COMMENTARIES ON ASA GRAY'S BOTANICAL TEXTBOOKS BY GRAY AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES (1836-1887)

34 Pages·1997·18.4 MB·English

by  Ronald L Stuckey

ON
COMMENTARIES ASA GRAY'S
AND
GRAY
TEXTBOOKS BY
BOTANICAL HIS
CONTEMPORARIES
(1836-1887)
RONALD STUCKEY
L.
Museum
Herbanum, Biological Diversity
of
Department Plant Biology
of
The
Ohio State University
Road
1313 Kinnear
OH
45212-1192, U.S.A.
Columbus.
known
inis paper aescriucb vjiay
covering the entire scope ot the subject as in nis aay. ^
textbooks by using information from Gray himself as taken from (1) the books' prefaces
and from commentaries from other
and correspondence with botanical friends, (2)
his
textbooks may be placed into three categories: those that (1) discuss the basic ele-
Gray's
pub-
ments or provide the essential elements, written for beginning students in schools,
1845, 1850, 1853, 1858, and 1879; and (3) have a morphological-physiological orienta-
published 1858 and 1872. Gray's textbooks
tion written for use in elementary schools, in
more and
were original contributions that organized botany into a useful science fulfilled
m
demand and public
They were use schools the
the educational needs of the time. in for
and
their use usefulness ceased.
de comentinos de otros lutorts en revisiones publicadas de sus
nigos botanicos, (2)
y
pueden
mtcncionihdrd Gri)
Basandonos en sus titulos contenidos e los libios dc
bros.
elementos
que discuten elementos btsicos u olrtcen estos
^ruparse en tres categorias (1) los
;tudiantes de segundo nivel y universitarios public idos en seis edicioncs it\ isidis S 42
1
haciendo
las revisiones, por ello cesaron tanto su uso como
utilidad.
y
Asa Gray
(1810-1888),
considered the foremost nineteenth century bota-
United
nist in the States, authored different editions of his textbooks of
1 1
among
botany, regarded
as the best at that tune the United Pub-
in States.
durmg
lished the second half of the nineteenth
century, Gray's books were
considered by contemporaries
his as models, because they covered the views
m
He
wrote them
his day. comprehension
at a level and complexity
o(
different h'om most textbooks, in order that they would be and
available
and
usekil to all ages knowledge-levels of individuals wanting have
to in-
formation about
plants. Despite their widely recognized merit, no
discus-
known,
sion, so far as has ever been prepared on
is Gray's botanical
text-
When
books. one
sees the various and
titles dates of publication, either
from
a collection of the books in the library or in lists of textbooks, the
complexity and
confusion of become
this subject apparent. Gray's biogra-
pher, A. Hunter Dupree
(1959) offers very information about
little Gray's
textbooks, but book
his has provided the chronological backdrop
for the
organization of
this paper's
text.
Because of the merit Grays
of textbooks, the> are worthy being
of
identihed and descnbed The
proteduie
in this discussion follows the
chro"-
wntei pulKcs uuh
Kspoiuk
of the ind
coi lu his horamcal hands, and
c
(2)comnuntnKsiiipLiblisludiLMt\\s.)thistcxib()()ks
Hodi
th(se souices
ol
quoted
passages from the books, customarily
used the writing book
in of
and reviews during the nineteenth century, are excluded from these
notices
The examined study were taken from the
commentaries. reviews in this
Burk
compiled by Stuckey and (1998, in press).
reference
list
may
Based on contents, and purposes, Gray's textbooks be
their
titles,
elements
placed into three categories: those that (1) discuss the basic or
written beginning students in schools,
provide the essential lessons, for
word
with
pubhshed 1836, 1857, and 1887; are identified the "text-
in (2)
book" the written for individuals in colleges and secondary schools,
in title,
1842, 1845,
published rewritten editions,
or private students, in six
i-or
books which have morphological-
1850, 1853, 1858, 1879; are the a
(3)
physiological orientation written for young people in elementary schools,
and
published 1858 and 1872. Gray's textbooks are described discussed
in
chronological order of their writing and publication, rather than by the
in
A
grouped topic. of their full citations at the time of their first publica-
list
Known
(Appendix reprint edi-
arranged chronological order
tion in I).
is
Pre-1956
on published TheNational Union Catalog,
tions based citations in
Imprints (Compilers 1972) are noted at the end of each citation of the
books not
corresponding original edition. Selected features of Gray's dis-
summary
appear an added (Table
cussed in the text as 1).
A
true textbook according to the American Textbook Publishers In-
is,
work prepared the use of
published "especially for
stitute (1949, p. 19), a
pupil and teacher in a school or class, presenting a course of study in a
Textbooks, particularly those of
single subject, or closely related subjects."
wide according Rudolph (1971, are by their nature reposito-
use, to a, b),
of generally accepted knowledge in any discipline at a particular pe-
ries
work
The botanical textbook here defined as a that introduces stu-
riod. is
identification of particular plants. Textbooks are useful for the historian of
way paradigms
science because they present in a concise the generally held
Rudolph "They {textbooks} should pro-
(1975) further noted:
of a period.
