Chapter II: Early Undertakings (1)

1831-1838.

Dr. Gray’s autobiographical fragment closes abruptly, and is valuable chiefly for the glimpse which it gives of his ancestry and his boyhood. He kept no diary, but he carried on a voluminous correspondence, and his letters thus contain a record of his hard-working, eager life. The earliest tell of the struggle for position, his doubts if his loved science could furnish him a maintenance, and his resolution to make any sacrifice if he could devote himself to its study. His wants outside of appliances for scientific investigation were few, and he had a hopeful temper. He said in later life that when he was ready for anything it always came to him, and he never dwelt upon the hardships of his early years; indeed, he forgot them.

After leaving Fairfield Medical College he divided his years between teaching in Bartlett’s school in Utica (some of his old pupils still recall his field excursions with his class, and his eager delight in the search after plants), in journeys botanical and mineralogical, and in some shorter and longer stays in New York, where for a good portion of the time he was a member of Dr. John Torrey’s family. Dr. Torrey was a keen observer, a lively suggester of new theories and explanations, most eminently truthful in all inquiries, and a devout Christian. Mrs. Torrey was a woman of rare character, refined, of intellectual tastes and cultivation, great independence, extremely benevolent, and with a capacity for government and control. She was devotedly religious, not only for herself and her own household, but for all who could possibly come within her influence. It was a new experience to the country-bred young man, and she saw in him many capabilities of which he was as yet himself unconscious. He always said that in his development he owed much to her in many ways. She criticised and improved his manners, his tastes, his habits, and especially, together with Dr. Torrey, exercised a strong influence on his religious life. His parents and family were conscientious, good and faithful church members. But they were not people who talked much, and indeed had little direct oversight of their son after he was fourteen years old, when he left home. He never returned to the family roof after that for more than a few months at a time, and his youthful surroundings away from home were of very varied influence; some of them, though never vicious, were of a decidedly irreligious character. When he entered the Torrey family, the difference in the life, the contrast in the way of meeting trials and sorrows struck him forcibly, and the religious side of his nature was roused, a serious interest awakened, which from that time on made always a strong and permanent part of his character.

Dr. Torrey saw the ability of the young student, and writing to his friend, Professor Henry, in February, 1835, to see if a place could not be found for him at Princeton, says:--

“I wish we could find a place for my friend Gray in the college.... He has no superior in botany, considering his age, and any subject that he takes up he handles in a masterly manner.... He is an uncommonly fine fellow, and will make a great noise in the scientific world one of these days. It is good policy for the college to secure the services and affections of young men of talent, and let them grow up with the institution.... He would do great credit to the college; and he will be continually publishing. He has just prepared for publication in the Annals of the Lyceum two capital botanical papers.... Gray has a capital herbarium and collection of minerals. He understands most of the branches of natural history well, and in botany he has few superiors.”

His friend, Mr. John H. Redfield[25] recalling him in those early days, writes:--

“He had worked with Dr. Torrey in his herbarium in 1834 and in 1835, and in 1834 read his first paper before the Lyceum, a monograph of the North American Rhynchosporæ, which is still the best help we have for the study of that genus. His bachelor quarters were in the upper story of the building, and there he diligently employed the hours not occupied with other duties in studies and dissections, the results of which appeared in several elaborate contributions to the Annals. Dr. Gray’s residence in the building and his position as librarian brought him into frequent and pleasant intercourse with the members of the Lyceum, and in this way began my own acquaintance with him. The interest which he always manifested in making easy the openings to the paths of knowledge for the younger men impressed me greatly. In describing his manner I should use neither the terms ‘imperious’ or ‘impetuous,’ but enthusiastic eagerness would better express its characteristic. He had even then something of that hesitancy of speech which he sometimes manifested in later years, a hesitancy which seemed to arise from thoughts which crowded faster than words could be found for them, and I associate his manner of speaking then with a slight swing of the head from side to side, which my recollections of his later manner do not recall. In person he was unusually attractive, his face, bright, animated and expressive, lit up by eyes beaming with intellect and kindness.”

Dr. Gray began in 1834 his contributions to the “American Journal of Science.” His first paper, printed in May, was “A Sketch of the Mineralogy of a Portion of Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties, N.Y., by J.B. Crawe of Watertown, and A. Gray of Utica, N.Y.,”[26] and from that time until his death he was a constant contributor of original articles, reviews, and notices of all botanists whose deaths occurred within his knowledge, leaving an unfinished necrology on his desk.

In 1835 his first text-book was written, “Elements of Botany,” and he returned to the same title for his last text-book in 1887. He spent a summer at his Sauquoit home at work upon it; and he once gave a lively account of the warm and noisy discussions which he held with his friend John Carey over style and expressions when he was reading the proofs in his boarding-house in New York, to the great interest of all within hearing. He admitted that it was one of the best lessons in the art of writing he ever had.

