Asa Gray (1810-1888) was born at Paris, Oneida Co., N. Y. 
He started out in life to be a doctor and took the degree of M. D. 
in 1831, but his main interest was in botany. Deserting the prac¬ 
tice of medicine, he took up his favorite study which was to make 
him the most famous American botanist of his time. 
After studying plants for a number of years, he became professor 
of natural history at Harvard, to which university he gave his re¬ 
markable collection of plants. 
Professor Gray was able to present technical facts in an inter- 
esting and simple manner. This helped to give a wide use to his 
numerous, scholarly textbooks on botany. His contributions to 
the science of botany were very important and gained for him in¬ 
ternational recognition. 
He never took a real course in botany but made plants his 
teachers. 
(Photograph used by courtesy of Harper and Brothers.) 
