Asa Gray : His Life and Work. 341 



which resulted in a close relationship and a life-long friend- 

 ship. For a time he studied botany under Dr. Torrey, but 

 he soon made such rapid strides that he was no longer 

 under but with him in united labor. Together they 

 botanized in northern New York and in the Pine-barrens of 

 New Jersey. In the same year he became Dr. Torrey's 

 assistant in the Chemical Laboratory in the College of 

 Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. But he 

 remained in this Medical School only a year or so, as it was 

 not on a sufficiently flourishing financial basis to warrant 

 Dr. Torrey in continuing to employ an assistant. Torrey 

 was instrumental, however, in secvxring for him the appoint- 

 ment of Curator in the Lyceum of Natural History in 

 New York, so that his botanical Avork was continued under 

 the inspiring influence of Dr. Torrey for the next four or 

 five years. 



In his twenty-fifth year he issued two volumes on the 

 grasses and sedges, each describing a hundred species, and 

 illustrated by dried specimens. Among the grasses was 

 one new to science, Paneicum, Xanthophysiim, which was the 

 first of the thousands of unknown species afterward named 

 by him. In 1836 he began his contributions to the 

 American Journal of Science, which he continued for more 

 than fifty years, and he also became one of the editors of 

 this journal, which place he filled for thirty-five years. 

 About this time (1835-36) he commenced the preparation 

 of the <' Elements of Botany," which he published in 1836. 

 This work was characterized by such a vigorous style and 

 breadth of treatment that it at once attracted the attention 

 of scientists, and paved the way for universal recognition 

 by the great botanists of Europe whom he visited in 

 1838. This visit was made necessary to enable him 

 to go on with the "North American Flora," of which 

 he was, at that early age, joint author with Dr. Torrey. 

 Young as he was, hearts were opened and hands held out 

 to him by such men as Kobert Brown, De Candolle, the 

 elder Hooker, Lambert, Bentham and Lindley, at that time 

 the leading botanists of Europe. He also met the younger 

 Hooker, then a medical student in Glasgow, and here the 

 foundation was laid for their life-long friendship. Hooker, 

 no less than Gray, was destined to become one of the 

 leading scientists of his time a great explorer and author, 

 and President of the Royal Society. He also followed 