Dr. Gray, writing for the “New York World” an obituary notice of John Carey, on his death in 1880, says of him, after a short sketch of his life:--

“Mr. Carey was a man of marked gifts, accomplishments, and individuality. His name will long be remembered in American botany. There are few of his contemporaries in this country who have done more for it than he, although he took little part in independent publication. His critical knowledge and taste and his keen insight were most useful to me in my earlier days of botanical authorship. He wrote several valuable articles for the journals, and when, in 1848, my ‘Manual of Botany’ was produced, he contributed to it the two most difficult articles, that on the willows and that on the sedges....

“Being fondly attached to his memory, and almost the last survivor of the notable scientific circle which Mr. Carey adorned, I wish to pay this feeble tribute to the memory of a worthy botanist and a most genial, true-hearted, and good man.”

It is to be regretted that Dr. Gray’s letters to his old friend are no longer in existence.

His correspondence with Sir William Jackson Hooker, then professor at Glasgow, Scotland, began in 1835.

TO JOHN TORREY.

BRIDGEWATER, ONEIDA COUNTY, N.Y., January 1, 1831.

DEAR SIR,--I received your letter, through Professor Hadley, a few weeks since, and I embrace the earliest opportunity of transmitting a few specimens of those plants of which you wished a further supply. I regret that the state of my herbarium will not admit of my sending as many specimens of each as I could wish or as would be desirable to you. I shall be able to obtain an additional supply of most of them during the ensuing summer, when it will give me pleasure to supply you with those, or any other interesting plants which I may meet with. I send you a few grasses; numbered; also a few mosses, etc. When you have leisure, you will oblige me by sending the names of those numbered, and rectify any errors in those labeled. If you should be desirous of additional specimens, please let me know it, and I will supply you in the course of next summer.

You ask me whether I am desirous of obtaining the plants peculiar to New York, New Jersey, etc., or of European plants. I should be highly gratified by receiving any plants you think proper to send me; and will repay you, so far as in my power, by transmitting specimens of all the interesting plants I discover. I know little of exotic botany, having no foreign specimens. I am particularly attached to the study of the grasses, ferns, etc. If you have any specimens to transmit to me, please leave them with Mr. Franklin Brown, Attorney at Law, Inns of Court, Beekman Street, who will forward them to me by the earliest opportunity.

During the next summer, I intend to visit the western part of this State, also Ohio and Michigan. I shall devote a large portion of my time to the collection of the plants of the places I visit. If you know of any interesting localities, or where any interesting plants could be procured, please inform me, and I will endeavor to obtain them for you.

Respectfully yours, ASA GRAY.

BRIDGEWATER, April 6, 1832.

Having a convenient opportunity of sending to you, I improve it to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of October 6, and of the very interesting and valuable package of plants which was duly received a few weeks afterwards. In the course of the ensuing summer, I shall be able to supply you with an additional supply of most of the plants mentioned in your list. Many of these were collected during an excursion to the western part of the State, and are not found in this section of the country.

I have given a copy of this list to my friend Dr. N. W. Folwell of Seneca County, an industrious collector, who is situated in a section rich in plants, and requested him to transmit specimens of these and other interesting plants to you. I think he will be able to furnish you with many interesting plants from that section of country, and I shall be grateful for any favors you may have in your power to confer upon him. I shall be engaged the ensuing summer at Fairfield and at Salina, where I hope to make some interesting collections in natural history. If it is not too much trouble and the specimen is within your reach, may I ask further information with regard to No. 34, in my last package to you. It is a Carex, from the shore of Lake Erie,--growing with C. lupulina but flowering later. Is it not a var. of C. lupulina? from which it appears to differ principally in its pedunculate spikes? It flowers a month later than C. lupulina (August 6).

Will you excuse me for troubling you on another subject? I shall not be able to remain much longer in this place, unless I engage in the practice of medicine under circumstances which will altogether preclude me from paying any further attention to natural history. My friends advise me to spend a few years in a milder climate, our family being predisposed to phthisis, although I am perfectly healthy and robust; and such a course would be very agreeable to me, as I could combine the study of natural history with the professional business which will be necessary for my support. I have thought of the Southern States, but I have for some time been inclined to prefer Mexico, both on account of the salubrity of its climate, and of its botanical and mineralogical riches, which so far as I know have never been very thoroughly explored. My object in troubling you with all this is merely to obtain some information with regard to the natural history of that country. Has the country been explored by any botanist since Humboldt in 1803? And is there still room enough in that branch to repay one for devoting a few years to its investigations?

I am young (twenty-one), without any engagements to confine me to this section of country, and prefer the study of botany to anything else. Although I have not arrived at any positive determination, I have commenced the study of the Spanish language, and find it (with the aid of Latin and French) quite easy. I should be pleased to have your advice on this subject, as you have many sources of information which are beyond my reach. I should be highly gratified if you would state to me what you think of the prospects in Mexico for a person under my circumstances, and whether any other section of country or any other situation presents greater inducements. Under whatever circumstances I may be placed, it will be gratifying to me to continue a correspondence which has, thus far, been so useful to me, and I shall always wish to do all in my power to render it interesting to you. I shall be ready to leave this place by 1st of September next, at which time I shall probably visit New York. Will you write me on this subject as soon as convenient, and very much oblige,

Yours truly, A. GRAY.

