a 
—~ 
CHAPTER IL. 
EARLY UNDERTAKINGS. 
1831-1838. 
Dr. Gray’s autobiographical fragment closes ab- 
ruptly, and is valuable chiefly for the glimpse which 
it gives of his ancestry and his boyhood. He kept 
no diary, but he carried on a voluminous correspond- 
ence, and his letters thus contain a record of his 
hard-working, eager life. The earliest tell of the 
struggle for position, his doubts if his loved science 
could furnish him a maintenance, and his resolution 
to make any sacrifice if he could devote himself to 
its study. His wants outside of appliances for scien- 
tific investigation were few, and he had a hopeful 
temper. He said in later life that when he was ready 
for anything it always came to him, and he never 
dwelt upon the hardships of his early years; indeed, 
he forgot them. 
After leaving Fairfield Medical College-he divided 
his years between teaching in Bartlett’s school in 
Utica (some of his old pupils still recall his field 
excursions with his class, and his eager delight in 
the search after plants), in journeys botanical and 
mineralogical, and in some shorter and longer stays 
in New York, where for a good portion of the time 
he was a member of Dr. John Torrey’s family. Dr. 
Torrey was a keen observer, a lively suggester of new 
