ASA GRAY 213 



cal College of the Western District," at Fairfield. His medical 

 training was a patchwork of lectures at the college and study in 

 the offices of practicing physicians, chiefly that of Dr. John F. 

 Trowbridge of Bridgewater; but it continued for five years, when 

 in 1831 he received the degree of M. D., a few months before he 

 was of age. His medical studies, however, served chiefly to intro- 

 duce him to botany, which became a growing desire throughout 

 his preparation for a medical career. 



Fortunately we have Gray's own record of his distinct "call" 

 to botany. He says that during the winter of 1827-28 he chanced 

 to read the article "Botany" in Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclo- 

 pedia, and this aroused so greatly his interest in the subject that 

 he bought Eaton's Manual, read it eagerly, and longed for spring. 

 When the first flowers appeared, he tried his Manual, and he tells 

 us that "spring beauty" (Claytonid) was the first plant he named. 

 This seems to have been like putting a brand to a mass of dry fuel, 

 for his interest became a consuming one, and the fire was never 

 extinguished. The call came, therefore, not 

 inspiration of a teacher, but directly from Nature; and_to_rnost 

 great naturalists the call has come in this way. ~ 



In the botany of that day there was a peculiar charm to the real 

 naturalists, for it meant the forest and the field, the "search for 

 hid treasure," the triumphant discovery, the gradual accumulation 

 of material, the ever-widening horizon of "exchanges" and 

 friendships. To-day botany has made very great advances, and 

 there are many botanists who have never had these inspiring 

 experiences; but those who have had them recall the old thrill as 

 a beautiful memory. When Asa Gray became interested in bot- 

 any, the classification of plants chiefly of flowering plants 

 was the whole of botany; and it remained so in America well 

 through his long life. In a certain sense, North America was then 

 virgin territory, and its rich flora was awaiting discovery and 

 description. Naturally this was the first duty of American bot- 

 anists, and it was a task that bred enthusiasm, just as the dis- 

 covery of a new country is more exciting than its cultivation. 



With the collection and naming of plants there came naturally 



