JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 157 



The Smithsonian Institution has to lament an unusual number of those connected 

 with it among the distinguished dead of the past year. The venerable Mr. Kush has 

 already been fitly commemorated by a member of the Board. I take the liberty of 

 offering a few remarks upon two others whose death the country deplores. 



Professor W. W. Turner was born in England, in 1810. At the age of five years 

 he was brought by his father to the United States. The fortunes of his family being 

 humble, he learned the trade of a carpenter ; but at the age of nineteen he became a 

 printer. During his youth and early manhood he exhibited an ardent love of knowl- 

 edge, and devoted every moment he could spare from the necessary labors of his trade 

 to its acquisition. His taste led him especially to the study of philology, and his 

 acquisitions in this department of knowledge were surprising. He studied not only 

 the ancient languages, including the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Samaritan, Coptic, and 

 Sanscrit, but the modern European and Oriental tongues. To these rich and varied 

 accomplishments he added an extensive knowledge of the dialects of the American 

 aborigines, which form a group so peculiar in their characteristics, and so important 

 in their bearings upon comparative philology. But Mr. Turner possessed not merely 

 the talent of learning languages. His mind was of a philosophical cast ; he mastered 

 easily and rapidly the general principles of the science of comparative philology, 

 which has become within the present age one of the surest guides in tracing the 

 history and affinities of the different branches of the human race. This science but 

 few men of his age have so thoroughly explored as our departed friend. 



In 1842 Mr. Turner was elected professor of Oriental literature in the Union Theo- 

 logical Seminary of the city of New York. The duties of this office he discharged 

 with signal ability for ten years. In 1852 the Commissioner of Patents invited him 

 to Washington to take charge of the library in that department. His labors in form- 

 ing a library for the special use of the department and adequate to its wants have 

 been highly appreciated by those who knew them best. 



His literary activity has been various and effective. He assisted the learned Dr. 

 Nordheimer in the preparation of his Hebrew grammar. He executed the greater 

 part of the translation of Preund's Latin Lexicon from the German for the American 

 edition. He wrote many valuable papers for the " Bibliotheca Sacra" and other 

 kindred periodical publications. A few years ago an inscription was found near the 

 ancient Sidon, cut on the lid of the sarcophagus of an ancient king of that city, and 

 copies of it having been transmitted to this country by the American missionaries, it 

 attracted the earnest attention of Oriental scholars, and among the rest, of Professor 

 Turner. The discovery was important, because the inscription contains the longest 

 continuous text yet known in the Phenician language : a language closely connected 

 with the Hebrew. The labors of Professor Turner upon this curious document were 

 among the last of his life. 



Two of the principal philological works published by the Smithsonian Institution 

 were moulded into their present shape by Professor Turner ; the Dakota grammar 

 and dictionary, and the grammar of the Yoruba language. The materials furnished 

 him were elaborated with great skill and learning ; and these two admirable volumes 

 form an interesting addition to philological science — the Dakota grammar illustrating 

 in a philosophical manner the characteristic peculiarities of the American type of the 

 agglutinating or polysynthetic languages, and the Yoruba grammar illustrating the 

 African type of the same great division in the classification of human speech. 



The unremitting labors of Professor Turner gradually undermined his constitution. 

 In October last he visited New York, partly for the benefit of his impaired health, 

 and partly to attend a meeting of the American Oriental Society, of which he was an 

 active member. On his return to "Washington, in November, he rapidly declined, and 

 on Tuesday, the 29th of that month, expired, without pain, at the age of 49 years. 



Professor Turner was not only distinguished for his abilities as a scholar, his extra- 

 ordinary capacity for labor, his great power of grasping the generalization of the 

 science to which he was devoted, but his private life was marked by singular purity. 

 His manners were simple and cordial ; his conversation lively and instructive. He 

 was modest, without reserve ; he was unobtrusive, but always ready to impart his 

 affluent knowledge whenever the occasion seemed to call for it. The death of such a 

 man is a loss to science and the country. I move the adoption of the following reso- 

 lution : 



Resolved, That this Board have learned with deep regret of the death of Professor 

 "W. "W. Turner, a scholar of rare gifts and large acquirements, whoso abilities and 

 learning have in many ways been of great value to the Smithsonian Institution. As 

 a philologist, he had but few equals ; as an earnest laborer in the pursuit of knowl- 

 edge, he was a high example to American students. As a public officer, he was up- 

 right, conscientious, and prompt in the discharge of every duty. His social virtues 



