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Page 13 text:
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3 ap €. orrep WHEN in 1919 ive learned that our former student at the Massachusetts Agricultural College, Dr. Ray E. Torrey, graduate of the class of 1912, was to return to his Alma Mater to assume the duties of instructor in Botany, leaving his position in Wesleyan University, much interest was felt by those who remembered the tall lanky student of former years, whose thorough scholarly work as an undergraduate had impressed itself upon all. We recalled a shy, modest and unassuming student of brilliant ability, and we were interested to see the development which maturer years of study and experience in life must have yielded a receptive mind, full of latent possibilities. The return of the native revealed the old modest and unassuming manner, but the man in- stead of the boy. of mental alertness, of strong convictions, the man who had found himself. Years of study at Harvard, of travel at home and abroad, of experience in the class-room had placed the unobtrusive student upon the higher plane of recognition of individual duty and responsibility, and had given the unassuming character the force and energy of self-assertiveness. Acquainted with his record as an undergraduate, knowing the favor his graduate work had re- ceived from the most eminent specialists, and the successful teaching career already launched forth upon, we augured only successful and fruitful years of labor in work resumed at M. A. C. The realization of optimistic forecasting: the recognition of the intrinsic value of steady adherence to the highest ideals of teaching, as the leader of the student to broader fields of intellectual attain- ment, of insight into life and its various individual problems; the giving unstintedly of self to awake and promote better scholastic attainments; the recognition of the spirit of ambition for the student; the desire to cooperate, to lead, to point the way to broader mental perception — all these dominant forces of the best in pedagogy we promised would be felt and appreciated. Our augury was good. In dedicating the present year-book to Doctor Torrey the students pay him their highest tribute. Ray E. Torrey was born December 15, 1887 at North Leverett. His early education was re- ceived at the schools of Leverett, Montague, and Deerfield. In 1907 he was graduated from the Montague High School under Principal A. C. Monahan, a graduate of M. A. C. It was at the Montague High School that an interest in Natural History began to develop, also here was fostered a talent for drawing which later proved to be an economic asset. Leaving the High School, Mr. Torrey entered the First National Bank at Greenfield, supposing he was through with formal edu- cation. But he soon realized the monotonous routine work was in no wise sufficient to engage a mind eager for knowledge. He read widely and wanted to know more. At Principal Monahan ' s instigation he was led to enter M. A. C. in the fall of 1908, believing at first that he had an inclination for floriculture which he had practiced as an amateur. Lnder the stimulating influence of a few men in Science here he became interested in Biology and Geology, and particularly in the philosophy of Evolution, which led logically to studies In philosophy. Not being hampered by formal instruction in the latter, he was able to extend his reading outside the beaten track and dipped rather extensively in Eastern philosophy. Entirely on his own resources he lived on the raw edge of nothing for four years-then, as at all other phases of his career, daunted by no physical difficulties or hindrances. In his senior year he was Laboratory Assistant in Bot- any; he also received the Hill ' s Prize for the best herbarium collection. Immediately answering a call to assume the position of Head of the Department of Botany in Grove City College, Grove City, Pa., he taught there Botany, Zoology and Geology until 1915. The summer of 1914 was spent in Germany, Italy and England; but the European tour was rudely interrupted by the war, and he was caught in the general American exodus. In the fall of 1915, Mr. Torrey entered Harvard for graduate work, majoring under Professor E. C. Jeffrey in Vascular Morphology. Here he assisted in instructing Harvard classes. His talent for drawing was splendidly utilized in the many illustrations which he made for Professor Jeffrey ' s Anatomy of Woody Plants. He also collaborated with Professor Jeffrey in several
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Page 14 text:
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articles dealing with Evolutionary Morphology. Upon receiving the Thayer Fellowship in Botany in 1917, he spent nine months in the Western and Southern States searching for fossil lignitic woods. He visited practically every region where such woods occur. In a thesis embodying the results of these researches, he was able to add one new genus and sixteen new species to science. His thesis was accepted for the doctorate in 1918, and also for publication by the Boston Society of Natural History. In 1918 he took the position in Wesleyan University as substitute for the professor who was then overseas, to teach classes in Biology and Vertebrate Zoology, preparing R. O. T. C. men for army medical work. In 1919 came the call to M. A. C. Owing to the native modesty of Doctor Torrey and his keen dislike of personal aggrandize- ment, we have no wish to eulogize here in any way; but it would be unfair to himself and to the class who are dedicating this year-book to him if we refrained from a few words of fair estimation held by faculty colleagues and the student body: a slight appreciation of esteem in which Doctor Torrey is held by teacher and individual. It would be impossible to conceive of a teacher of experience at Harvard doing work at M. A. C. without holding at M. A. C. the same high ideals which have won recognition at Harvard. Doctor Torrey is above all the scholar — one of preeminent attainment and rare capacity — and to his work in the class-room he brings the highest ideals, placing before the student the worthy goal to- wards which to strive. But his work as instructor does not end here. Having set the goal and given proper incitement towards attaining the same, he lends his whole force towards assisting the stu- dent forward, utilizing every opportunity to encourage and advance. Believing the college is an educational institution rather than a tradeschool, he has for each student scholastic ambition; permeated with the dominant scientific dogma of the survival of the fittest, he believes the college man should reach superior mental attainment. Of the highest ideals in this respect, of unswerving persistency, of mental dauntlessness, he finds it difficult to tolerate the college man of mere voca- tional ambition. A contributor to science of a now established international recognition, M. A. C. may well be proud to rank Doctor Torrey as an alumnus and an instructor, and the coming years alone may tell how long she may hold this worthy son. The man — the individual: a nature rich in appreciation of those things beyond the narrower limit of personal interest; a scientist and thinker, endowed with a most human personality — interest in life in its varied forms — helpfulness — altruism at the expense of self — bubbling over with the keenest sense of humor amounting almost to an obsession — appreciation of and keen insight into the arts, especially music, to which he reacts to an extraordinary degree — a feeling for the vital element in everything worth while; these are but a few of the main characteristics of our colleague and instructor, whose work and attainment we respect, whose individuality we esteem and appreciate. EDGAR L. ASHLEY.
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