79 



advancement. His whole sou] was in the work; he 

 had the confidence of every one, and with no other per- 

 son could the interests of our rural population be so 

 safely entrusted as with Professor Norton. Upon whom 

 will his mantle fall ? Who will arise to guide through 

 the shoals and quick sands of reckless imposture, the 

 noble ship of American industry ? 



We have not space enough to speak of particular 

 articles of Prof. Norton's, nor to notice the many address- 

 es which he delivered at intervals before agricultural 

 societies and the community generally. Suffice it to 

 say, that every thing he wrote, and every thing he said, 

 was marked by the same uniform prudence, the same 

 careful judgment, which characterizes the man. He 

 was never led into error — never ran headlong into chi- 

 meras and fanaticism — and so was never obliged to 

 retract what he had said, or retire from positions he had 

 taken. 



When the project of the University of Albany was 

 broached in 1851, Professor Norton entered warmly into 

 the plan. He had felt deeply the need of such an insti- 

 tution, and knew the obstacles which lay in the way of 

 the students of agriculture and the natural sciences. 

 He advocated it as the best means of securing a perma- 

 nent basis to our agricultural interests, and forming a 

 nucleus for science in this country. The lectures which 



