross, formerly Sir 

 Richard Cross; First Lord of the Admiralty, 