P.S. There is within a circuit of some miles, and at this place, a great variety of fossil organic remains, and I am collecting them as extensively as possible. We find trilobites (Asaphus, and occasionally Calymene), a variety of bivalve and a few univalve shells, etc., both in lime rock and greywacke. The celebrated locality of Trenton Falls you are of course acquainted with. Would a suit of them be acceptable to yourself, or the Lyceum of Natural History, New York? And can they be named, so that I can label my collection from them? There may few of them be of any interest, but if you wish it you shall have a suit containing specimens of all I find.

UTICA, January 2, 1833.

I received your letter of December 25, and have given the subject of which you write a careful consideration. I may say that I have no objection to the situation you propose, if a proper arrangement can be made.

The terms of my engagement here are these. This situation became vacant by the death of Mr. Edgerton in April last. I was recommended by some of my friends, and finally made an arrangement for one year; took charge of a class in botany and mineralogy on 20th May; closed July 30. Have been at liberty until now; have just commenced a chemical course, to continue nine weeks, which will conclude my duties for the year. The compensation is board, room, washing, fuel, and all other expenses of the kind, for the whole year, or as much of the year as I choose to remain here. All expenses of the laboratory are defrayed (which by the way are not likely to be heavy), and in addition I receive $300. The advantages of the situation are, leisure and the means of a comfortable support. The disadvantages, the school is not incorporated and though now flourishing may not continue so, the scholars are too young, the principal wishes to retain too much of the Eatonian plan to suit me, and they have not furnished the means for the chemical course which I had a right to expect. No arrangement has been made for another year, but I have reason to think I shall be requested to remain another year. I am confident my leisure time would be employed to greater advantage if I was situated so as to have access to good libraries and extensive collections.

At present I can be satisfied with a moderate income, sufficient for a comfortable support, for the purchase of a few books, etc.; but that income must be sure; I cannot afford to run any risks about it. I would willingly collect plants the whole summer, take on my hands the whole labor of preparing and arranging them, but as the proceeds would be absolutely necessary for my support, so they should be certain. I am now advantageously situated for the collection of plants, etc., as, if I choose, I can travel every year with a class who will defray my expenses.

If you still desire to make such arrangement, please to state more explicitly the duties you wish me to perform; how much time can be given to collecting plants; what compensation you can afford me, supposing nearly the whole summer is devoted to making collections, and three fourths of the whole to belong to you,--or propose any plan which would be satisfactory to you, and I will let you know, very shortly, whether I will accept it or not. I had rather leave it to yourself than to make any definite proposition at present. I am confident we can make an arrangement which will be mutually beneficial.

I need not say that I wish to hear from you again on this subject as soon as possible, as I must soon make my arrangements for the ensuing season. How large is the class at the Medical College? I have just returned from a visit at Fairfield; they have a class of about 190. In haste,

Yours very respectfully, A. GRAY.

UTICA, January 23, 1833.

Excuse me for troubling you. I have this day received from Dr. L. C. Beck a sheet of a work, now publishing, entitled a “Flora of the Northern and Middle States,” arranged according to the natural system. I have the sheet commencing the species; commences with Ranunculaceæ; it is in 12mo.

As you mentioned that Beck has been very secret in all his proceedings, it occurred to me that very possibly you have heard nothing of it, and I thought it right to let you know. It appears to be after the fashion of De Candolle’s “Prodromus,” condensed descriptions and fine print. He still keeps his Ranunculus lacustris, and has added a new species to that genus, which he calls R. Clintonii, from Rome, Oneida County, N. Y.; the same as published in fifth edition Eaton’s “Manual” under the name of R. prostratus, Lamk. I have never seen their specimens, but have little doubt it is a form of R. repens, which flowers with us from April to September and assumes many forms. Dr. Beck wishes me to send him any undescribed or interesting plants, localities of rare plants, etc. I feel somewhat interested in the work, as I wish it to supersede Eaton’s entirely. (I hear Eaton is coming out with a new edition in the spring. I see Beck means to anticipate him.) But all the undescribed plants I have are in your hands, and it would be improper to send him such at present. He has in his hands an imperfect specimen of Nasturtium natans, De Candolle, which I sent him two years ago. He did not know it; supposed it N. palustre, and I do not know whether he has determined it or no. I will tell him what it is. He has that Ophioglossum and probably will publish it. If you please you can publish this, that Scleria, etc., in Silliman, that is, if you think them new. I will send none of these to Beck, but will give him the localities of some of our most interesting plants.

I have not heard from you since I wrote you on the subject of your letter, but hope you will write me soon. If we can make any arrangement for a year, by its expiration you will know whether or not I shall be of any use to you. I wish to be situated in such a manner as will enable me to advance most rapidly in science, in botany especially.

