20 Biographical Memoir of the late Dr Henry. 



and imperfect action of the digestive functions. These dis- 

 tempered sensations he was accustomed to lament, mainly as 

 abridging his season for intellectual labour, and especially as 

 disqualifying him for original thought and composition. 



In the general intercourse of society, Dr Henry was distin- 

 guished by a polished courtesy, by an intuitive propriety, and 

 by a considerate forethought and respect for the feelings and 

 opinions of others ; — qualities issuing out of the same highly- 

 toned sensibility, that guided in taste his letters, and that soft- 

 ened and elevated his whole moral frame and bearing. His 

 comprehensive range of thought and knowledge, his proneness 

 to general speculation in contradistinction to detail, his ready 

 command of the refinement of language, and the liveliness of 

 his feelings and imagination, rendered him a most instructive 

 and engaging companion. To the young, and more especially 

 to such as gave evidence of a taste for liberal studies, his man- 

 ner was peculiarly kind and encouraging. He was most 

 anxious to promote, as far as was in his power, their progress in 

 knowledge, and on one occasion cheerfully dedicated a consi- 

 derable portion of time to initiate some young friends in those 

 more refined operations of analysis in which he was so consum- 

 mately skilled. 



From this imperfect record of Dr Henry's original labours 

 in science, and of his tastes in letters and in philosophy, a more 

 faithful impression of his intellectual habitudes and endowments 

 may perhaps be gathered, than from any general mental ana- 

 lysis. In science, it will have appeared that his efforts are 

 mainly characterized by ingenuity and elegance in devising in- 

 struments and methods of research, and by extreme skiU and 

 precision in their employment. But in measuring the amount 

 and importance of Dr Henry's conti'ibutions to chemical know- 

 ledge, it must be borne in mind that in his season of greatest 

 mental activity, he never enjoyed that uncontrolled command 

 of time, and that serene concentration of thought, which are 

 essential to the completion of great scientific designs. His in- 

 tellectual seed-time was encroached upon by the duties of an ex- 

 tensive medical practice, and by other equally pressing avoca- 

 tions, and his experimental inquiries were conducted at late 



