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Correspondence of Asa Gray and G. W. Clinton |
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The
Correspondence of Asa Gray
(1810-1888) and George William
Clinton (1807‑1885) 1867 Vol. 4 (37) [G 188] Cambridge. February 11, 1867 Dear Clinton To add to the rest, in my time of greatest hurry ‑ worry ‑
and just as Mrs. Gray had got ready to write all my letters for me she is
down & suffering with a very painful local inflammation, and I have to
play nurse, and get little sleep. Well, expect your genus paper ‑ which I have
ordered boxed & sent on by Express ‑ to Mr. Evisard Palmer Esq. ‑
[did] expect the bill 2 or 3 days hence Thanks for yours of the 1st Feb. I acknowledge safe arrival of my opus primum, the
[Gram. & Cyp.] You are good & generous people. I will write an
official acknowledgement ‑ as soon as I get time to do it legibly &
neatly. Meanwhile, I am Your obliged A. Gray Recd. Feb. 15 Vol. 4 (46) [G 179] Cambridge, Mass. Feb. 19 [1867] Dear Clinton Tear off leaf and give to your Treasurer as his receipt. Let me tell you also ‑ for fear you think something is wrong,
that I find, on comparing notes with dealer, that the bundles do not
represent 2 reams, but 100 lbs of paper ‑ that the paper was ordered to
weigh, & does weigh 55 lbs per ream, & so costs 11.50 per ream. You lack about 20lbs of 4 full reams ‑ but I dare say you have
enough Your tired, overworked friend Asa Gray P.S. If your copy of Bentham & Hooker's Gen. Pl. is not yet
arrived, I should like to supply it ‑ from nine copies supplied to me
by the authors & publishers ‑ who allow a discount of 20 per cent ‑
which you will save Ever Yours A. Gray [Recd. Feb. 22] Vol. 4 (184) [G 36] Cambridge, Mass. June 14, 1867 My Dear Clinton I send by Express (paid) a stout package of well‑named
European plants to your Natural History Society, not as a return, but
in token of my best thanks for sending me so handsomely a copy of my own
first botanical production from their shelves. Please present my best thanks
(not less sincere for being tardy) for the welcome gift. I write to you at B. [Buffalo] but suppose you may be a
constitution‑making at Albany. Prosperity attend you wherever you may be. Yours ever A. Gray Recd. June 17 Vol. 4 (215) [G 2] Cambridge Oct. 16 [1867] My Dear Clinton You know the sorrow we have, in the death of Mrs. Gray's excellent
Father, Mr. Loring? I will send you the notice taken at the Bar in Boston. My wife is only now getting settled at home where she has been able
to do nothing of the usual household matters since July. Could you spare & send to E. Durand. 1818 Delancy Place,
Philadelphia ‑ a specimen, however small, of Solidago Houghtonii
of Bergen Swamp ‑ for the love of your [dear] friend A. Gray Peck has lately found Naias minor (var. tenuisissima)
at Albany &[ ] that W. Boott
finds it near here, at [ ] A. G. Recd. Oct. 19, ansd 21st In Gray's 5th
(1867) edition, Naias major All. was discovered at" Onondaga Lake by G. W.
Clinton; Lake Ontario, near Rochester, C. M. Booth: recent discoveries"
(p. 483). Its current name is Najas marina L., a species rare in New York
State. In Homer House's 1924 flora of New York State (NY State Mus. Bull. No.
254) he lists Peck's specimen of Naias gracillima (A. Br. ex Engelm.) Magnus
from West Albany (N.Y. State Mus. Bul. 139:p. 26. 1910). Apparently
Clinton responded to Gray's request. On October 25 he wrote in his journal
that he " Today
expressed packets to E. Durand, 1818 Delancy St., Philadelphia." He later received the following letter of
gratitude: Vol. 5 (5) [B
227] Philadelphia
October 29th, 1867 G. W. Clinton,
Esq., Buffalo I have, with
infinite pleasures received your note of 26th instant and the package you
have been kind enough as to send me. Many months ago,
I took the liberty to write to you, begging you to send me a specimen of
Solidago Houghtonii, if you could spare it. To this letter I never received an
answer, and I must now believe that it never reached you. I have, since,
applied to other sources; but unsuccessfully. I had therefore to recur to our
friend Gray who, never, refuses me what he can spare or procure me. From the
above fact, my dear sir, you may judge that I am not quite as haughty as I
may have appeared in your eyes. Not being able to account for your silence, I
could not, decently, renew my application to you. Thank you, thank
you for your fine specimens of Sol. Houghtonii, and for the rest. I have
rejoiced at the sight of Atriplex rosea, an old acquaintance which I used to
meet in the vicinity of Nantes, more than fifty years ago. Of Naias minor,
var. I received, a few days ago, a small specimen from Dr. Gray; yours is
complete and I am very glad to have it. Panicum xanthophysum, Cyperus
dentatus and Riccia sphaerocarpa, I had. Can you not send
me a list of your desiderata; it would make me happy thus to pay my debt. Why
did you not let me pay the freight of the package? Very gratefully
and cordially yours E. Durand 1818 Delancey
Place Recd Oct. 31,
ansd Nov. 3 Vol. 5 (3) [B 220] C[ambridge] Oct. 25 [1867] Dear Clinton I have named all your plants ‑ to‑day received, except 2
or 3 which will want consulting the Herbm. in the morning. Our thanks for your kind letter. The Juncus surely I can't name, if Engelmann cannot, but I will see
if I can just match it in the Herbm. Yours ever A. Gray The remaining # 21 = Bromus Recd. Oct. 28 Vol. 5 (13) [B 218] Cambridge, Mass. Nov. 9, 1867 My Dear Clinton I have for your Society the part 3 (completing Vol. 1) of
Hooker & Bentham's Genera Plantarum. Being for your Society I have had the duty remitted ‑ and so
you have it for $4.25 ‑ currency for which be thankful and send
me the money. Shall I send by mail? If so needing 25 cs. for postage In haste Ever Yours A. Gray Recd Nov. 12, 21st inclosed him $5.00 Vol. 5 (17) [B 214] Cambridge, Nov. 23, 1867 Dear Clinton Yours of the 21st inst. just in. Glad to hear from you. Will start
off the copy of Gen. Pl. at once. And here is change for your $5 bill. Ever Yours A. Gray Book addressed to Academy of Natural Sciences, Buffalo, N.Y. Reced Nov. 27 Vol. 5 (32) [B 199] [1867] Dear Clinton Here is all I can do for you ‑ now. Come to the Torrey Jubilee on Friday & meet Yours ever A. Gray Put aside, as you have them, specimens for F. Mueller. Recd. Dec. 18 Ferdinand von Mueller
of Australia (see letter of Dec. 1866 above). Clinton, although invited by
Torrey to visit him, did not on this occasion. |
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