EULOGY ON PROFESSOR ALEXANDER DALLAS BACHE. 373 



his life, and the distinctive manifestations of his moral and intellectual 

 nature, we venture, though not without hesitation, to present the fol- 

 lowing analysis of the character of one who has performed so conspicu- 

 ous a part, and in whose memory so many are deeply interested. 



Alexander Dallas Bache possessed, or we may perhaps say originally 

 inherited, a mind of strong general powers, with no faculty in excess or 

 in deficiency, but, as a whole, capable of unusual expansion or develop- 

 ment in any direction which early training or the education of life might 

 determine. He also possessed strong passions, which, instead of exert- 

 ing an unfavorable effect on his character by their indulgence, became, 

 under the restraining influence to which they were in due season sub- 

 jected, areserved energy, as it were, ready to manifest itself spontaneously 

 and at any time in the vindication of truth and justice. He was like- 

 wise endowed with a power of icill which, controlling all his faculties 

 and propensities, rendered them subservient to those fixed purposes 

 which had once received the sanction of his deliberate judgment. Em- 

 inent also among his characteristics, and perhaps most conspicuous of 

 all, was the social element of refined humanity, a regard for his fellow- 

 man, which craved as an essential want of his nature fraternal sympa- 

 thy, not only with those within the wide circle of his daily associations, 

 but with those from whom he could expect no reciprocation of the sen- 

 timent, the entire brotherhood of mankind. These characteristics, with 

 a nice perception of right and a conscience always ready to enforce its 

 mandates, are, we think, sufficient to explain the remarkable career we 

 have described. 



They were perhaps indicated by himself, though with an admission 

 not to be accepted without some reserve, in a conversation with the writer 

 of this sketch in reference to his entrance at West Point. " I knew," he 

 said, "that I had nothing like genius, but I thought I was capable by 

 hard study of accomplishing something, and I resolved to do my best, 

 and if possible to gain the approbation of the teachers, and, above all, 

 to make myself loved and respected by my classmates." 



To illustrate the progressive development of the individual traits of 

 his character, we may be allowed to dwell for a moment on a few analyt- 

 ical details. The early period of his life, including that which pre- 

 ceded his first call to Philadelphia, was almost wholly devoted to the 

 improvement of the mechanical, or the "doing" faculties of his mind, 

 and but little attention was given to invention, or the exercise of ori- 

 ginal thought. His final examination at the Academy, perfect as it was 

 in its kind, only exhibited his capacity for the acquisition of knowledge 

 not the power to originate or apply it. When his efforts were first 

 turned in the latter direction, he evinced, as I well remember, no espe- 

 cial aptitude for it that would indicate future success ; but in a short 

 time, and under the stimulus of the associations into which he was 

 thrown in Philadelphia, the faculties of investigation and of generaliza- 

 tion were rapidly developed, and had he not been partially turned aside 



