1890.] [Lesley. 



Obituary Notice of Charles Albert Ashburner. 



By J. P. Lesley. 

 (Read before the American Philosophical Society, February 21, 1890.) 



Born at Philadelphia, February 9, 1854, and graduated at the University 

 of Pennsylvania, June, 1874, Mr. Ashburner was elected a member of 

 the American Philosophical Society January 16, 1880. Proud of this 

 honor, as he justly esteemed it, he took the liveliest interest in the his- 

 tory, the principles and the meetings of the Society, and became the per- 

 sonal friend of its members, all of whom can testify to the vivacity of his 

 zeal for science, to the geniality of his nature, and to his honor as a gen- 

 tleman. Those of them who cultivated or who practiced geology, 

 whether in its abstract or in its applied forms, will easily join me in testi- 

 fying to his ability as a geologist. But no one can relate so confidently 

 and precisely his short, brilliant career of student, field-worker, explorer, 

 discoverer and publisher of physical truths in this branch of science, as 

 one to whom he gave his unbroken friendship for nearly twenty years, 

 one who received from him a thousand benefits. My gratitude for his 

 life equals my grief at his death, and any eulogium my fellow-members 

 accord to me the privilege of giving to his memory will seem cold and 

 empty in comparison of his deserts ; for by such examples we learn by 

 heart the lesson, that praise of a wise good man must, after all, be left to 

 the good and wise Creator who invented him. 



This learned and ancient Society is one of the few that refuse to be 

 chained to the service of the purely material and useful sciences ; one of 

 the few that, in these modernest times, still avouch a willingness to discuss 

 the supernatural ; to investigate the invisible and impalpable ; to philoso- 

 phize on the functions of soul as well as body; to protect from destruc- 

 tion and oblivion the claims of human virtue to precede wit and work. 

 Therefore we hold to our traditions, and, in our quarterly elections, we 

 prefer to the question : ''Is the candidate for membership a genius or 

 an expert?" the more important question : "Is he a just and honorable 

 gentleman?" A genuine respect for Christianity still lingers in this hall 

 of science ; and when we place on record a memorial of some member 

 lately lost to our meetings, we recall with more satisfaction the pleasures 

 which his actually admirable character has contributed to our social 

 intercourse than the profit which accrued to us from his contributions to 

 our Transactions and Proceedings, or even than the fame which he may 

 have won for himself and for the Society. 



Governed by this, the real genius o.f our Society, I put in front of all 

 Mr. Ashburner's virtues his virtue itself ; in short, his Christian character, 

 his rooted love of his kind, of just dealing, of exact truthfulness, his hon- 

 esty, his generosity, his amiability, his respect for the rights and sympathy 

 with the wrongs of other men ; qualities which, in him, I know by long 



