

14 Memoir of William Maclure. 



temper to triumph over his judgment. Cautious in his intimacies, 

 and firm in his friendships, time and circumstance in no degree 

 weakened the affections of his earlier years. Though affable and 

 communicative, Mr. Maclure was much isolated during the last 

 thirty years of his life ; partly owing to a naturally retiring dis- 

 position, partly to the peculiarity of some of his opinions, in 

 respect to which, though unobtrusive, he was inflexible — but 

 mainly to that frequent change of residence which is unfavorable 

 to social fellowship. Hence it is that of the thousands who are 

 familiar with his name in the annals of science, comparatively 

 few can speak of him from personal knowledge. 



In person he was above the middle stature, and of a naturally 

 robust frame. His constitution was elastic, and capable of much 

 endurance of privation and fatigue, which he attributed chiefly 

 to the undeviating simplicity of his diet. His head was large, 

 his forehead high and expanded, his nose aquiline ; and his col- 

 lective features were expressive of that undisturbed serenity of 

 mind which was a conspicuous trait of his character. 



Those who knew him in early life, represent him to have been 

 remarkable for personal endowments; a fact which is evident in 

 the full-length portrait now in possession of his family, painted 

 by the celebrated Northcote.* 



Such was William Maclure, whose long, active and useful life 

 is the subject of this brief and inadequate memorial. His remains 

 are entombed in a distant land, and even there the spirit of affec- 

 tion has raised a tablet to his memory. But his greater and more 

 enduring monument, is the edifice within whose walls we are now 

 met to recount and perpetuate his virtues. Wherever we turn our 

 eyes we behold the proofs of his talent, his zeal, his munificence. 

 We see an institution which, under his fostering care, has already 

 attained the manhood of science, and is destined to connect his 

 name with those beautiful truths which formed the engrossing 

 subject of his thoughts. We see around us the collections that 

 were made with his own hands, vastly augmented, it is true, by 

 the zeal of those who have been stimulated by his example. Here 

 are the books which he read— to him the fountains of pleasure 

 and instruction. Here has he concentrated the works of nature, 

 the sources of knowledge, the incentives to study ; and, actuated 



• See the head affixed to this memoir, which is token from a copy of North- 

 cote's picture. 



