162 ASA GRAY. 



which had a brief popularity on these shores — which took place 

 in the school. In 1820 he entered the Medical College at Fairfield, 

 where he subsequently took his degree of M.D. in 1831. 



It was while at Fairfield that young Gray's attention was 

 turned especially towards Botany. In the winter of 1827-8, be 

 read the article on that science in the ' Edinburgh Encyclo- 

 paedia/ and his interest was so excited, that he bought Eaton's 

 4 Manual of Botany/ longing for spring to come that he might 

 observe for himself the plants described in it. " He sallied forth 

 early/' says Prof. Barnes,* " discovered a plant in bloom, brought 

 it home, and found its name in the ' Manual ' to be Clayton i a 

 vuyinica, the species Caroliniana to which the plant really belonged, 

 not being distinguished then. ... In the frequent rides about the 

 country to visit patients he had abundant facilities for observing 

 and collecting plants, and, besides studying out their names, he 

 began a herbarium. In the autumn, when he returned to the 

 medical school, he took with him a bundle of specimens which had 

 puzzled him ;" and shortly afterwards opened correspondence with 

 Dr. Lewis C. Beck, of Albany. In 1830 he visited New York, 

 taking with him a packet of undetermined specimens, and a letter 

 of introduction to Dr. Torrey. The latter, however, was absent, 

 but shortly returned the plants named. The correspondence thus 

 begun lasted until Dr. Torrcy's death in 1873, and soon led to a 

 closer companionship, for in 1833 young Gray became assistant in 

 Dr. Torrey's chemical laboratory. Having by this time made up his 

 mind to devote himself to botany rather than to medicine, Gr*y 

 was anxious to obtain the help which he knew Torrey would 

 readily give. 



During this winter Dr. Gray spent his spare time in herbarium 

 work, and in December, 1834, he read before the Lyceum of 

 Natural History in New York, the first of that long series of papers 

 with which his name has long since been associated. This was a 

 monograph of the North American species of Rhynchoxpora ; ft 

 exhibits that careful elaboration of material and anxiety to exhaust 

 all possible sources of information which always characterised Dr. 

 Gray's work, as well as that acknowledgment of what had been 

 done by others which he never omitted to make.f He had pre- 

 viously issued the first of two volumes, each containing a century 

 of North American Qraminea and Cyperacea, which he dedicated to 

 his former instructor at Fairfield, Dr. James Hadley, and which 

 contains a new grass, Vanicum xanthophymm, from the Oneida 

 Lake district, the first of the ninny hundreds of species to which 

 his name is attached as author. This collection, in the opinion of 

 {Sir W. J. Hooker, " may fairly be da red among the most beautiful 

 and useful works of the kind that we are acquainted with. The 



specimens are remarkably well select I, skilfully prepared, critically 



studied, and carefully compared with those in the extensive and very 

 authentic Herbarium of Dr. Torrey. M | 



* ' Botau cal Gazette/ Jan., 1886, 



t Reprinted in ' Companion to Bok Magazine,' ii. 36—88 (1830). 



J 'Companion to Boi M, lz i n « . I U (183 i). 