I succeeded, some days ago, in making the chlorochromic acid of Dr. Thomson (of which you spoke to me when at your house), with chromate of lead, instead of bichromate of potash, which I was unable to obtain. It set alcohol, ether, spirits of turpentine, etc., on fire. I did not try it upon phosphorus. Shall prepare it again in a few weeks for class experiments. I am, Sir,

Yours respectfully,

A. GRAY.

UTICA, March 22, 1834.

I thankfully acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st inst., and am delighted to learn that you contemplate giving a course of botanical lectures before you leave the city. I hope the plan will succeed, and that you will have a large and very fashionable class. My journey was as tedious as rain and bad roads could make it. The first night, being alone in the coach, I was upset by the carelessness of a drunken driver. The top of the coach, striking against a stone wall, was broken in; but I escaped, narrowly indeed, without any injury excepting a few rents in my clothes. At the end of the route, I had the satisfaction of seeing the driver dismissed from his employment. On my arrival at Bridgewater I found a child of my friend and former medical preceptor,[27] a favorite little daughter, dangerously, almost hopelessly sick with inflammation of the brain. I was consequently detained several days, and before I left had the satisfaction of seeing the little patient convalescent. I am now in fine working order and busily engaged in my chemical course.

Dr. Hadley called upon me yesterday and I gave him the little “notions” you sent by me. He was much pleased, but was especially delighted with the condensed sulphurous and anhydrous sulphuric acids.

The principal object of this letter is to consult you in regard to some propositions made me by Professor Hadley. Besides his situation in the Medical College, you are aware that he holds the professorship of chemistry and natural science in Hamilton College. He has just concluded his chemical course in that institution, but in the early part of summer he lectures to the senior class upon botany and mineralogy. As they are about to make some alterations in the college building at Fairfield, his presence will be required there, and he wishes me to take his place for the ensuing term at Hamilton College. I ought also to state that Dr. H. accepted that situation with the intention of holding it but a few years, until the college should have surmounted the trouble in which it was (and is) involved, and from which we have pretty good reason to hope, from the exertions now being made, it will soon be extricated, so that the professorships may be properly endowed. He has given notice of his intention to resign about a year hence; by which time, if ever, the college will be able to place several professorships upon a substantial foundation. Dr. H. has expressed to me a strong desire that I should be considered a candidate for the place, and I strongly suspect that to further that object is one reason for his wishing me to act as his substitute during the ensuing summer. My presence there would be necessary from the 1st of June to the middle of July. Dr. H. has been acting under a nominal salary of $500, being engaged there but thirteen or fourteen weeks. For the summer course I should receive $200. Dr. H. insures me $100 immediately, even if he has to advance it himself, and the whole if funds are in the hands of the treasurer; if not, the whole would be received quite certainly within the year. I have only to say further that the college has now one hundred students, is situated in a beautiful village nine miles from Utica, has the best college buildings of any in the State, has a good faculty, etc. I urged the promise I had made of the visit to Georgia, which this plan would entirely frustrate, but promised to give him a definite answer within a fortnight.

I can scarcely think of postponing my southern tour for another season; but the question comes to this, whether, in the present state of my finances, I had better expend $100 in that visit or earn $200 in the same time. I could also, I think, continue my engagements here in July and August, by which a little more of the trash might be pocketed, and return to New York in time to make a September excursion to the dearly beloved pine barrens of New Jersey, and spend the early part of fall in botanical work, and the winter in your laboratory. The term closes here the 23d of April (a little earlier than I supposed); so if the original plan is pursued I shall be in New York by the 26th of that month. If not, I shall be disengaged for a month, a portion of which I should like to devote, with my friend Dr. Crawe, to the minerals of St. Lawrence County. So rests the case. I told Dr. H. that I should write immediately to you, and be governed in a good degree by your answer.

I have such a dislike to the appearance of vacillation which results from changing one’s plans when fully formed, that were it not for certain ulterior advantages, and that I wish to comply with the wishes, as far as may be, of a person to whom I am much obliged, I should promptly decline Dr. Hadley’s offer.

An idea just this moment strikes me which, in its crude shape, I will communicate. In eight or ten days I can get to the metals. Suppose I could then get excused, and finish my course here next summer in connection with mineralogy, which for these youngsters would do pretty well; reach New York early next month; set out immediately for Georgia, and remain there until the latter part of May; return via Charleston; examine Elliott’s herbarium, and return here by the first of June. I may be quite sure that April and May would be healthy, but could there be plants enough collected, especially Gramineæ, to make it an object? Please say what you think of it. If you think it will do, I see no insuperable objection to carrying it into effect.

