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warm interest wherever he went, among those with whom he 

 associated. He became acquainted with the leading naturalists 

 of the country, and obtained from them and others, willing aid 

 and counsel, as well as respect for his great acquirements. To 

 them he always felt warm feelings of gratitude. But there was 

 one, to whom, more than all others, he was especially grateful, a 

 friend and relative, who at an early period, perceived the indica- 

 tions of uncommon promise for the future, and who with kind 

 heart and benevolent purpose aided and encourged him in all his 

 undertakings. 



He had religious faith and religious hope. To a speculative 

 mind like his, it seemed almost a matter of necessity that the 

 momentous questions which the problem of life involved, should 

 sooner or later have been presented for examination and discus- 

 sion, and that before any settled convictions could be reached, 

 they should have found him perplexed and in doubt. Doubts 

 and perplexities in his mind did exist, but eventually they gave 

 way and were replaced by faith and hope, which lightened his 

 burden when, weary and exhausted, he approached the end of 

 life. He had been long accustomed to look upon death and to 

 talk about it as an event that he must meet at an early period. 

 But death, if not imminent, is something that all look forward to 

 calmly and without emotion, and when we speak of it we are not 

 sure that we give utterance to our most solemn feelings and con- 

 victions. But there is one moment when, if ever on earth, the 

 heart, if it opens itself, does so without disguise, if it give utter- 

 ance, does so without reserve ; it is that dread moment when 

 death approaches so near that there is no alternative but to look 

 upon earthly life as finished, its account made up, and when all 

 that remains for the mind to dwell upon, is the dissolution of the 

 body and the realization of another life. A few days before he 

 died, our late associate returned, after a winter's absence, to the 

 home of his family, his bodily health exhausted, his energies 

 prostrate. At first he entertained the hope that as before, rest 

 and quiet might restore him, partially at least, to his usual health, 

 and that he might have yet another opportunity of continuing 

 those labors which he so fondly cherished ; but his fast declining 

 strength, the anxiety of those around him, the announcement of 

 his physician and his own quick perceptions soon told that life 



