1 882. 149 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Sci. 



eers. He was also a member of the United States Commission for 

 testing iron and steel. 



Since 1872, he has written eighteen papers for various societies, con- 

 tributed to Scribner'S Monthly Magazine, and last, but not least, 

 became Lecturer on Iron and Steel at the School of Mines of Colum- 

 bia College. In the latter office, he was beloved of all the students 

 who had the good fortune to hear him. His calm delivery, his care- 

 fully rounded sentences, and his pre minently practical manner of 

 treating his subject insured an amount of attention that few lecturers 

 enjoy. The kind answer to a question, the evident endeavor to put 

 himself in the student's place as an inquirer, made him attractive to 

 all, and his lectures were looked forward to, as hours of intellectual en- 

 joyment and profit. He died in Brooklyn, January 29, 1882, from 

 peritonitis, and lies buried in Greenwood Cemetery. 



Such is a very brief record of a life that was busy beyond compari- 

 son. As a mechanical engineer, a railroad engineer, a military en- 

 gineer, or a metallurgical engineer, Mr. Holley could claim a position 

 among the greatest ; but when we reflect that he was eminent in each of 

 these branches of the science of engineering, we stand bewildered at 

 the power of brain, and the untiring energy that carried him to such a 

 height. As a proof of his greatness, there is not to-day a man who 

 can at once fill his place in the engineering world. But it cannot be 

 doubted that he was prodigal of his strength, and often did more work 

 than his wonderfully vigorous mind could bear. The tenacious metal, 

 that he loved so well, would scarcely have been tough enough for the 

 body to carry such a mind, and the intoxication of vigor often leads the 

 best of us to feats of endurance from which in our calmer moments we 

 shrink. 



From every steel-works in America, from the glowing throat of 

 every converter, there comes a radiance directed to but one point, the 

 illumination of the name of Alexander Lyman Holley ; a name not 

 to be forgotten where the watch-spring or the suspension bridge are 

 born of American steel. 



ARTHUR H. ELLIOTT, ) Committee. 

 Thomas Egleston, f 



Prof. Thomas Egleston then presented the regular paper of 

 the evening, entitled : 



THE PROPOSED GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR THE TESTING OF 



IRON AND STEEL.* 



* Published in Trans. Inst. Mech. Engineers, Phila. meeting, Feb., 1882 



