220 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



suing from Cambridge; and the present student of the American 

 flora can hardly find a region of his subject that is not underlaid by 

 a substratum of Gray's work. The amount of such work, when 

 Gray's numerous other publications are considered, is surprising. 

 In addition to his tireless industry, he had a remarkable quickness 

 for discerning characters, seeing at once what many would have 

 to obtain by the drudgery of analysis and patient comparison. 

 At one time the writer was preparing a monograph of a small 

 family of plants under the direct supervision of Dr. Gray. In 

 the course of the work a snarl of confusing forms presented 

 themselves, and the most laborious examination brought no 

 satisfactory results. The material seemed too abundant to 

 classify, for intermediate forms persisted in contradicting every 

 suggestion as to grouping. Into the midst of this situation 

 Dr. Gray came, and spreading out the troublesome forms upon 

 a series of tables so that his eye could run over them all at once, 

 with surprising quickness he pointed out characters that proved 

 to be exactly the trail that was needed. To see Gray run through 

 a bundle of newly arrived plants was a revelation to the cautious 

 plodder. Every character he had ever met seemed vivid in 

 his memory and ready to be applied instantly; and the bundle 

 was "sorted" with a speed that defied imitation. It seemed 

 like intuition, but it was vast experience backed by a wonderful 

 memory; perhaps it could be called genius. Besides this facility 

 for work, Gray's descriptions were marvels of aptness and 

 lucidity. As his long-time friend W. M. Canby has written, 

 he had "a rare faculty of conveying his own knowledge to others 

 J^y ftfnt ft Uff ar> daccurate description." When one compares 

 Gray's brief but complete descriptions, containing no unnecessary 

 or inappropriate word or phrase, with the long, labored, repetitious 

 and ineffective descriptions of many systematists, this characteri- 

 zation will be appreciated. 



Turning from Gray's work as the great organizer of systematic 

 botany in North America, to his work as a teacher, hij 



Contact with students, his large correspondence, and his text-books 

 are all to be considered. Perhaps no more intimate description 



