GKAY
GRAY
an lierbarium, and had entered into a corre-
spondenne with Dr. John Torrey. In 1831 he was
invited to deliver a course of botanical lectures at
tiie Fairfield medical college, and several mouths
later was a)jpointed pi-ofessor of natural sciences
at a school kept by a Mr. Bartlett in Utica, N. Y.
Until 183.5 he taught chemistry, miueralogj-, and
botany to boys, devoting summer vacations to
bjtanizLng in central New York, northeastern
Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In the sunmier
of 1834 he took Professor Hadley"s place at Ham-
ilton college, Clinton, N Y., and gave a course of
instruction in botany and mineralogy. The fol-
lowing winter he obtained leave of absence from
the Bartljtt school to assist Dr. John Torrey dm--
in.;a course of chemical lectures at the College of
pliysicians aul surgeons in New Y'ork city. In
December, 1834, he read before the New York
Lyceum of natural history, a paper on the new or
rare plants of the state of New York, which at-
tracted the attention of scientists and led to a
long series of contributions to the American Jour-
nal of Science. In 1835, while spending the sum
mer at his father's farm, lie planned and partly
wrote Elements of Botany which was piiblished
in 1836 and brought him §150. This book was
adopted in schools and for a long time was
the only text book on botanj' in popular use. In
the autunm of 1836 he became curator of the Ly-
ceum of natural history in New York. The same
year he was appointed botanist of the Wilkes
expl(jring expe lition to the South Pacific, but
owing to the delay in starting the expedition he
resigned the position in 1838 to accept the chair
of botany an! zoology in the University of Mich-
igan. The trustees gave him a year's leave of
absence in Europa with a salary of S1500 for that
year and put into his hands S.5000 with which to
lay a foundation for their general library. At
Glasgow he was the guest of Dr. (later, Sir) Wil-
liam J. Hooker, who gave him letters of intro-
duction to several eminent European botanists.
On his return home the University of Michigan
gave hiiu another furlough withovit pay. and he
turned his attention to the writing of i)arts III.
and IV. of "Flora of North America," parts I.
and II. of which had been published in 1838 in
collaboration with Dr. John Ton-ey. In the sum-
mer of 1841 he went on a botanical tri]) up the
valley of Virginia to the moimtains of North
Carolina, and in January, 1842, he made his first
visit to Boston, Mass. During this visit he dined
with President Quincy of Harvard, who later used
liis influence to secure the appointment of Dr.
Gray to the Fisher chair of natural history. In
1842 Dr Gray resigned hjs position at the Univer-
sity of Michigan and in the spring of the same
year entered upon his duties at Harvard uni-
versity, where he remained tluring the rest of
his life, being relieved by the appointment of
George L. Goodale as a.ssociate in 1872; Charles
S. .Sargent to the care of the botanic garden
in 1873, and Dr Sereno Watson as curator of
the herbarium in 1874. He created the botanical
department of Harvard university and in 1864
presented to the imiversity his herbarium of about
300,000 specimens and library of 2200 volumes
on condition that a fireproof buUding be pro-
vided for their reception, which building was
erected by means of a donation from Nathan-
iel Thayer of Boston. Dr. Gray was elected a
fellow of the American academy of arts and
sciences in 1841 ; was its president in 1863-
73 ; was also president of the American associa-
tion for the advancement of science in 1871, and
in 1874 succeeded Louis Agassiz as a regent of
the Smithsonian institution. He was one of the
charter members of the National academy of
sciences, and besides his connection with learned
societies in the United States he was elected
a corresponding or an honorary member of the
more prominent scientific societies of Europe.
In 1848 he was married to Jane, daughter of
Cliarles Greely Loring of Boston, Mass. The
degree of A.M. was conferred on him by Har-
vard in 1844. and that of LL. D. by Hamilton
in 1864, by Harvard in 187.5, by McGill in 1884,
and by the Univei'sity of Michigan in 1887. Dur-
ing his last visit to Europe in 1887 he received
from Cambridge the degree of D.Sc, from Edin-
burgh that of LL. D., and from Oxford that of
D.C. L. Dr. Gray reported on the collections of
the U.S. government exploring expeditions,
including those made by the Wilkes (18o4) Perry
(18-57) and Rogers (18.59) expeditions. He con-
tributed largely to periodicals, was on the editorial
staff of the American Journal of Science for years,
and wrote biographical sketches of many emi-
nent scientists. His numerous publications in-
clude: Elements of Botany (1836); the unfinished
Flora of Xor/li America, the publication of which
was begun in 1838 by himself and Dr. Torrey
and in which the classifications were made ac-
cording to the natural but hitherto disregarded
basis of affinity; Manual of the Botany o/ tite
Nortliern United States (1848, 5th ed., 1867) ;
Genera oftlie Plants of the United States, illustrated
(2 vols. , 1848-49) ; Botany of the United States Pacific
Exploring Expedition (18.54); First Lessons in
Botany and Vetjetable Physiology (18.57); How
Plants Grow (18.58) ; Free Examination of Daricin\i
Treatise (1861) ; Field. Forest and Garden Botany
(1868); //eno Plants Behave (1872); Danciniana
(1876); Synoptical Flora of North America (1878,
1834) ; Strnctnral Botany or Oreianofiraphy with
basis of Morjiholofiy (1879) ; and Xatural Science
and Eelirjion (1880). For complete bibliography
of Dr. Gray see the American Journal <f Science