GRAY, ASA

(4810-88), botanist; 6. Paris, N.Y. He studied medicine and became a istant profe or of botany at he College of Physicians and Surgeons New York City, afterwards occupying the chair of natural history and botany at Harvard, 1842-73. He made an exhaustive study of North American flora and acquired note as an authority on taxonomy and morphology. His writings embraced popular textbooks for the young, especially on the growth of plants, and philosophical expositions on the theory of natural selection.