48 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



For sixty-one years — well nigh two generations — his 

 name appeared on the roll of Cincinnati Physicians — a record 

 seldom equaled by anyone. 



But Dr. Norton was far more than the name physician im- 

 plies — eminent as he was in his profession. He was highly 

 accomplished and possessed of much learning on various sub- 

 jects. His intellectual recreations in themselves were enough 

 to have made his a busy life, and to have stamped him as a 

 remarkable man, if he had never devoted a day to his chosen 

 calling. At fourteen he sang treble in the village choir, and 

 after reaching his majority obtained a profound knowledge of 

 music. After coming to Cincinnati, so proficient was he that 

 he was regarded by the Catholic clergy of the city as the most 

 eminent authority in the West on Gregorian music. In these 

 early years, when his active mind laid hold of everything within 

 reach, he mastered the mechanical intricacies of organ con- 

 struction, and the great organ in Music Hall was built along 

 lines and plans furnished by him. When past 'seventy-five 

 years he could be found on Easter morning in the choir of 

 St. Francis de Sales pouring forth his soul in the beautiful 

 strains of the Resurrection. 



Astronomy likewise held a share of Dr. Norton's attention, 

 and he had great pleasure in tracing the constellations and 

 imparting his knowledge of the heavenly bodies to any inter- 

 ested listener. 



For one whose life was not spent in the class room, he had 

 an exceptional knowledge of the classics, and was fond all his 

 life of quoting passage after passage from the Greek and Latin ' 

 authors which he had devoured in boyhood while ranging 

 through the Rev. Vinson Gould's library back in Southampton. 



But this many-sided man loved all nature, and was never 

 so happy as when in close communion with her. As a boy of 

 fifteen, when in the country doctor's office, and with his ex- 

 panding intellect grasping for any knowledge within its reach, 

 he studied botany under a master — Prof. Alvin Chapman — 



