*18 



Praley. | Q"lx5 [March 15 



one of the most accomplished men I ever knew. 

 In early life becoming Professor of Natural Philoso- 

 phy and Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, 

 in the Department of Arts he soon achieved a wide 

 reputation for his learning, and for his skill as a 

 teacher. He was a most eloquent man, of captiva- 

 ting manners, and so genial and attractive that the old 

 as well as the young sought his society. He was for 

 a time a Professor in the University of Virginia, and 

 for many years was the Director of the Mint of the 

 United States. He was one of the original members 

 of the Franklin Institute, and its first Professor of 

 Mechanics and Natural Philosophy. To me he was 

 one of the first links in a chain of friends, which being 

 welded in 1825, held together for nearly twenty years 

 unbroken, and then in death, link by link, it gradually 

 fell asunder. With him began the list of Presidents 

 that formed the body of my own personal and very 

 dear friends, and the years that I spent with them 

 are filled with the choicest of my recollections. 



For a while the Society had a rule that the Presi- 

 dential term should be for two years, and hence it was 

 that dating from the time of Dr. Chapman to that of 

 Dr. Wood, we had five Presidents. 



Franklin Bache was the next President. He was 

 a great-grandson of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and 

 in many traits of character resembled him. He 

 had a bland serenity of manner, a great deal of 

 quiet humor, a very sagacious mind, and habits of 

 careful and persevering industry. He was for a long 

 time one of the Secretaries of the Society, and the 

 neatness and completeness of his records, and their 

 handwriting greatly identify him with his ancestor. 



