Prof. Gray's herbarium, numbering more than 200,000 specimens, and his library of 2,200 botanical works, were presented to Harvard on the completion, in 1864, of a fire-proof building for their reception. He received the degree of A. M. from Harvard in 1844, and of LL. D. from Hamilton in 1860, and delivered three courses of lectures in the Lowell institute. In 1874 he received the appointment of regent of the Smithsonian institution, succeeding Louis Agassiz in that office. For ten years, from 1863 till 1873, he was president of the American academy of arts and sciences, and in 1872 was president of the American association for the advancement of science, delivering his retiring address at the Dubuque meeting. Prof. Gray was one of the original members of the National academy of sciences, and afterward passed to the grade of honorary membership. Besides his connections with societies in this country, he was either corresponding or honorary member of the Linnean society and the Royal society in London, and of the academies of sciences in Berlin, Munich, Paris, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and Upsala. Prof. Gray was a very large contributor to periodical literature, and his separate papers include nearly 200 titles. For many years he was one of the editors of the “American Journal of Science,” and his “Botanical Contributions” were long published in the “Proceedings of the American Academy of Sciences and Arts.” He also wrote biographical sketches of many who have achieved eminence in science, and of these the more important American subjects have been Jacob Bigelow, George Engelmann, Joseph Henry, and Thomas P. James. See “Letters of Asa Gray, edited by Jane Loring Gray” (Boston, 1894). His literary works are “A Free Examination of Darwin's Treatise on the Origin of Species, and of its American Reviewers” (Cambridge, 1861); “Darwinia: Essays and Reviews pertaining to Darwinism” (New York, 1876); and “Natural Science and Religion” (1880). Prof. Gray's series of text-books are used extensively throughout the United States, and have passed through many editions. They include “Elements of Botany” (1836), republished as “Botanical Text-Book” (1853), and now called “Structural and Systematic Botany” (New York, 1858); “Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States” (Cambridge, 1848; 5th ed., New York, 1867); “Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology” (New York, 1857); “Botany for Young People and Common Schools,” comprising “How Plants Grow” (1858) and “How Plants Behave” (1872); “Field, Forest, and Garden Botany” (1868), which, with the “Lessons in Botany,” have been bound together under the title “School- and Field-Book of Botany” (1875); “Structural Botany or Organography on the Basis of Morphology” (1879), being the first volume of the series called “Gray's Botanical Text-Book”; “Botany of the United States Pacific Exploring Expedition” (Washington, 1854); and “Synoptical Flora of North America” (New York, 1878).
GRAY, David, journalist, b. in Edinburgh,
Scotland, 9 Nov., 1836 ; d. in Binghamton, N. Y.,
18 March, 1888. He came to the United States in
1849, and was among the settlers of Marquette
county, Wis. Thence he went to Bufi'alo, N. Y.,
in 1856, and three years later entered the service
of the "Courier" as a reporter. In 1865-'8 he
travelled and studied in Europe and the east. Re-
turning to Buffalo the latter year, he became man-
aging editor of the " Courier," and in 1876 its edi-
tor-in-chief. In 1882, owing to impaired health,
he left journalism, and for two years, with his
family, lived abroad. In 1886 he was appointed
treasurer and secretary of the board of commis-
sioners of the New York state reservation at Ni-
agara. He was mortally injured in a railway acci-
dent. His writings, prose and poetry, have been
collected in two volumes (Buffalo, 1888).
GRAY, Edgar Harkness, clergyman, b. in
Bridi)ort, Vt., 28 Nov., 1815. He was graduated
at VVaterville college (now Colby university) in
1838, and was ordained as pastor of the Baptist
church in Freeport, Me., in 1839. After having
ministered in various places he was called in 1863
to the E street Baptist church in Washington,
D. C. After the beginning of the 39th congress
he was elected chaplain of the U. S. senate, and
continued in that office four years. He was one of
the four clergymen who officiated at the funeral
services of President Lincoln in Washington. The
degree of D. D. was conferred upon him in 1864 by
the University of Rochester.
GRAY, Elisha, inventor, b. in Barnesville, Ohio,
2 Aug., 1835. He was apprenticed at an early age
to a blacksmith, and afterward to a carpenter and
boat-builder. On the completion of his time he
entered Oberlin college, where he devoted special
attention to physical science, meanwhile supporting
himself by working at his trade. As a student, he
constructed the pieces of apparatus used in the
class-room experimentation. In October, 1867, he
obtained his first patent for telegraphic apparatus,
and since then has received nearly fifty more, most
of which relate to the telephone. The remainder
have reference to the telegraphic repeater, tele-
graphic switch, annimciator, and type-printing
telegraph. He found when one end of a secondary
coil was connected with the zinc lining of a bath-
tub, dry at the time, that when he held the other
end of the coil in his left hand, and touched the
lining of the tub with his right hand, it would glide
along the side for a short distance in making con-
tact, giving rise to a sound that had the same
pitch and quality as that of the vibrating contact-
breaker. This discovery led to the invention of
his speaking telephone, for which he filed specifica-
tions on 14 Feb., 1876. Its peculiarity is that it
reproduces articulate speech by varying the resist-
ance of a battery current. In November, 1874, he
filed a caveat, and in January, 1877, received a
patent for a multiplex telegraph. His system is
" based upon the ability to transmit a number of
tones simultaneously over the same wire, and ana-
lyze them at the receiving end. So that each tone
will be audible on a particular instrument which
is tuned to it, but on no other." He transmitted
four messages at the same time on one wire between
New York and Boston in August, 1875, and a year
later he succeeded in sending eight messages in the
same way between New York and Philadelphia.
In 1874 he visited Europe in order to perfect him-
self in the study of acoustics. From 1869 till
1873 he was engaged in the manufacture of tele-
graphic apparatus in Chicago and Cleveland, and
since has held the office of electrician to the West-
ern electric manufacturing company. He has re-
ceived the degree of D. Sc, and has published
" Experimental Researches in Electro-Harmonic
Telegraphy and Telephony " (New York, 1878).
GRAY, George, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 26 Oct., 1725; d. in "Whitby Hall," near Philadelphia, in 1800. He was fifth of the name in lineal descent from George Gray, a wealthy gentleman of Barbadoes. He took an active interest in the affairs of the colony, and served in the assembly as delegate from Philadelphia from 1772 until 1775, when he resigned to take his place as member of the com-
