MEMOIR OF THE LATE DR. HENRY. 139 
of the various faculties, active as well as specu- 
lative, is most conducive to sound mental dis- 
cipline and to individual well-being; and that 
a commanding survey of the kingdoms of na- 
ture, and enlarged sympathies with the creations 
of human thought and genius, are wisely pur- 
chased by the sacrifice, if necessary, of a some- 
what higher degree of excellence in a single 
department of knowledge. 
In conclusion, it may be permitted to one so 
near to him in blood and in affection, to indulge 
the conviction, that faculties so vigorous and 
excursive, so amply furnished with materials 
for the illustration and enforcement of truth, 
might, had they been reposited in a less frail 
tenement, have raised some enduring memorial 
of their compass and energy ;—if dedicated to 
the history of science, impartially weighing and 
recording the services of individual minds, yet 
with vigilant and subordinate reference to the 
general intellectual movement of each epoch; 
from which even genius itself derives its primi- 
tive impulse if not its special direction ;—or 
if aspiring to trace the footsteps of design in the 
Economy of Nature, ascending from the loftiest 
generalizations and most comprehensive laws 
to the contemplation of the Great Fountain of 
all truth and of all science. 
