352 Asa Gvaij: His Life and Work. 



ABSTRACT OF THE DISCUSSION. 



Miss Eliza A. Youm ans : 



l.v Mrs. Treat's admirable account of Prof. Gray's intellectual 

 career she has given the simple facts concerning the times at which 

 his various works were published, and the exalted estimate put 

 upon them both at home and abroad. The "North American 

 Flora," however, she pronounces his most important work, and 

 her account of his labors upon it seems to require further expla- 

 nation. The first volume, she says, appeared in 1S40, the second 

 in 1848, and the next instalment not until 1878, after an interval 

 of thirty-five years. As its discontinuance dates from the time of 

 his acceptance of the Fisher Professorship of Natural History in 

 Harvard College, and its resumption immediately followed his 

 release from official duties, which, I learn, took place in 187^?, 

 giving him live years for the preparation of the volume of 1878, 

 the quite natural inference would be that his official work left 

 him no time to give to the preparation of the "Flora." But we are 

 debarred from this conclusion by the detailed and emphatic 

 statements of Mrs. Treat concerning the vast amount of labor he 

 did outside his college duties. His text-books and manuals were 

 all done in tlie evening, and at odd hours; and his labors as a 

 critic consumed a great deal of time. He was so familiar with all 

 sides of the scientific questions bearing upon his specialty, so just 

 and discriminating and candid, that his opinions, criticisms and 

 advice were eagerly sought for. His Reviews, Book-notices, and 

 Biographical sketches are almost endless. 



In the introduction to tlie two volumes of the "Scientific 

 Pa])ers of Asa Gray, selected by Charles 8i)rague Sargent," the 

 <'omi)iler says: "The selection of articles of his for re-i)ublication 

 has been an embarassing and difficult task. Tlie amount of 

 material at my disposal has been overwlielming; and desirable as 

 it miglit be to republish it all, it has not been possible to do so 

 witliin reasonable limits. JMore than eleven hundred bibliograph- 

 ical notices and longer reviews were ])ublislied by Prof, (iray in 

 different periodicals, and it was necessary to exclude a number of 

 ])ai)ers of nearly as great interest as those wliicli are chosen." 

 Clearly, then, it was not lack of time tliat kei)t Dr. (iray from 

 going on with tlie " Flora." Why then, in the name of Botanical 

 science if not of common sense, did not Prof. Gray, during these 

 years, S])end the time saved from official duties in carrying (Ui the 

 great work on which his heart was st't; Avliich he alone of all men 

 was by nature and culture so fitted to execute, and which was so 

 strenuously called for by the world of science? Why was its 

 I'esumpticui ]iost))on('d fill the later years of life, so that his eyes 

 were not ])ermitte(l to biOiold its final accomi^lisliment ? Accord- 

 iiiiT to Mrs. Treat, "lie had eairied it on to the conclusion of tlie 

 middle half of the entire Flora," and there it is left for other 

 hands to finish. Or, may we not reasonably ask, why was it 