A few days ago a letter reached me from Professor Lehmann, in answer to my communication eighteen months ago. He is quite desirous of continuing the correspondence. He is now particularly engaged with Hepaticæ, and is anxious to obtain our species, and especially original specimens of those described by the late Mr. Schweinitz, etc. He has sent a box (which by this time I hope has arrived in New York) containing about five hundred species of plants and several botanical books. He also writes that he has applied to Nees von Esenbeck for dried specimens of all the species of Aster cultivated in his garden in order to transmit them with the monograph by that author; but not having arrived in time they will be sent with his next package. I wish to be particularly remembered to Mrs. Torrey and to Mr. Shaw, not forgetting my lively little friends J----, E----, and M----, whom I very much long to see. I had intended long before this to have written to Mr. Shaw, but have not yet had leisure. Please say to him that I am much obliged for the papers he has been so good as to send me. I wish to know whether he has yet apostatized from the anti-tea-drinking society, of which Mr. S. and myself were (“par nobile fratrum”) such promising members. Please say to him that I have not yet drunk tea, but am doing penance upon coffee, milk, and water.

May I trouble you for the very earliest possible answer to this, which will much oblige

Yours very respectfully, A. GRAY.

HAMILTON COLLEGE, June 9, 1834.

Your letter of the 13th ult., with the bundle of books, was in due time received. Yours of the 2d ult. was received at the same time. I can send you no more copies of “Gramineæ,”[28] etc.; all I brought up are subscribed for and delivered. “Major Downing,” who subscribes for two copies (one for himself and one for his friend the Gin’ral,[29] I suppose), as well as the other subscribers, must wait until fall. I am lecturing here to a small but quite intelligent Senior class, twenty-six in number, just enough to fill three sides of a large table, and time passes very pleasantly. The small fund for the support of this institution will, I think, be secured, but the trustees do not act in concert with the faculty, and it is rumored quarrel among themselves, so that, unless some changes are effected in the board, I fear the college will not be sustained. I shall remain here five weeks longer, and then have a short engagement at Utica. I have promised to make a visit to the north in August. I wish very much that I was able to remain there six or seven weeks, to examine with attention the vegetation of the primitive region in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties. I cannot doubt that the mountains and the banks of the large streams of that region would furnish a rich harvest of plants. That range is an extension of one from the far north, which, passing between the Great Lakes and Hudson’s Bay, crosses the St. Lawrence at the Thousand Islands, and passes through St. Lawrence, Franklin, and Clinton counties. Consequently many sub-alpine plants, such as Anemone Hudsonica, Trisetum molle, Geum triflorum, etc., are found in this region farther south than elsewhere. The mineralogy of the region, also, needs to be farther explored. The expense of such a tour, divided between Dr. Crawe and myself, traveling in a conveyance of our own, will be comparatively trifling.

I find, however, that further supplies of several New Jersey grasses are absolutely required to enable me to make out the necessary number of suits this fall of the first part of my “Grasses.” I see also by the list before me that they (with few exceptions) are in good state as late as the 8th or 10th of September, and that they can all be obtained without proceeding farther south than Tom’s River; so that I have no alternative but to hasten back to New York, and make a flying trip to Tom’s River (or Howel Works at least) early in September. If you meet with Panicum agrostoides, Poa obtusa Muhl., and Poa eragrostis, I shall be much obliged if you will secure for me the needful quantity of specimens. I am making arrangements for securing the bulbs, tubers, and seeds of the rarer plants for Lehmann. I shall take great pleasure in complying with your desire of securing as many as possible for your little garden. Bulbs and tubers I take up after flowering, and place in dry sand. Can you give some instructions as to the best manner of preserving other perennial roots, such as Asters, etc.? If you will give me the necessary instructions, I promise you to spare no exertions to carry them into effect.

I have nearly finished De Candolle’s “Théorie Elémentaire.” I have devoured it like a novel. It ought to be translated, that it may be more generally read in this country, where something of the kind is much needed. By the way, as soon as you receive Lindley’s new elementary work, I hope you will set about preparing an American edition.

This immediate neighborhood is very poor for botanizing. Excepting Cyperaceæ, it furnishes nothing of interest. I shall soon, however, make more distant excursions, so as to include Oneida Lake and the “pine plains.” When I return I shall bring with me a huge bundle of plants, which will show that I have not been idle.

TO HIS FATHER

November 21, 1834.

The class at the Medical College is very small, so that I have no salary here at present. But I have a comfortable and pleasant home, and fine opportunities for pursuing my favorite studies, and for acquiring a reputation that must sooner or later secure me a good place. I have work enough thrown into my hands to support me, with my prudent habits, through the winter. I spend my time entirely at the medical college and at my home here at Dr. Torrey’s, and hold little intercourse with any except medical and scientific men. I am writing two scientific articles on a difficult branch of botany for a scientific journal or magazine, which will give me a little notoriety. Dr. Torrey and myself went last month to Philadelphia, where we stayed a week. We spent our time almost entirely in the rooms of the American Philosophical Society, and of the Academy of Science. We met most of the scientific and other learned men, and spent our time very pleasantly. You shall hear from me again before long. It is not probable that I shall be up before next summer.

