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almost unlimited patience in observation, it might have been 

 fairly anticipated that, sooner or later, the better and safer quali- 

 ties of the mind would have eclipsed all others. 



While constantly active as an observer. Dr. Burnett found time 

 to engage in another service which occupied some of the latest 

 hours of his life, and the non-completion of which was a source 

 of anxiety to him in his last moments. This was the translation 

 from the German, of the Comparative Anatomy of Siebold and 

 Stannius. All who are familiar with the published volume, will 

 not fail to see in it another proof of his industrious habits as 

 exhibited not in the translation merely, (itself in this case no 

 ordinary labor) but in the numerous additions to science which, 

 scattered far and wide through scientific journals, have been 

 brought together, and in the contributions he himself has made 

 from his own stores of accumulated observations. 



The last scientific investigation to which his time was devoted 

 was into the natural history of the Orange insect^ which is so 

 destructive to the orange trees of Florida. The habits of this 

 insect he had studied during his last winter's residence in Florida, 

 and had prepared a memoir in reference to it for the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, but his ill health 

 prevented his attending their recent meeting. 



Such is an imperfect sketch of the scientific labors of our late 

 associate. It only remains to consider his life from another point 

 of view, in regard to its moral aspect. Of this I do not feel jus- 

 tified in treating at length, as my relations to him were not suffi- 

 ciently intimate to speak from personal observation ; but from 

 all I can learn from his associates, from his fellow-students and 

 his more intimate friends, he was a kind and affectionate son and 

 brother, one who enjoyed to an unusual degree home and all its 

 associations ; he was a man of a truly benevolent heart, into 

 which irreverent thoughts seemed to gain no admission, or from 

 which they certainly obtained no expression. In all of his stu- 

 dies of nature, he seems to have had a pervading perception of 

 God in his works, and often in eloquent words gives expression 

 to his feelings, when some new manifestation of divine wisdom 

 was uncovered to his inquiring mind. 



Dr. Burnett's zeal and devotion could not fail to awaken a 



