Dr. Bowditch, President of the American Academy. ill 
which are the grace and charm of youth,” and “to an admiration of 
famous examples.”* And the public testimonials of gratitude with 
which we honor the memory of the dead, who have enlarged or 
adorned the edifice of human knowledge, are proper, in order to 
excite a useful emulation among the living who follow in their steps ; 
while the glory of our country is also advanced by these very testi- 
monials of its gratitude towards those of its children, who have shed 
lustre upon it.t In these respects the life of our departed associate 
is full of instruction, and is an example to be kept in remembrance. 
The biographical details of his history have been already so fully 
and minutely exhibited to the public, that it is hardly necessary 
to ask your further attention to them.{ Yet as this memorial of 
him, imperfect as it may be, would be still more incomplete with- 
out an allusion to some of them, you will expect me to advert toa 
few circumstances of his life, with which many of you may be 
already acquainted. Indeed, I cannot persuade myself, that you 
will in this instance feel any impatience in listening more than 
once to various particulars, which in most other cases you might 
think superfluous. 
Dr. Bownprrcn was born at Salem, in Massachusetts, on the 26th 
day of March, 1773. That place had always been distinguished for 
its nautical enterprise; and his father and ancestors, in several gen- 
erations, were by profession shipmasters. 
It is now a subject of regret, that not many particulars of his 
earliest years have been preserved. The few surviving witnesses, 
* Burke’s Letter to a Member of the National Assembly. 
+ Notice historique sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de M. Visconti, par M. 
Dacier ; Mém. de I’ Acad. des Inscript., Tom. VIII. 
{ See the Rev. Mr. Young’s Discourse on the Life and Character of the 
Hon. Nathaniel Bowditch, LL. D., F. R. S.; Hon. Judge White’s Eulogy ; 
and Obituary Notices in the public Journals. 
