284 EULOGY ON THE LATE GENERAL JOSEPH G. TOTTEN. 



Of the many scientific men of the country who were associated with him io 

 such duties, (of whom most usually was our eminent president,) none exhibited 

 greater zeal and assiduity, few took a more prominent and useful part. The 

 resolutions of the Light-house Board, on the occasion of his decease, which are 

 appended to this memoir, would be, with slight modifications, applicable in 

 reference to all his connexions of a similar nature. Inflexible in his integrity, 

 uncompromising in his notions of duty, and watchful to the highest degree for 

 all the interests of the government in all that concerned his charge, it is not 

 strange that the shameless Floyd soon found him an obstacle to his peculiar 

 operations. He was virtually banished from his office, or at least relieved from 

 its duties, which he did not resume until Floyd left the War Department. He 

 took this opportunity — perhaps the very first and only release during his life- 

 time from the unceasing demand of duty — to visit Europe in company with 

 Mrs. Totten, travelling through France, Italy, Germany, and England. En- 

 dued with those keen perceptions and that harmonious adjustment of faculties 

 which render the mind susceptible to the beautiful, whether in nature or art, he 

 was, in the true sense of the term, an artist. For music, for painting, for 

 sculpture, he had a high relish and a most accurate and discriminating judgment. 



By such a one the treasures of art and antiquity of Europe can only be 

 adequately appreciated and enjoyed, as we kuow they were appreciated and 

 enjoyed by General Totten. He did not fail, however, to take the opportunity 

 to examine, as far as he was able, the fortifications of Europe, of the character 

 and peculiarities of which, however, he had little to learn. On his return he 

 was sent by Floyd to the Pacific coast, with directions to inspect the fortifica- 

 tions in construction, and to report on the defensive requirements of that 

 region. This duty and the report thereon he executed in his usual thorough 

 and exhaustive manner. It furnished him with the opportunity to acquire the 

 same personal knowledge of all that concerned the seaboard defence of our 

 newly acquired territories on the Pacific which he already possessed, beyond 

 any other man, in reference to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. 



In the year 1S51 General Totten inaugurated, and continued through the years 

 1852, 1S53, 1S54, and 1S55, a series of experiments at West Point " on the 

 effects of firing with heavy ordnance from casemate embrasures," and also " on 

 the effects of firing against the same embrasures with various kinds of missiles. ,r 

 It will be interesting, and conducive to a better understanding of the objects and 

 results of these experiments to say a few words as to the origin and meaning of 

 the term " casemate," and to give an account of General Totten's previous 

 labors in connexion with the "casemate embrasure." The word is from the 

 Spanish casa-mata, (a compound, most likely, of casa, house, and matar, to 

 kill; though it is said also to mean a low or hidden house; but the etymology 

 is not settled,) and seems to have been used to signify a countermine as well as 

 a concealed place, arranged in connexion with a fortification, for containing and 

 using a piece of artillery. According to Bardin* it appears to have been applied 

 to the double or triple tier of uncovered gun platforms used by the early Italian 

 and German engineers for flanking the ditch, as well as to vaulted galleries along 

 the scarp wall. The term finally came to mean, in fortification, any vaulted 

 room under the earthwork of the rampart or glacis, whether intended for service 

 of guns, or for quarters of troops, or for containing stores. A gun casemate is 

 such a vault abutting against the scarp or counterscarp wall through which an 

 "embrasure" is pierced to permit the discharge of the gun ; and in the naval 

 service the term has been adopted to signify the part of an iron-clad vessel con- 

 taining the guns, and which is, for that reason, especially protected by the iron 

 plating. Hence the essential notion of the word seems to involve one or more of 

 the attributes of concealment, shelter, and destructive purpose. 



* Dictionnairo de l'Arm6e de Terre, &c. 



