180 MEMOIR OF THE LATE DR. HENRY. 
Dr. Henry appears indeed to have been emi- 
nently fitted both by natural tastes and by after 
culture, to excel in what may be called the 
literature of science; comprehending especially 
under that term, the history of discovery and 
the didactic exposition of general laws and doc- 
trines. In his latter years, he seems himself to 
have strongly felt, in the perception of growing 
infirmities, that his season of active research 
was gone by, and to have looked around for 
some worthy object, not demanding personal 
exertions, to occupy what remained to him of 
life and of mental strength. His thoughts had 
dwelt for some time on two scientific projects, 
for both of which he had made considerable 
preparations. One of these designs, which had 
floated longest before his mind, and which he 
was most inclined to realize, was a work that 
should assemble the beneficent provisions in 
the Chemical Economy of Nature, which estab- 
lish the existence and attributes of an All-wise 
Governor of the Material Universe. He has thus 
expressed, in a letter addressed many years ago 
to the writer, his conceptions of the scope and 
dignity of such anundertaking. “It has always 
appeared to me a defect in physico-theological 
works, that too frequent appeals are made to 
the reason, in proof of divine wisdom, and that 
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