T1 
it may be added, has put it on record that he himself Ma bu the 
author of the work. Samuel Frederick's last work, pub 
few weeks of his death and written when he was ja rr g from severe 
illness, is entitled “ The Operative prio A practical ‘display of the 
Arts and Manufactures which de on veis ues Principles," a second 
edition of which was published Machine in 1831. The question of 
the authorship of the * Natural Arrangement of British Plants," is of 
great interest, inasmuch as it is a book that was far in advance of its 
time, and was practically ignored by the leading botanists of the day, 
who were largely edens followers of Linnaus’s Sexual system. It 
seems therefore desirable to print in full the following duri 
collected by Mr. S. O. Gray. 
* [n this connexion I may answer — question as to Dr. J. E. Gra 
being mainly the author of the ‘ Natural Arrange ment of British 
Plants.” Iam aware that in * Men of the Time, ' edition 1862 , there is 
a statement which I know was inser rted on m uncle" 8 authority gn 
is an unfair statement of the part he od in “this wer and I believe 
that the account I have already given is more nearly in accordance with 
the facts of the case. I have frequently ae with my father on 
the subject of this book, and he always spoke it as the work of his 
father, in w hich both he and my uncle pedir In confirmation of 
this view, I may mention that the copy of the work that I have, pos 
proof-sheets, which are hiatal throughout for the most part in tho 
handwriting of my father, but occasionally i in that of my grandfather, 
grandfather’s lifetime, and was ngi ccording to the natural 
system, named in the handwriting of my father and grandfather, 
f concholo l have two letters from a Mons. A. Abe ky, 
apparently a botanist travelling on the Continent, which douse they 
not specifically refer to "the ' Natural Arrangeme ent of Polish 
oiak i with my grandfather and his two sons. Both letters a 
ond, 
a ly sueco nately. 2 my father. I uet these letters confirm, 
as as they go, the view taken above that the work was a 
production, and in view of the fact that at the time of its publication 
my father was but 23 and my uncle but 21, I think it is a fair inference 
that my Ame must have been qr pones for the arrangement 
thought to dene rve. 
In explanation of the statement that Samuel Frederick Gray was one 
of a still unbroken line of naturalists, it may be Added that the donor of 
U 79921. D 
