Asa Gray : Ills Life and Work. 349 



observations on this side of the water and furnishing him 

 directly -with material for his forthcoming work on "In- 

 sectivorous Plants," yet when the book appeared he was for 

 a long time too busy to read it : 



Herbarium of Harvard University, 

 Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass., 29 July, 1875. 

 You will hardly credit it that I have had Darwin's book for a 

 fortnight and have not yet found time to read over twenty or 

 thirty pages. That shows you how busy I am, and with much less 

 interesting work but work that is both necessary and pressing. 



We can now better understand why Asa Gray was so 

 universally honored and loved by such a wide circle of 

 students and botanists, as well as by many distinguished men 

 in other departments of science. With all his multifarious 

 work, he was ever the kind helper and teacher. Professor 

 Sargent tells us that "he was a foreign member of the 

 Royal Society of London ; he was a foreign member also 

 of the Institute of France, one of the 'immortal eight'; 

 and long ago he was welcomed into all the less exclusive 

 bodies of European savants. He served the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences as its President, presided 

 over the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, and was a regent of the Smithsonian Institution." 

 On his seventy-fifth birthday tlie botanists of our country 

 united in sending him messages of affection and esteem, 

 accompanied by a silver vase. The Botanical Gazette of 

 December, 1885, tells the story of the presentation, and 

 gives a description of the vase as follows : 



The vase "is about eleven inches high, exclusive of the ebony 

 pedestal, which is surrounded by a hoop of hammered silver, 

 bearing the inscription, 



1810 November eighteenth, 1885 



ASA GRAY 



in token of the universal esteem 



of American Botanists. 



"The lower part of the vase is fluted and the upper part cov- 

 ered with flowers. The place of honor on one side is held by 

 Gruyia Poli/'jaloides, and on the other by Shortia galaclfolia. On 

 the Grayiii side of the prominent plants are Aquilegia Canadensis, 

 Centaurea Americana^ Jcffersonin diphylla, Rudbeckia speciosa, and 

 Mitchella repens. On the Shortia side there are Lilium Grayi, 

 Aster Bigelovii, Solidago serotina and Epigoia repens. The lower 

 part of the handles runs into a cluster of Dinnaa leaves, which 

 clasps the body of the vase, and their upper parts are covered with 



