PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 801 



whose remains passed through our city yesterday on the way to 

 their final resting place. Alexander Dallas Bache stood in the 

 foremost rank of American savans. For many years he had been 

 at the head of the United States Coast Survey, and in that position 

 had acquired a lasting fame, not only l)y his own researches, but 

 by associating with him men of the first order of talent, to each of 

 ^vhom he always gave full credit for any service worthy of special 

 commendation in his annual reports to Congress. In this respect 

 he differed from many leaders in science, who, to say the least, 

 have been slow in recognizing and acknowledging merits in those 

 who aided in such investigations as have resulted in adding lustre 

 to reputations already brilliant. Bache was good as he was gen- 

 erous, and on this account was beloved by all those who had been 

 brought within the sphere of personal intercourse. A few brief 

 statements regarding his career will here sufhce. He was the great 

 grandson of the renowned Benjamin Franklin, his grandmother 

 being Sarah, the only daughter of Franklin. He was born in 

 Philadelphia July 19, 1806, and completed his education at West 

 Point, where he graduated in the first rank, having passed four 

 years in that institution, well and favorably known for the rigor 

 of its discipline, without receiving a single mark of demerit. 

 In 1827 he was appointed to a professorship in the University of 

 Pennsylvania, and subsequently was selected as President of Girard 

 College ; but the prospect of that institution opening its doors to 

 students for some time being doubtful, he resigned this post and 

 accepted a position as principal of a high school in Philadelphia. 

 From there he was called in 1843 to fill the place made vacant by 

 the death of Hassler, as the head of the U. S. Coast Survey, which 

 position he occupied at the time of his death, although for more 

 than a year disease had prevented him from engaging in his offi- 

 cial duties. 



Mr. Bache was a corresponding member of the American Insti- 

 tute, and in November, 185 G, delivered before that bod^', at the 

 close of its twenty-sixth annual fair, an oration which occupies 

 forty pages of the Transactions of that year, and which may be 

 called the first great plea in favor of a universit}' of science and 

 art, in contradistinction to those v.'hich are now principally devoted 

 to the dead languages. In this address Bache boldly advocated a 

 radical change in our system of education, and showed what insti- 

 tutions were most needed for the better development of our mate- 

 rial resources. 



[Am. Inst.J YY 



