JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 159 



ing monument to tho discoverer of America and to the father of his country, with 

 the latter of whom he was associated hy his haptismal name. 



Mr. Irving took a lively interest in all that concerned the intellectual progress of 

 the country ; in all that concerned humanity, beyond the circle of his own literary 

 interests. He was the first named trustee of the Astor Library under the will of its 

 munificent founder, and for many years acted as the president of the Board. He 

 served as a director in the Savings Bank in the place of his residence until his death; 

 and he was an officer of the village church, from which his own lifeless remains were 

 borne to their final resting place by his mother's side. He had the prospects of this 

 institution much at heurt, and gave his constant attendance to its proceedings during 

 a whole season passed by him in Washington. Bipe in age, crowned with the most 

 enduring honors of the world and with the warmest affections of his countrymen, 

 having finished the work which was given him to do and laid aside his pen forever, 

 after a short period of repose in the midst of his friends, at the close of an evening of 

 social and domestic enjoyment, he passed away in a moment by a blessed euthanasia. 

 We cannot be surprised at such an event, though it excites our sensibility. His death 

 was in beautiful harmony with his life, for he died as he had lived, the beloved of 

 men and the favored of heaven. 



Thinking thus, Mr. Chancellor, of Mr. Irving's life, character, and death, I offer 

 the following resolutions: 



Resolved, That the Board of Begents of the Smithsonian Institution recognize in 

 the character of their late associate, Washington Irving, a conspicuous example of the 

 noblest virtues and the most generous qualities that belong to human nature. 



Resolved, That while lamenting his death with the peculiar sorrow of countrymen 

 and associates in this institution, yet, in common with the whole civilized world, they 

 gratefully appreciate the services he has rendered to literature, and, hold in reverent 

 remembrance his long career of labors as an author no less loyal to truth and virtue 

 than brilliant with the gift of genius and graced with the amenities and courtesies 

 that are the fairest ornaments of social life. 



On motion of Senator Douglas, it was — 



Resolved, That a copy of the above resolutions, together with the remarks that pre- 

 ceded them, be transmitted to the family of the deceased. 



The resolutions were then adopted. 

 Professor Bache made the following remarks : 



James P. Espy, one of the most original and successful meteorologists of the pres- 

 ent time, died in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 24th of January, 1860, in the seventy-fifth 

 year of his age, after an illness of a week, at the residence of his nephew, John West- 

 cott. 



The early career of Mr. Espy as an instructor was marked by the qualities which 

 led to his later distinction in science. He was one of the best classical and mathemat- 

 ical instructors in Philadelphia, which at that day numbered Dr. Wylie, Mr. Sander- 

 son, and Mr. Crawford among its teachers. 



Impressed by the researches and writings of Dalton and of Daniell, on meteorol- 

 ogy, Mr. Espy began to observe the phenomena, and then to experiment on the facts 

 which form the groundwork of the science. As he observed, experimented, and 

 studied, his enthusiasm grew, and his desire to devote himself exclusively to the in- 

 crease and diffusion of the science finally became so strong that he determined to give 

 up his school, and to rely for the means of prosecuting his researches upon his slender 

 savings and the success of his lectures, probably the most original which have ever 

 been delivered on the subject. His first course was delivered before the Frank- 

 lin Institute, of Pennsylvania, of which he had long been an active member, and 

 where he met kindred spirits, ready to discuss the principles or the applications of 

 science, and prepared to extend their views over the whole horizon of physical and 

 mechanical research. As chairman of the committee on meteorology, Mr. Espy had 

 a large share in the organization of the complete system of meteorological observa- 

 tions carried on by the institute under the auspices and within the limits of the State 

 of Pennsylvania. 



Mr. Espy's theory of storms was developed in successive memoirs in the Journal 

 of the Franklin Institute, containing discussions of the changes of temperature, pres- 

 sure, and moisture of the air, and in the direction and force of the wind and other 

 phenomena attending remarkable storms in the United States and on the ocean adja- 

 cent to the Atlantic and Gulf coast. Assuming great simplicity as it was developed, 



