ALEXIS CASWELL. 



311 



outside of the limits of tlie United States), he sustained the credit of 

 his country on a foreign soil, by his dignified presence and his manly 

 eloquence, to the great .-at i.s faction of all liis associates. At such a 

 time and in such a position, Dr. Caswell appeared to great advantage. 

 By his dignity, his address, and his courtesy he was eminently qualified 

 to he a j)residing officer; and he was gifted witli a fluency, a felicity, 

 and a weight of speech which rose to tlie requirements of the occasion. 

 At tiie next meeting of the Association in Baltimore, the president and 

 vice-president elect were absent, and every hand was u|)lilted in favor 

 of placing Dr. Caswell again in the chair. Having been called to pre- 

 side over two of the most brilliant gatherings of this scientific body, he 

 was ex|)ectetl to discharge the last duty of a retiring president by giving 

 the address at Springfield. After showing that science had an intellec- 

 tual value far transcending its practical use, he discussed the objects, the 

 opportunities, and the hopes of science in America ; drawing his illus- 

 trations chiefly from astronomy, partly because it was his fiivorite 

 study, and partly because it had the start of all others in material 

 resources. In this excellent address, admirable in thought, spirit, and 

 stvle. Dr. Caswell reiterates his conviction that genuine science is not 

 unfriendly to religion. " We participate in no such fear. We wish 

 explicitly to exonerate this Association from all suspicion of undermin- 

 ino', or in any manner weakening, the foundations of that faith which 

 an apostle says was once delivered to the saints. We cannot admit the 

 opinion that any progress in science will ever operate to the disparage- 

 ment of that de\out homage which we all owe to llim in whose hand 

 our breath is. and whose are all our ways. Science, on the contrary, 

 lends its sanction and adds the weight of its authority to the sublime 

 teachings of revelation." 



In this connection, two other scientific publications of Dr. Caswell 

 may be mentioned: I. On Zinc as a covering for building; "American 

 Journal of Science," 1^37. II. Review of ISichol's Architecture of the 

 Heavens; "Chri.-tian Review," 1841. Dr. Caswell was elected an 

 Associate Fellow of this Academy in 1850. He was one of the 

 original members of the ^National Academy of Sciences. He wrote a 

 Memoir of that worthy pioneer in American Science, Benjamin Silli- 

 man, which has been printed in one of its volumes of Proceedings. 



In this retrospect of the life and labors of Dr. Caswell, he has been 

 seen almost exclusively in his professional relations, as the student and 

 teacher of science. And here his mind took more delight in ranging 

 over a wide field than in dissecting some single flower or tracing the 

 path of a solitary molecule, although that may be a microcosm in 



