284 Biographical Notice of the late Dr. J. E. Gray. 



its amount were less, and that the author had given liimself 

 more time for the full ehiboration of the various subjects that 

 lie took up. In too many instances he liastencd to put the 

 results of his researches into shape before he had really com- 

 pleted them ; hence further investigations led him to modify 

 tlie views which he had expressed only a short time pre- 

 viously, and thus two or three papers on the same subject, 

 j)erhaps the classiticatlon of some tribe or family of animals, 

 would follow each other in rapid succession. It would un- 

 doubtedly have been better, botli for zoology and for his own 

 future fame, if the outcome of the same amount of study had 

 been represented by half, or even a quarter, of the amount of 

 literature which now stands in Dr. Gray's name. But there 

 is one labour of his from which no such deduction is to be 

 made ; and it is this especially that will carry his name down 

 the stream of time. From his appointment as an Assistant in 

 the British Museum until the close of his life, but more es- 

 pecially since his having been made Keeper of the Natural- 

 History Department, he devoted himself with unflagging 

 energy to the development of the collection under his charge ; 

 and mainly by his exertions it has grown from the rudimentary 

 state in which it existed in the days of Dr. Leach, to the 

 magnificent proportions which it has now attained. It is 

 impossible to overrate the services rendered to zoology in this 

 country by Dr. Gray in the accumulation of the fine series 

 of specimens now possessed by the British Museum, and the 

 excellent catalogues of several departments prepared by him 

 or imder his auspices. His knowledge of species and genera 

 in those groups to which his attention Avas particularly directed 

 was perhaps unrivalled ; his great energy and administrative 

 ability enabled him to carry out the business of his department 

 in the face of dltficultles and obstacles which few would have 

 overcome. His great services in this respect met with more 

 direct recognition abroad than in this countr}' : in 1852 he 

 received the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy from 

 the University of 3Iunlch ; and in 1860 the large Gold ]\Iedal 

 of merit was conferred upon him by tlie King of Wiirttemberg, 

 on his declining the olier of an order of knighthood which 

 had been made to him. His merits were also acknowledged 

 by many foreign Societies and Academies, which enrolled jiim 

 in the lists of their honorary and eoiresponding members. 

 The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia paid him 

 this honour as early as 1829 ; and he was subsequently elected 

 to analogous positions by scientitic bodies in Boston, .Moscow, 

 Home, Paris, Darmstadt, Lyons, Turin, Strasbourg, Lund, 

 and other places. He was also a Fellow or Member of 

 nearlv all the Natural-History Societies in London. 



