DISCOUESE OF W. B. TAYLOR. 333 



As intimated in touching upon the stimulus given to "archae- 

 ological work" by the Smithsonian publications, (ante, p. 290,) 

 Henry ever displayed a warm sympathy with researches in Anthro- 

 pology ; and he would pleasantly justify this partiality by repeating 

 the familiar "homo sum" of Terence." A student of the "com- 

 parative anatomy" of ethnology, of the obscure but cumulative 

 traces of a remote human ancestry, and of the curious relics of 

 social, civil, and religious customs, apparently derived from distant 

 or from vanished races, he amassed a fund of well-digested informa- 

 tion in these alluring fields, to be appreciated only by the specialist 

 in such pursuits. \ 



Familiar with the details as well of astronomical observation 

 as of the mathematical processes of reduction, he would have done 

 honor to any Observatory placed under his charge. He was lenient 

 in his judgment of the ancient star- worshippers ; and was always 

 greatly attracted by astronomical discoveries. As already men- 

 tioned (ante, p. 239,) he delivered in 1834, a course of Lectures on 

 Astronomy. 



Well read in the science of Political Economy, he had by obser- 

 vation and analysis of human nature, made its inductive principles 

 his own, and had satisfied himself that its deductions were fully 

 confirmed by an intelligent appreciation of the teachings of finan- 

 cial history. He attributed the lamentable disregard of its funda- 

 mental doctrines, by many of our so-called legislators, to a want of 

 scientific training, and consequent want of perception and of faith 

 in the dominion and autonomy of natural law. 



A good linguist, he watched with appreciative interest the prog- 

 ress of comparative philology, and the ethnologic significance of its 

 generalizations, in tracing out the affiliations of European nations. 

 By no means neglectful of lighter literature, he enjoyed at leisure 

 evenings, in the bosom of his cultivated family, the readings of 

 modern writers, and the suggestive interchange of sentiment and 

 criticism. Striking passages of poetry made a strong impression 

 on his retentive memory; and it was not unusual to hear him 

 embellish some graver fact, in conversation, with an unexpected but 

 most apt quotation. With a fine aesthetic feeling, his appreciation 

 and judgment of works of art, were delicate and discriminating. 



