Fraley.] ' ) ''* [March 15, 



loss of some sheep that had strayed away, while absent 

 in search of them his wife accidentally found by an 

 advertisement in a newspaper of Philadelphia, that a 

 Professor of Mathematics was wanted in the College 

 of that city. He proceeded with her advice to apply 

 for the place, and after a courteous reception from 

 Provost Ewing, he was appointed and continued in 

 office for many years, holding in addition to his Profes- 

 sorship the office of Vice-Provost. He was one of the 

 best mathematicians of his day, and his general knowl- 

 edge of scientific and general subjects was large and 

 usefully employed. 



His residence in Philadelphia brought him immedi- 

 ately and closely in contact with the leading men of 

 the clay, and he soon became a member of our Society, 

 contributing to its Transactions and filling the offices of 

 Secretary and Vice-President. In 1S05 he was ap- 

 pointed Director of the Mint of the United States, 

 which office he held until within a few weeks of his 

 death in 1824. He took a deep interest too in the 

 progress of mechanical science, and became one 

 of the original members of the- Franklin Institute, 

 and, I think, was Chairman of its Board of Mana- 

 gers when he died. His career was one of great 

 honor and usefulness, and his obituary notice by Chief 

 Justice Tilghman is full of interest. Tilghman, the 

 great jurist to whom the law owes many of its noblest 

 expositions, whose tender and affectionate spirit was 

 like that of a woman, but whose love of justice was as 

 inflexible and exact as if in him were enshrined the 

 purest conceptions of the truly god-like duties he was 

 called on officially to discharge. 



These six were the; heroes of our earlier history, 



