THE INCORPORATORS 141 



student at Fairfield Medical School and received a doctor's 

 degree in 1831, but never practiced. While a student, Dr. Gray 

 assembled quite an extensive herbarium, and many mineralogical 

 specimens, and began a correspondence with Dr. Lewis C. Beck 

 of Albany and Dr. John Torrey of New York. After teaching 

 at Bartlett's High School, giving a course of lectures on botany 

 at the Fairfield Medical School and on botany and miner- 

 alogy at Hamilton College, Dr. Gray was called to New York 

 as assistant to Professor Torrey. From this time, his attention 

 was chiefly given to botany, and some original papers were soon 

 published. In 1835 Gray became Curator and Librarian of the 

 Lyceum of Natural History in New York, and issued in 1836 

 his first text-book, the " Elements of Botany." The Wilkes 

 Exploring Expedition, to which he had been appointed botanist, 

 failing to sail until two years later than the time originally set, 

 he accepted the chair of botany at the newly-founded University 

 of Michigan, with the condition that he be permitted to spend 

 a year in Europe. The University proved unable, however, to 

 meet its engagements and Dr. Gray returned to New York and 

 continued work on the " Flora of North America," which he had 

 begun in 1836, in collaboration with Professor Torrey. The 

 first volume of this important treatise appeared in 1838, and 

 the second in 1843. 



Attracting the favorable notice of President Quincy of Har- 

 vard, the newly-endowed Fisher Professorship of Natural His- 

 tory was soon offered him. Dr. Gray entered on his duties there 

 in 1842. 



Having married, he established himself in Cambridge and 

 surrounded himself with books and plants. His home soon 

 became a center for the study of botany by students both old and 

 young. Out of his small salary, Gray contrived to find means 

 to carry on his investigations in botany and to accumulate speci- 

 mens, so that in 1865, when he presented his collections to the 

 Harvard College, the herbarium contained more than 200,000 

 specimens and the library about 2,200 books. 