'normal of the time. For textbooks are
vide an insight into the science'
when
being presen
windows the posture that the science takes
to
The "normal con
concept of science"
initiate."
The
defined for the history of science."" ori
it
3Kuhn(1970,p. 10)is"

The
Botamca Linnaean
(1751).
nlosophia
and
iteenth century stressed gross struc-
and This model, which was used in
ture history as a tool for classification.
books England and on the European Continent, was gradually replaced
in
Asa
by works having greater emphases on plant function and geography.
Gray's botanical textbooks were examples of these latter works.
Of Arthur 362) of Purdue Univer-
Gray's textbooks, Joseph C. (1895,
p.
29 August 1895 Section G, Botany, of
vice-presidential address of to
sity in his
Advancement spoke
American Association the of Science as follows:
the for
In the latter part of the dec:ade of the th irties h.s first ext-t50ok, the 'Elc
t^
appeared, decade nving the Text -boo k for College
Botany,' arid in tlle folic
whic hwort showed loft he best
'Manual,' of a featii
all cs ti
and
science and the neec of time. They were so well :oncc;ived, so
Is tlle ' c
md
demand, that new ditions rapidly succc?eded one anotller; to the pr
ec £
m w
These
they hold a high phice the estimation of botanical :each ers.
t
1
sessed a specially pot ent ele mentofvinli ty in being the exprisssionofkno-
Dnw
drawn
hand, the words of the master. In so far as inspirati. as froi
first
whom
De
came from French and English scholars, of Candolle the
sources chiefly
it
Brown
and Robert were the representatives.
eldest
BOTANY
WRITING THE ELEMENTS OF (1836)
By Asa Gray having graduated from
1835, the 24-year-old (Fig.
early
1),
want
had concluded he did not to practice
medical school four years earlier,
Unemployed and
medicine but become an authoritative botanist. living at
New
home with Sauquoit, York, he "was requested to superin-
his father in
some most approved European
tend the republication of one of the trea-
As Gray began work, he soon concluded that
(Gray 1836, to
tises" p. x).
much with expensive en-
European works were too illustrated
the large,
which
quantity of information did
contained considerable
gravings, or a
more
belong an elementary work. Gray decided "to engage in the
not in
formidable task of preparing an original work, expressly adapted to the use
He
of the student of North American Botany" (Gray 1836, p. x) resolved to
Gray needed money, but of equal
write an elementary textbook in botany.
A
importance was his desire to establish himself as a reputable botanist.
these applications wit
expounding
hare in th
cbook might
initially earn $300, but might
lIr- proicct also he
ol
greater value to botanical science, for he believed new and
tiiat a original
textbook should be made available. The book would be own,
his an
like
American
Lindley or a French de Candolle, arranged on
the Natural
Sys-
tem, rather than the antiquated, inferior Linnaean Sexual System em-
as
ployed in the books written by Amos Eaton, and
his student,' Mrs. Almira
Hart
Lincoln Phelps. In
this creative endeavor, hoped
C^ray challenge
to
Stuckey, Asa Gray's botanical textbooks J
' '
(Dupree
new
European masters with standard of botanical excellence
the a
1959, 48).
p.
Gray ahead and wrote
and doubts, forged
Despite differences, distractions,
manuscript during the summer and of 1835 and on into the winter
the fall
The book was have balance of information on form, function,
of 1836. to a
and which allowed students to understand the entire science
classification
Geneva,
main came from Augustin de Candolle of
His concepts
of Botany. P.
Switzerland, the master of fields of botany.
all
home autumn 1835
Gray the of to
During the course of writing. left in
New
York where he could be close to a
boarding house City,
reside in a in
On
28 September he
community and publishers of textbooks.
to
scientific
my am make with two
bargain
wrote "As to book, trying to a
his father: 1
and probably get $300,
prospects seem pretty shall
publishers; the fair, I
sum answer few days"
which the insist on. shall have a definite in a
I
is I
Some while on those days,
reflecting
Gray, 1:54. 1893). years later
(J.L.
& my
Company
book.
Gray noted: "[!} arranged with CarviU to take I
sum
hundred and which was a great for
gave one dollars,
think they fifty
me"a.L. Gray, 1:20. 1893).
much
business-
To proofreading and adding to the clear, crisp,
assist in
John
Gray had 12-years older English friend Carey, a
(1880) his
prose,
like
and
proof pages
knowledge, the
gentleman of considerable botanical revise
Gray signed
manuscript completion through the press.
help bring the to
printed
April 1836, and 10 or 12 days later he expected the
the preface in
W.
On May Gray friend Nathan Folwell, as
1836, notified his
book.
3
quoted in Dupree (1959, p. 55), saying, "This preparatory training ... has
me and happen pursue
to
most thoroughly future progress,
prepared for if I
Botany undividedly time shall (entre nous) be soon the best
for a little I
came ap-
Completion of Gray's textbook before his initial
be age 25. first
nonresident professorship
pointment university teaching position, his
to a
appointment 1838 The University of Michigan (Bartlett 1941).
in at
North
An was adapted the student of
work, Gray's Elements to
original
American Botany As Gray (1836, x-xi) stated in the preface, its
(Fig. pp.
