38 Dana — American Journal of Science, 1818-1918. 



however, and indeed earlier, the sphere of the Journal 

 had unavoidably contracted and botany perforce ceased 

 to occupy the prominent place it had long done in the 

 Journal pages. 



This is not the place to present an appreciation of the 

 truly magnificent work of Asa Gray. It may not be out 

 of place, however, to call attention to the notice of Gray 

 written for the Journal by his life-long friend, James D. 

 Dana (35, 181, 1855). The opening paragraph is as 

 follows : 



"Our friend and associate, Asa Gray, the eminent botanist 

 of America, the broad-minded student of nature, ended his life 

 of unceasing and fruitful work on the 30th of January last. 

 For thirty-five years he has been one of the editors of this Jour- 

 nal, and for more than fifty years one of its contributors ; and 

 through all his communications there is seen the profound and 

 always delighted student, the accomplished writer, the just and 

 genial critic, and as Darwin has well said, ' The lovable man. ' : 



The third associate editor, following Gray, was Louis 

 Agassiz, whose work for science, particularly in his 

 adopted home in this country, calls for no praise here. 

 His term of service extended from 1853 to 1866 and, par- 

 ticularly in the earlier years, his contributions were nu- 

 merous and important. The next gentleman in the list 

 was Waldo I. Burnett, of Boston, who served one year 

 only, and then followed four of Dana 's colleagues in New 

 Haven, of whose generosity and able assistance it would 

 be impossible to say too much. These gentlemen were 

 Brush in mineralogy ; Johnson in chemistry, particularly 

 on the agricultural side; Newton in mathematics and 

 astronomy, whose contributions will be spoken of else- 

 where; and Verrill — a student of Agassiz — in zoology. 



All of these gentlemen, besides their frequent and 

 important original articles, were ever ready not only to 

 give needed advice, but also, to furnish brief communi- 

 cations, abstracts of papers and book reviews, and other- 

 wise to aid in the work. Verrill particularly furnished 

 the Journal a long list of original and important papers, 

 chiefly in systematic zoology, extending from 1865 

 almost down to the present year. His abstracts and 

 book notices also were numerous and trenchant and it is 

 not too much to say that without him the Journal never 

 could have filled the place in zoology which it so long 

 held. Much later the list of New Haven men was 