TO HIS MOTHER

Saturday Morning, February 7, 1835.

I do not know when I shall see you. I shall be up sometime during the spring or summer if I live so long, but perhaps not until July or August. It is very probable that I shall stay in the city the whole time. I wish very much to spend a few weeks in Georgia, early in the spring, but I see that I shall not be able to do so. My time is spent here very profitably, and I am advancing in knowledge as fast as I ought to wish, but I make no money, or scarcely enough to live upon. Just at present I am rather behindhand, but think that by next fall I shall, with ordinary success, be in better circumstances. It is unpleasant to be embarrassed in such matters, for I should like much to be independent, and this with my moderate wishes would require no very large sum, and I have no great desire to be rich.

Tell father I am very glad he has brought home the remainder of those boxes from Utica. The burning down of one of the buildings of the gymnasium has broken up that school entirely, and it probably will not be revived. I knew Mr. Bartlett would fail soon, and that accident has only hastened the time a little. He has been insolvent for some time. There was a very severe fire within a few rods of us last week; five or six dwelling-houses and other buildings were burned to the ground. Although it was so near us we were sitting at tea entirely unconcerned. Everything is done by the fire companies, and people who crowd about fires are only in the way, without doing any good.

Let me hear from you soon, and you will hear from me again in due season. The lectures in the Medical College will be finished in about three weeks, and then I shall be a little more at leisure.

I am very affectionately yours,

A. GRAY.

TO HIS FATHER.

NEW YORK, April 6, 1835.

DEAR FATHER,--I have been waiting for some time to see what my plans for the season would be, expecting as soon as that point was determined to write to you. All my arrangements were upset last fall, and the prospects for daily bread have been rather dark all winter--that is for the present; for the future they look as well as I could expect. It is probable now that I shall remain here during the summer; prosecuting the same studies and pursuits in which I am now engaged, unless something else turns up in the mean time....

Tell mother I have for her a copy of Barnes’s “Notes of the Gospels,” but I want to read it myself before I send it up. Perhaps I can’t spare it until I come up. I think you will all be very much pleased with it. I wish I could also send you his “Notes on the Acts and Romans.” Please ask Mr. Rogers, or any of your merchants when they come to New York this spring, to drop a line in the post-office for me, that I may take the opportunity of sending home by them. I wish I could come up this spring, but I see that I shall not be able. Do you take a religious newspaper? Please write to me soon. May the Lord prosper you and keep you all.

Yours truly and affectionately,

A. GRAY.

TO W. J. HOOKER.

NEW YORK, April 4, 1835.

DEAR SIR,--Your kind letter of December 11, with the parcel of books you were so good as to send me, were in due time received, for both of which I beg you to accept my thanks. Perhaps you will do me the favor to accept a copy of the second part of the “North American Gramineæ and Cyperaceæ,” being a continuation of my attempt to illustrate our species of these families, the plan of which, I am gratified to learn, meets your approbation. I inclose in the same parcel the loose sheets of an unpublished portion of the third volume of the “Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History,” comprising an attempt at a monography of the genus Rhynchospora. A more perfect copy, with a copy of the engraving, now in the hands of the artist, will be transmitted to you by the earliest opportunity. I also send a little parcel of mosses, nearly all of which were collected in the interior of the State of New York. May I ask you to look them over at as early an opportunity as may suit your convenience, and to return to me the result of your determinations. I do not venture to think that you will find among them anything of especial interest. I very much regret that I am at the present moment unable to forward to you a half a dozen copies of the work of “Gramineæ and Cyperaceæ,” the number you so kindly offer to take charge of. A few species are wanting to complete further suits of the first volume, but these I hope soon to obtain. Not to permit your kind offer to pass wholly unimproved, I hereby transmit to you three copies of vols. 1 and 2 which are at the disposal of any of your botanical friends who may desire to possess the work. If an additional number of copies should be needed they can in a very short time be furnished. With high respect, I remain, dear sir,

Yours truly, A. GRAY.

To WILLIAM JACKSON HOOKER, LL. D., Regius Professor of Botany in the University at Glasgow.

TO JOHN TORREY.

SAUQUOIT, N.Y., July 9, 1835.