2).
combining
of rigid
was because of the "difficulty
execution not chiefly
easy,
and philosophical accuracy with a popular form and a familiar
perspicuity
he
Gray wrote the preface that
To achieve this goal. further in
style."
Ue
and
Organography Physio/ogie Vegctale ot
suited the Theoru Elementarre, VegeUrie,
Anatonm and the more recent Elemens de Physiologte
Candolle; the Traite d' Vegetak.s,
Yegetale de Botanique of Mirbel; the Introduction to Botany, the Introduction to the
et
Botany
Natural System Botany, and the Ladies Botany of Prof. Lindley; the Article
of
ELEMENTS
N
Y
O
T A
—
i''
Stuckoy, Asa Gray's botanical textbooks
edition of the Nouveaux Elemens de Botamque of Achilie Richard.
which
The (1836) preface outlined and described the contents,
Elements'
contained three components: Structural Botany, Physiologi-
basically (1) (2)
The component was
Botany, and Systematic Botany. third further
cal (3)
which he
divided into Taxonomy, the Principles of Classification, in fa-
(a)
vored the Natural System over the Artificial System of Linnaeus, (b)
Nomenclature with
Phytography, an exposition of the Rules of Botanical
phase of botany whose im-
the idea of directing students' attention to this
and
portance had been undervalued and needlessly violated in this country,
the definition of the technical language used in describing
Glossology,
(c)
An
Appendix provided general
plants, here confined to adjectival terms.
herbarium, and con-
directions for collecting and preserving plants for the
Natural System.
tamed of the plant families arranged in the
a
list
]
Two reviews of Gray's Elements have been located. In the American ournal
an anonymous probably editor Ben-
(30:399- 1836), writer, its
Science
of
jamin Silliman, wrote that Gray's book was "the best work on the philoso-
phy of Botany that has appeared in this country, and that its merits will
...
among The
numerous
be appreciated by the students of this science us."
other review, signed "D," believed to be Gray's friend, the physician
is
William Darlington of West Chester, an authority on the flora of Chester
who Magazine
County, Pennsylvania, wrote in The American Gardener's
(2:421-424.
1836):
into a clear a
[by the]
... e
study and
for
In later years, an anonymously written review in the Bulletin of the Torrey
Botanical Club (6:317. 1879) referred to Gray's Elements of Botany (1836) as
We
book provided insight into the science. well
the that this writer's "first
we
the delight with which read the clear elucidation of the subject
recall
method, we had no experience the matter."
particular in
delight in the for
D. Hooker {Nature 37:376. 1888) noted:
Gray's British friend Joseph
PREPARING THE
BOTANICAL TEXT-BOOK
(1842)
AND
REVISION (1845)
ITS
In 1841, Gray began new
to prepare a textbook, even though he was
in
midst commitment
the of a with John Torrey
to write a Flora North
of
&
America (Torrey Gray 1838-1844). Since botany was widely taught
in
the schools, he could at once obtain some needed cash, and because of Amos
Eaton's death in 1842, Gray would be able to reach students previously
served by Eaton and Gray new
his followers. could nourish group
also a of
who
botanists capable of using, but only incidentally were purchasing,
his
During
Flora. the course of writing his textbook. Gray was and
offered
accepted on 30 April 1842, the appointment
as the Fisher Professor of
Natural History Harvard With
in University. an added
incentive of writ-
good
ing a text for his forthcoming and
classes, realizing the distinguished
community
he was about
to join, he respectfully inscribed the book to the
most eminent
botanist of Boston, "Jacob Bigelow, M.D.,
EL.S., Professor
of Materia Medica Harvard
in University; author of the Flora
Bostomensts,
and He
of the A»/eriain Medical Botany ." completed
writing the textbook
in
m
and Cambridge
late July, arrived in sufficient time to take on his new
position September 1842. At Harvard demands
in the of and
science the
rewards from came
society into balance Gray, and
for the Fisher
Professor-
marked
ship beginning
a real there of a continuous scientific study of botany,
now
as botany was most important Near
Gray's end
in the of 1842,
life.
The
Botanical Text-book ami
for Colleges, Schools, Private Students was pub-
lished, having two comprising "An
parts, Introduction and
to Structural
Physiological Botany," and the "Principles of Systematic Botany." On
the
page was
title also the identification that Gray was Fisher Professor of Natu-
He
History Harvard
ral in University. noted was
that "it in the course of
when
printing was appointed
I to the Fisher professorship, so that could
I
put on my
that title the title-page, and have text-book
a for
class"
(J.L
Gray
1:28. 1893).
As
was when
the situation writing
earlier the Elements Botany
of (1836),
Gray met
with and
difficulties delays in preparing The Botanical
Text-book
He
wrote Gray
(Fig. Q.L. 1:282. 1893) George Engelmann
3). to
in
St.
March
30
Louis, 1842,
saying: