Abstract
Professor Asa Gray of Harvard University was one of a handful of people who knew of Charles Darwin's theory of species origination by natural selection before it was presented publicly in a meeting of the Linnean Society in 1858. Indeed the 'paper' that was presented on Darwin's behalf, unlike the companion paper of Alfred Russel Wallace, was hastily cobbled together from a number of sources, among them the summary of the theory that Darwin had sent to Gray in 1857. Darwin did not expect the warm reception his ideas received from Asa Gray, given Gray's quite public sympathies for natural theology--yet Gray became the foremost champion of Darwin's ideas in North America. By exploring the rich correspondence between Darwin and Gray between 1859-1869, we will see how their detailed botanical explorations helped each of them to clarify their philosophical views and their philosophical differences. Ironically, it was pressure from Gray to clarify his views about chance that helped Darwin understand the incompatibility of his theory and natural theology, something he clearly had not seen when he wrote On the Origin of Species.

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