XXVI REPORT ON THE HENRY STATUE. 



the fame and attest the manifold excellences of this eminent servant of 

 science and benefactor of the American people. 



The proprieties of the occasion forbid that I should recite the events 

 of Professor Henry's life or attempt a critical judgment of his services 

 or his merits as a philosopher. To do either were superfluous, in view 

 of the accuracy and fullness with which both have been done by others. 

 All that I shall aim to do is to give a summary expression to that esti- 

 mate of the man and his work which I am confident other generations 

 will accept, and which this statue is designed to suggest and perpetuate. 



It is pleasant for us to notice that Professor Henry was bora on the 

 eve of this century ,«so memorable for the development of the sciences 

 of nature and their splendid applications to art; that just as this new 

 era was opening, the wonders of the physical universe were begin- 

 ning to be explored by the wondering eyes of our infant philosopher. 

 They were wondering eyes indeed, wakeful, sensitive, and responsive 

 from the first. It is a mistake to suppose, because Professor Henry's 

 external circumstances were unfavorable to the early discipline of 

 books and the school, that his mind was ever crass and inactive. His 

 own testimony and that of his friends is positive that from the first he 

 was a sensitive and dreamy boy, who found enough in the common 

 earth and air, and the play of common scenes to stimulate his creative 

 powers and to furnish material for his long day dreams, as he lay on 

 the sunny hillside and looked up into the glowing sky. Against the 

 animalism and sensuality which are incident to an aimless youth he 

 was defended by the stern moralities and the wholesome religion of his 

 domestic training, enforced as these were by the economies of a 

 straitened but not ignoble household. Indeed, the household was far 

 removed from either. Were we curious in these matters we should 

 find that he was born of gentle blood, being of Celtic stock on the 

 mother's side, running back through many generations to a noble house, 

 and preserving its coat of arms and motto, " I fear no one, I despise no 

 one," which this noble descendant never dishonored. His mother was 

 beautiful and refined and full of spirit, who had a home in Albany, and 

 but little else, when her husband died, the son being then seven years 

 of age. Before this event he had been removed to the country, the 

 mother's original home, the family retaining their house in Albany as 

 their principal reliance. In this village young Henry was the pet for 

 several years, handsome, frolicsome, and venturesome on the one hand, 

 and dreamy, wondering, and self-reliant on the other, rejoicing in 

 adventure rather than in books, till a romance suddenly falling in his 

 way kindled his imagination, and unveiled human life as pictured by 

 the fancy with prismatic hues — awakening thus a brief passion for 

 fiction and the drama. The transition to the acted drama was natural 

 to his inventive and energetic nature, and for a time he delighted to 

 attend dramatic representations when at Albany for longer or shorter 

 periods, and to reproduce them at home, as his changing life led him 



