Asa Gray. 203 



It is a case of Natural Selection. But Dr. Gray was more to 

 botanists than a friend and leader. He was the " Beloved 

 Gray " — the object of their admiration and devotion on account 

 of his goodness, his high principle, his frank independence, 

 his unfailing cordiality, and the clearness of his intellectual 

 vision, like that of a seer. He stands before the world as a 

 lofty example of the Christian philosopher. 



Dr. Gray was married, in 1848, to the daughter of the late 

 eminent lawyer of Boston, Charles G. Loring. His excellent 

 and accomplished wife, who survives him, was in full sympathy 

 with him in all his pursuits and pleasures, a bright, cheerful 

 and helpful companion, at home and in his travels abroad. 



In a letter to the writer in 1886, Gray says : 

 I have had a week in old Oneida, which still looks nat- 

 ural. I am grinding away at the Flora, and shall probably be 

 found so doing when I am called for. Yery well : I have a 

 most comfortable and happy old age. 

 Wishing you the same, 



Yours ever, A. Gray. 



November last, the month after his return from Europe, he 

 put aside his nearly completed revision of the " Yitacese, or 

 Grapevines of North America" to write his last words about 

 Darwin in the review of Darwin's Life and Letters, and to 

 prepare his usual annual Necrology for this Journal. The lat- 

 ter manuscript lay unfinished on his table, when, on the 27th of 

 the month, a paralytic stroke put an end to work, with every 

 prospect then that his name also would have to be added to the 

 list of 1887. He lingered until the 30th of January, without a 

 return, at any time, of his powers of speech, and toward 

 evening of that day passed quietly away. 



Asa Gray's remains lie buried in the Mt. Auburn Cemetery. 

 American botanical* science, wrought out so largely in its details, 

 its system, and its philosophical relations, by his labors, is his 

 monument. j. d. d. 



