Rogers.'] 4b-i [Feb. 20, 



Filling for years a position in which, without violating any of the prin- 

 ciples which many, nay, most men consider quite sufficient for their moral 

 guidance, he might have used his knowledge for the furtherance of his own 

 selfish ends, he never swerved for an instant from his determination to ex- 

 amine and decide all matters from the purely scientific point of view, un- 

 biassed by any considerations as to how his decisions might affect the in- 

 terests of any one, and the hosts of inventors and projectors who are con- 

 stantly hovering around Government headquarters found him a sentinel . 

 whom it was impossible to cajole or to pass without that countersign of 

 true worthiness which his trained mind was quick to recognize. 



While he no doubt, had he remained in his laboratory, would have 

 added year after year to the knowledge of the world by original research, 

 he did so much in his prominent position to encourage and assist such work 

 by others, that it may be fairly presumed that the results were equally good. 

 While there are many men who in the solitude of the laboratory can 

 cany on important investigations, there are few who join to an accurate 

 scientific training the ability to impress and to direct men who are their 

 scientific equals, the lofty incorruptibility of character, and the clear- 

 sighted power of grasping a subject which he possessed. 



In this respect as well as by his official position he much resembled his 

 friend Alexander Dallas Bache with whom he was intimately associated 

 for the many years during which they both lived in Washington. 



Brought into continual personal contact with the active scientific men of 

 the day, they exerted an incalculable effect upon what we might call the 

 scientific morals of the younger generation, and always trod themselves, 

 the paths which alone lead to honor. 



Single minded and steadfast in their purposes, they would listen to no 

 projects which had about them the taint of selfishness or corruption, and 

 the man who met them with any project which would not bear the full 

 light of day soon felt that he had made a grievous mistake, and retreated 

 in confusion. 



In writing thus, I do not mean that Prof. Henry frowned only on those 

 projects which the average sentiment characterizes as dishonest, that 

 was his clear and evident duty, but he also taught that scientific work had 

 for its object the development of truth, and that all the petty considerations 

 of claims of priority, and the jealousies which so often embitter the rela- 

 tions of scientific men were unreal and unimportant, purely secondary 

 matters. 



It is somewhat doubtful whether any one' can occupy again a position in 

 the American scientific world exactly similar to his. Commencing his 

 scientific career at a time when it was quite possible for a great man to 

 know the whole range of the physical sciences in a way more or less com- 

 plete, he was looked up to by all men working in those fields as an ac- 

 knowledged authority, and his influence was thus very extensive. Now 

 these fields have Income so large and varied that it is hardly possible for 

 anyone to become more than a specialist, and the power of coordination 



