EULOGY 



ON THK LATE 



JOSEPH G. TOTTEN, 



liREVET MAJOR GENERAL, 

 LATE CHIEF ENGINEEK U. S. ARMY, AND REGENT OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



By J. G. Barnard, Lieutenant Colond of Engineers, and Brevet Brigadier General U. S. A. 

 Brigadier and Brevet Major General U. S. V., A. M., LL. D., N. A. S. 



[Reprinted from tLe Annual of the National Academy of Sciences for 18GG. ] 



[Instead of preparing a eulogy myself, as requested by the Board of Regents, of their lamented associate 

 General Totten, I have thought the service would be better rendered by presenting the facts I had gathered 

 on the subject to General Barnard, and by adopting his tribute to the memory of one so long and so effi- 

 ciently connected with the Institution. J. H.] 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Academy : 



In conformity with a clause of the constitution of this Academy, and in obe- 

 dience to your instructions, 1 am here to render the tribute of a formal biograph- 

 ical notice in commemoration of one who was numbered among our most vener- 

 able and most honored associates. If, in the language of one of our body, on a 

 previous and similar occasion, " it is no unreasonable assumption that public 

 benefit and individual incentives may be derived from the history of any man 

 whose scientific services have rendered him worthy of admittance to your num- 

 ber, " that assumption must have a peculiar force when it applies to one who 

 has " finished his course," and has filled a life, protracted beyond the usual 

 term, with scientific labors of no ordinary variety and magnitude. 



It is but little more than two years since we first met for the great and import- 

 ant work of organizing this National Academy, and with us — of our number, if 

 not personally present — were "both the gray-headed and very aged men." 

 But, alas ! these, like autumnal leaves, are rapidly falling away, and already 

 the places of a Totten, a Hitchcock, and a Silliman know them no more, save in 

 the records of their lives and deeds, and in the grateful memories of their associ- 

 ates. What a trio of names, glorious in the annals of science, is this ! Well 

 may they be incentives to us who yet remain to strive that we may worthily 

 replace them, and establish for this Academy a reputation for usefulness and 

 science which their honored bearers have acquired for themselves. 



Although there may be many among iis more capable than myself of doing 

 justice to the memory of our departed colleague, I feel grateful that the lot has 

 fallen to me. Placed under General Totten on my first entrance into the mili- 

 tary service — almost in my boyhood — my relations to him, both personal and 

 professional, have ever since been continuous and intimate. Under obligations 

 to him of no ordinary nature, I could not do otherwise than regard him with 

 reverence and affection. If I fail, therefore, it shall not be because my heart is 

 unmoved, nor because I am insensible to the magnitude of my task. 



Joseph Gilbert Totten was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on the 23d 

 of August, 17«8. His grandfather, Joseoh Totten, came from England before 



