Xll OBITUARY NOTICE OP DR. ROBERT PATTERSON. 



serviceable. Of tliis the Council were very sensible, and on his resignatiou 

 honoured him with an unanimous vote of thanks. 



In the year 1805, he received from Mr. Jefferson, President of the United 

 States, with whom he had been in habits of friendship, the unsolicited ap- 

 pointment of Director of the national Mint. This office he filled with great 

 reputation until his last illness, when he resigned, and his son in law. Dr. 

 Moore, was appointed bj President Monroe in his place. 



In the year 1816 the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, in testimony 

 of their approbation of his long tried talents and services, conferred on him 

 the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. 



That he should be a Fellow of the American Philosophical Society was a 

 matter of course. He was elected in 1783, and remained an active, zealous, 

 and useful Member to the time of his death. He was chosen Secretary in 

 1784, Vice-President in 1799, and ultimately in 1819 raised to the Chair 

 which had been filled by Franklin, Rittenhouse, Jefferson, and Wistar. His 

 zeal for the interests of this Institution was always conspicuous, and he con- 

 ducted himself during his Presidency to the entire satisfaction of the Society. 



Nature had been liberal to Dr. Patterson. She endued him with strength of 

 body and solidity of understanding. His mind was peculiarly adapted to the 

 exact sciences, in which he made considerable progress, and was certainly a 

 distinguished teacher. He was not however satisfied in any case with mere 

 abstract mathematical truth, but always sought for its application to some prac- 

 tical purpose. This appears from his works wKich are all elementary, and 

 his numerous papers published among the Transactions of our Society. His 

 practical knowledge of mathematics was held in high estimation. Our most 

 ingenious mechanicians were in tne constant habit of resortin"- to his judg- 

 ment and advice. But one, and the most important, trait in Ins character is 

 yet to be mentioned, — \).\% fervent and unremitted piety. From early youth to 

 the last moment of his protracted life, it penetrated and pervaded his whole 

 mind, and influenced all his conduct. He belonged to what is commonly called 

 the Scotch Presbyterian Church, of which he was an elder nearly half a cen- 

 tury, and which will long have cause to lament his loss. 



His constitution was so remarkably strong, that he reached the limit of his 

 long existence almost without sickness, and was even robust until within a few 

 months of his death. At length the powers of life gave way, and, without pain, 

 and apparently without disease, he died on the 22dof July, 1824, in the 82d 

 year of his age. 