I am progressing a little with my rather formidable task; in fact I am making haste quite slowly, and am now discussing the mysteries of exogenous and endogenous stems. I have studied little this week, for I found that close confinement was spoiling my health, so I have been taking quite severe exercise almost constantly, by which I am considerably improved already, although my bones ache prodigiously. I have not yet botanized largely. When at Bridgewater I secured all I could find of the new Carex; also C. chordorhiza, which, by the way, Crawe has found in his region. I hope soon to collect more extensively, but in this vicinity there are no plants of especial interest. I have just now a mania for examining and preserving the roots and fruits of our plants (I make notes of everything in a copy of your “Compendium”), and I hope to bring you a collection in this way which will interest, and perhaps be of some use to you. Fruits and ripe seeds are not often to be obtained, at least in a proper state, in our herbaria. I have been examining our Smilax rotundifolia. It is a regular endogenous shrub, although it sometimes dies nearly to the ground, but always sends out a branch from the uppermost node which survives the winter. It branches just as any endogen would, because the terminal bud is killed; the branches are cylindrical, and increase very little in diameter after their production. A cross-section shows the same structure as the rattan, i.e., the vascular and woody bundles are arranged equally throughout the stem. But a great part of the stem is prostrate beneath the surface, and it may be traced back, alive and dead, for several years’ growth. In fact I have not yet succeeded in tracing the stem back to the true root; all I have seen are adventitious roots sent of by the nodes of the stem. This is the only endogenous shrub, I presume, in the Northern States. By the way, the term rhizoma must be used much in descriptive botany, and be extended so as to include all subterranean, nearly horizontal stems, or portions of the stem, which produce roots from any part of their surface and buds from their extremity. It occurs in a great part of herbaceous perennials, and can always in practice be distinguished from the root, although it is still described as root in all the books; witness, Hydrophyllum, Actæa, Caulophyllum, Trillium, Convallaria, and so on to infinity.

I am not yet perfectly satisfied about our Actæas; thus the red-berried one is now perfectly ripe, while the berries of the white one are but half-grown; all the red ones, so far as I have seen, have slender pedicels also, yet the leaves and the rhizomata are exactly alike. By the way, while I was botanizing this afternoon, I met with great quantities of Orchis spectabilis, by far the largest and finest I ever saw; their leaves emulating Habenaria orbiculata. If you care for them in the slightest degree, I will secure a sufficient quantity to fill your garden. O. spectabilis will, while in flower, be a very pretty spectacle....

I remain cordially and truly yours, A. GRAY.

TO HIS FATHER.

NEW YORK, September 28, 1835.

I suppose I have been a little negligent in waiting so long before I wrote home, but in truth I did not wish to write until I had something certain to say, and even now I have very little. I met Dr. Hadley in Utica just at dusk on the evening of the day you left me there, so I stayed all night there, and went to Fairfield next day. I stayed at Fairfield until Tuesday afternoon, then went to Little Falls, and arrived in Albany just in time for the evening boat next day, and was in New York at breakfast next morning.

Since my return I have been very busy, and on the whole very comfortably situated. I have got back to my class in the Sunday-school; both teachers and scholars have mostly returned, for they all get scattered during the warm months of the summer; and we are now going on very well. On my arrival here I found a very fine package of dried plants collected by my friend the Rev. John Diell, chaplain for American seamen in the Sandwich Islands. I set about them immediately, and it has taken me nearly all my time this month to study them, but I have now finished them. I shall send my notes about them to Professor Hooker of Glasgow, Scotland, that he may, if he pleases, publish them in the “Journal of Botany,” of which he is the editor. They are of more interest to the people on that side of the water than to us. I have again sat down to writing upon the work in which I have been engaged all summer, and I do not mean that anything else shall tempt me from it until it is finished, although a nice little parcel of weeds from China, sent by S. Wells Williams[30] (son of Wm. Williams), lies at my elbow. As to my book,[31] I am trying to make a bargain with two publishers; the prospects seem pretty fair, and I shall probably get $300, which is the sum I insist on. I shall have a definite answer in a few days. As to my course and occupation for the winter I can say nothing, for I have not hit upon any certain plan. One thing is pretty certain after thinking over the matter quite seriously, and consulting with Dr. Hadley, who is my firm friend in all these matters; I am determined to persevere for a little while yet before I give up all hopes from science as a pursuit for life. I have now, and expect to have, a great many discouragements, but I shall meet them as well as I can, until it shall seem to be my duty to adopt some other profession for my daily bread. I have several plans before me, some of which you would think rather bold; but I have not yet settled upon any of them. As soon as I take any steps at all I will let you know....

I know little of what is going on in the town. I have not been down into the business part of the city over five or six times since I have been here. When Mr. Rogers comes down, if he will let me know where he stops in season, I will see him. I shall write again to some of you in a very short time. Let me hear soon from some of you, and though I have here little time for writing letters, I will give punctual answers. I remain, with love to mother and all the rest,

Very truly yours, A. GRAY.

NEW YORK, November 17, 1835.

To-day when I go down town I shall subscribe for the “New York Observer” for you, and pay for a year. The “Observer” and the “Evangelist” are both excellent papers, and I hardly know which to choose. I would send the “Evangelist,” did not Mr. Leavitt fill it up too much with anti-slavery. One should if possible read both.

I am now boarding at 286 Bleeker Street, but when you write to me you may direct as before, as I am at Dr. Torrey’s a part of almost every day. I have a very comfortable and quiet place, for which I pay $4 per week, and keep a fire besides, which I suppose will startle you a little. I hope to obtain the situation of curator to the Lyceum of Natural History in the spring, when their new building is finished. The duties of the situation will take up only a part of my time. I shall have under my charge the best scientific library and cabinet in the city, a couple of fine rooms to live in, and a salary of about $300. But although I can secure pretty strong influence, the best members of the society offering me the place and wishing me to take it, yet it is not certain that we shall bring it about, so I say nothing about it. I shall let you know whenever any changes offer in my situation.

