1882. 149 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Sez. 
eers. He was alsoa member of the United States Commission for 
testing iron and steel. 
Since 1872, he has written eighteen papers for various societies, con- 
tributed to SCRIBNER’S Monthly Magazine, and last, but not least, 
became Lecturer on Iron and Steel at the School of Mines of Colum- 
bia College. In the latter office, he was beloved of all the students 
who had the good fortune to hear him. His calm delivery, his care- 
fully rounded sentences, and his pre minently practical manner of 
treating his subject insured an amount of attention that few lecturers 
enjoy. The kind answer to a question, the evident endeavor to put 
himself in the student’s place as an inquirer, made him attractive to 
all, and his lectures were looked forward to, as hours of intellectual en- 
joyment and profit. He died in Brooklyn, January 29, 1882, from 
peritonitis, and lies buried in Greenwood Cemetery. 
Such is a very brief record of a life that was busy beyond compari- 
son. Asa mechanical engineer, a railroad engineer, a military en- 
gineer, or a metallurgical engineer, Mr. HOLLEY could claim a position 
among the greatest ; but when we reflect that he was eminent in each of 
these branches of the science of engineering, we stand bewildered at 
the power of brain, and the untiring energy that carried him to such a 
height. Asaproof of his greatness, there is not to-day a man who 
can at once fill his place in the engineering world. But it cannot be 
doubted that he was prodigal of his strength, and often did more work 
than his wonderfully vigorous mind could bear. The tenacious metal, 
that he loved so well, would scarcely have been tough enough for the 
body to carry such a mind, and the intoxication of vigor often leads the 
best of us to feats of endurance from which in our calmer moments we 
shrink. 
From every steel-works in America, from the glowing throat of 
every converter, there comes a radiance directed to but one point, the 
illumination of the name of ALEXANDER LYMAN HOLLEY;a name not 
to be forgotten where the watch-spring or the suspension bridge are 
born of American steel. 
ARTHUR H. ELLIOTT, 
THOMAS EGLESTON, 
Committee. 
Prof. THomas EGLeston then presented the regular paper of 
the evening, entitled : 
THE PROPOSED GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR THE TESTING OF 
IRON AND STEEL.* 
* Published in Trams. Inst. Mech. Engineers, Phila. meeting, Feb., 1882. 
