24 Life and Character of Nathaniel Bowditch. 
gard, I should have been most happy to have made a similar 
acknowledgment of my gratitude, by legacies to those literary 
and charitable institutions for which that city has always been so ~ 
preéminently distinguished. And, in: particular, it would have — 
given me pleasure to have noticed the Boston Marine Society, of 3 
which I am a member, and the Boston Charitable Mechanic As: _ 
sociation, which has placed my name on its small and select list _ : 
of honorary members; since these institutions are of a similar — 
character to the Marnie Societies in Salem, and have, for one of : 
their important objects, that of affording valuable aid to the des: — 
titute families of deceased members. But the pecuniary nea 
stances of my estate do not permit it.” : oat | 
-» In delineating | the character of Dr. Bowditch, it deserves to be q 
mentioned, first‘of all, that he was eminently a self-taught and — 
selfmade man. He was the instructor,of hisown mind, and 
_ the builder up of his own fame and fortunes. Whatever know- _ 
ledge he possessed,—and we have seen that it was ‘very great,— ( 
was of his own acquiring, the fruit of his solitary studies, with — 
‘but little, if any, assistance from abroad. Whatever eminence’ 
he reached, in science or in life, was the product of his untiring — 
application and unremitting toil. From his youth up, he was a 
pattern of industry, enterprise, and perseverance, = no —_ : 
culties to discourage, no disappointments to dishearten . 
_ Within a few years, a very interesting work has been abled : 
in England, under the patronage of the Society for the Diffusion — 
of Useful Knowledge, entitled “The Pursuit of Knowledge un ~ 
der Difficulties.” Dr. Bowditch deserves a place in that work, if — 
any man does, and had he died before its appearance, he would, _ 
unquestionably, like our countryman Franklin, have occupied @ — 
prominent chapter. We sometimes hear persons say, how much — 
they would do, if they only had the means and the opportunities ; 
But almost any body ean work with means and opportunities: — 
It is the: privilege and characteristic of genius to work without — 
means, > great in spite of them, to accomplish its on in ‘ 
the face stacles and difficulties. by 
It would be interesting and instructive, had we space tos it, to 
-a parallel and contrast between the Hives, characters and sci- — 
of atablin and Bowditch; eg IE the : 
