No one can surpass Dr. Sandys in the felicity with which he presents the distinguished men whom Cambridge University honors with its highest degrees. Among those who received the degree of Doctor of Laws, June 20th, was Prof. Asa Gray, now in England. Dr. Sandys said (we translate from the exquisite Latin): " And now we are glad to come to the Harvard professor of Natural History, facile prin-ceps of transatlantic botanists. Within the period of fifty years how many books has he written about his fairest science, how rich in learning, how admirable in style ! How many times has he crossed the ocean that he might more carefully study European herbaria, and better know the leading men in his own department! In examining, reviewing, and sometimes gracefully correcting the labors of others, what a shrewd, honest and urbane critic has he proved himself to be! How cheerfully, many years ago, among his own Western countrymen was he the first of all to greet the rising sun of our own Darwin, believing his theory of the origin of various forms of life demanded some First Cause, and was in harmony with a faith in a Deity who has created and governs all things ! God grant that it may be allowed to such a man at length to carry to a happy completion that great work, which he long ago began, of more accurately describing the Flora of North America ! Meanwhile, this man who has so long adorned his fair science by his labors and his life, even unto a hoary age,'bearing,' as our poet says, •the white blossom of a blameless life, him, I say, we gladly crown, at least with these flowerets of praise, with this corolla of honor [his saltern laudis flosculis, hac saltern honoris corolla, libenter coronamus]. For many, many years may Asa Gray, the venerable priest of Flora, render more illustrious this academic crown ! " - Independent.

Dr. Gray has returned from Europe, and is again hard at work on the Synoptical Flora.

There will be sorrow over the whole world at the news of the paralysis that has stricken Professor Asa Gray, which at his advanced years, 77, must necessarily impair his usefulness, if indeed he should recover at all. So well is he known and beloved, that in almost every household where these lines will be read, it will seem like the dropping out of a member of the family. The sad news seemed scarcely credible; only a few days before he passed through Philadelphia with a flow of life and spirits, giving hope of many happy days to come.

It will gratify the numerous friends of this great botanist to learn that wherever he goes in the Old World he is received with the greatest respect and in many cases with enthusiasm. His visit to the Old World at this advanced period of his life, is to study some points in connection with the forthcoming volume of his synoptical Flora.