362 MEMORIAL OF JOSEPH HENRY. 



As a lecturer and instructor, he was always most successful. 

 Free from all self-consciousness, thinking only of his subject, and 

 its fittest mode of presentation, he spoke from the fullness of a 

 ripened knowledge, intent on communicating to others the intel- 

 lectual pleasures of insight he had made his own; and without 

 attempt at oratorical display, his expositions in simple, direct, and 

 conversational language, were so lucid, satisfying, and convincing, 

 that they enlisted from the beginning and secured to the close, 

 the attentive interest of his auditors. 



His sympathy with the pursuits of the rising generation of phys- 

 icists was ever manifested in a disposition to frequent consulta- 

 tion and interchange of views with them ; as if (aware of the usual 

 tendency to mental ossification with advancing years,) he thus 

 sought by familiar association to drink at the fountain of perennial 

 youth. And surely no one was ever more successful in retaining 

 life's coveted greenness in age; not more in the child-like sim- 

 plicity of his disposition, in the geniality of his affections, and in 

 his undimmed faith, hope, and charity, for mankind, than in his 

 intellectual freedom from undue prejudices, and in his readiness 

 calmly to discuss or adopt new theories. 



And this leads to the reflection that in the seeming contrasts of 

 his nature were combined qualities which formed in him a resultant 

 of character and of temperament as rare as admirable. With this 

 great mobility of aptitude and of circumspection, this adaptability 

 of mental attitude, he yet possessed an unusual firmness of resolu- 

 tion. With a manly sturdiness of conviction he presented an 

 unvarying equability of temper and of toleration; and with per- 

 fect candor as perfect a courtesy. With a characteristic dignity of 

 figure of presence and of deportment, he preserved an entire free- 

 dom from any shade of arrogance. With a warm and active 

 charity, he still displayed a shrewd perception of character; and 

 while ever responsive to the appeals of real distress, his insight 

 into human nature protected him from being often deceived by the 

 wiles of the designing. Intolerant of charlatanry and imposture, 

 he was capable of exhibiting a wonderful patience with the tedium 

 of honest ignorance. Possessing in earlier life a natural quick- 

 ness of temper, and always a high degree of native sensibility, his 