TO JOHN TORREY.

NEW YORK, July 11, 1836.

DEAR DOCTOR,--Since your departure several memoranda of more or less consequence have accumulated around me, and (having not yet heard from you) I will now communicate them, together with whatever intelligence I think will interest you. To begin with the most important. I have now (5 P.M.) just returned from your house, where I found a parcel for you (received by mail from Philadelphia, postage the mere trifle of $1.14-1/2), with the Hamburg seal, and the handwriting of our old correspondent, Professor Lehmann. Suspecting it to contain advice of packages of plants or books, I took the liberty to open it. I found two diplomas in high Dutch. Shade of Leopoldino-Carolineæ Cæsar. academiæ naturæ curiosorum! Hide your diminished head, and give way to the Königliche Botanische Gesellschaft in Regensburg!--which being interpreted means, I imagine, the Royal Botanical Society of Regensburg. Now I know as little of Regensburg and the Regensburg people who have done us such honor as a certain old lady did of the famous King of Prussia; but I ratherly think it means Ratisbon....

Box of plants and box of bones are here; the plants certainly look the more antediluvian of the two. The specimens are wretched and mostly devoid of interest. The bones will be served up at the Lyceum this evening.... On the same day last week I received a letter from Dewey,[32] and another from Carey, and according to both their accounts they must have been in raptures with each other. Dewey sends love to friend Torrey, and Carey kind regards to Dr. and Mrs. T. Dewey says Carey is rather savage upon species, and where Carey has not given him a favorable opinion upon any, it would amuse you to see how Dewey has detailed them to me, in order if possible to save the poor creatures’ lives. Dewey has a good spirit and is altogether a most estimable man, and I am sorry that we have to pull down any of his work. I must write him a few things, that it may not come upon him all at once....

Yours truly,

A. GRAY.

TO W. J. HOOKER.

NEW YORK, April 7, 1836.

DEAR SIR,--I take the opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of your two kind letters, which reached me a few weeks since nearly at the same time, one by the Liverpool packet and the other by the Lady Hannah Ellice. Allow me also to thank you for the trouble you have taken in naming the set of mosses, and especially for the beautiful parcel of British mosses you were so good as to send me, which were truly welcome. All British plants are so, as I have next to none in my herbarium; but nothing could be more acceptable than such a complete and authentic suit of the mosses of your country.

As to the Sandwich Island plants, I hardly know what to say. Supposing they might be of some use to you in connection with other collections, I copied the brief notes I made on studying them very hurriedly indeed, and placed them at your disposal. I did not possess sufficient means for determining them in a satisfactory manner, and fear I have committed errors in many cases. You will doubtless detect these at once, and if, on the whole, you think proper to publish them in the “Companion to the Botanical Magazine,” may I ask you to revise the paper, and freely make such corrections and alterations as you think proper. In that case, if you think the notes worthy of publication, I should not object; yet you are equally at liberty to use them in any other way. The parcel contained a specimen of a Composita (from Mouna Kea) which puzzled me extremely, and I was unable to ascertain its genus by Lessing. The anthers are free, or slightly coherent, in all the flowers I examined. Since the parcel was transmitted to you I have seen a specimen of Rhus (from Sandwich Islands) resembling the one in the parcel, except in having pubescent leaves. The latter is therefore improperly characterized, and perhaps will prove to be a well-known species. I shall hope to receive other and more complete specimens from Mr. Diell, and if I am so fortunate will gladly share with so esteemed a correspondent as Dr. Hooker. I hope to send you a parcel by the first opportunity that occurs of sending direct to Glasgow: when I will put up specimens of the mosses you desire, and will send a copy of the “Gramineæ and Cyperaceæ” for the gentleman at Paris who wishes it.

It is so troublesome and expensive to get them bound that I should much prefer, if any of your friends and correspondents should desire them, to send the specimens with labels and loose title-pages, at $4 per volume, each comprising, as you are aware, one hundred species. I may in that way furnish larger and often more perfect or more numerous specimens than in the bound copies. I hope to publish the third (and perhaps also the fourth) volume early next autumn.

Allow me to express my thanks for your kind assistance in various ways, and to say that I shall hereafter (D. V.) prosecute the study of our lovely science with increased zeal. I remain, with sentiments of the highest esteem,

Your much obliged friend, ASA GRAY.

October 10, 1836.

I also beg your acceptance of a copy of a little elementary botanical work published last spring. I do not expect it to possess any particular interest in your eyes; but in this country, unfortunately, no popular and at the same time scientific elementary treatise has been generally accessible to botanical students, and such a work was so greatly needed that I felt constrained to make the attempt, since no better-qualified person could be induced to undertake the labor.