428 MEMORIAL OF JOSEPH HENRY. 



and for which he wrote and acted tragedy and comedy, absorbed 

 his time and thoughts. All who have seen and admired the refined, 

 intellectual face, and the erect, dignified form of the ripe philoso- 

 pher, can easily imagine the success of the young aspirant for 

 dramatic distinction when these charms of person and mind were 

 decked in the beauty of youth : the self-possession, the repose, and 

 the grace of this expounder of physical science alone remained to 

 tell of his short-lived eccentricity. Those readers, who allow the 

 mythical apple to divide with Newton the glory of a great discovery, 

 will listen eagerly to the statement that the theatrical career of young 

 Henry was suddenly arrested by his accidental encounter, during a 

 brief illness, with Dr. Gregory's popular lectures. The literal truth 

 of the story is not questioned ; for Professor Henry himself believed 

 it, and reverently cherished the precious volume to the last. Such 

 however was the occasion, but not the cause, of his dedicating him- 

 self henceforth to science. Innumerable accidents of a similar kind 

 happen to every one, but not with the same result. Man, especially 

 such a man, is not the creation of any accident. The inspiration 

 comes from within : it is the unbidden thought, and not the external 

 events with which it is associated. Said a great divine, "If you 

 say that man is the creature of circumstances, it must be with the 

 understanding that the greatest and most effective of these circum- 

 stances is the man himself." 



Bidding farewell to the stage and his theatrical companions, 

 Henry went seriously to work to complete his education ; at first in 

 an evening school, then with an itinerant pedagogue, and finally in 

 the Albany Academy, where he was successively pupil, and teacher. 

 Next he was private tutor in the family of the patroon, devoting his 

 leisure to the study of mathematics, and subjects which would fit 

 him for the medical profession. In 1826 he made, in connection 

 with Amos Eaton, the survey for a road across the State of New 

 York. In this work he displayed so much energy and ability that 

 his friends hoped to find, or to create for him, a permanent position 

 as engineer. But the State failed to respond, and Henry returned 

 to the Albany Academy as assistant teacher, and in 1828 as Pro- 

 fessor of Mathematics. 



Only a few years had elapsed since the science of electricity had 



