Lecture 11. The principles of classification. Individuals, species, their permanence, genera, orders, etc.
Lecture 12. Historical development. The Linnæan system, the natural. This ends so as to give me a fine place to begin at next year....
I shall soon be able to spare Sprague to draw the Illicium, if it still holds on. But I cannot spare him just yet. He has still to copy the red-snow bank from Ross, eighteen feet long!—finish two pieces of algæ, etc., etc.
TO A. DE CANDOLLE.
April 5, 1845.
I anxiously wait for the notices of the life and writings of your lamented father, which you so kindly offer. I agree with you that that of Daubeny[140] gives the best view of the philosophy of his science; and yet there are points of view that he has not touched upon. You, of course, know better than any one else what were your father’s philosophical views in natural history, his modes of thinking and working; and if, when you send me the above-mentioned documents, you would also feel at liberty to place such confidence in me as to give me your own views and suggestions upon the subject, and especially upon the points that other writers appear to have overlooked, I should be able to produce, in the “North American Review,” a much more important article and a worthier tribute to the memory of one so revered on this side of the Atlantic as well as in Europe. May I hope you will favor me in this respect?
Many thanks for the botanical news. I long to be delivered from the pressure of the engagements that have consumed so much of my time for the last year or two, and finish the “Flora of North America.”
I remain, ever, my dear friend, faithfully yours,
A. Gray.
TO JOHN TORREY.
August, 1845.