a:t. 23.] TO JOHN TORREY. 45 



Shaw, but have not yet had leisure. Please say to 

 him that I am much obliged for the papers he has 

 been so good as to send me. I wish to know whether 

 he has yet apostatized from the anti-tea^drinking soci- 

 ety, of which Mr. S. and myself were (" par nobile 

 fratrum ") such promising members. Please say to 

 him that I have not yet drunk tea, but am doing pen- 

 ance upon coffee, milk, and water. 



May I trouble you for the very earliest possible 

 answer to this, which will much oblige 



Yours very respectfvdly, A. Gray. 



Hamilton College, June 9, 1834. 

 Your letter of the 13th ult., with the bundle of 

 books, was in due time received. Yours of the 2d 

 ult. was received at the same time. I can send 

 you no more copies of " Graminese," ^ etc. ; all I 

 brought up are subscribed for and dehvered. " Major 

 Downing," who subscribes for two copies (one for 

 himself and one for his friend the Gin'ral,^ I sup- 

 pose), as well as the other subscribers, must wait until 

 fall. I am lecturing here to a small but quite intelli- 

 gent Senior class, twenty-six in number, just enough to 

 fill three sides of a large table, and time passes very 

 pleasantly. The small fund for the support of this 

 institution will, I think, be secured, but the trustees 



' North American Graminece and Cyperacece, of which Part I. was 

 issued in 1834, Part II. in 1835. This was the first separate and 

 indiyidual publication by Dr. Gray. Sir W. J. Hooker said of it : — 

 [It] "may fairly be classed among the most beautiful and useful 

 works of the kind that we are acquainted with. The specimens are 

 remarkably well selected, skillfully prepared, critically studied, and 

 carefully compared with those in the extensive and very authentic 

 herbarium of Dr. Torrey." 



- Alluding to the then popular squib of Major Jack Downing's 

 letters. 



