208 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



His reputation was less widespread than that of some others, 

 but it was more deeply rooted. And as the years roll on, and as 

 the final estimate is made of the value of what has been done in this 

 country, we may be sure that the name of Jeffries Wyman will 

 stand high among those who have joined rare ability and unwearied 

 industry with a pure and noble life. To use his own words upon 

 a like occasion, "Let us cherish his memory, and profit by his 

 example." 



This account of Jeffries Wyman may close fitly with tributes 

 from two who were not only friends and colleagues but masters of 

 the art of expression, Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell 

 Lowell: 



"A more beautiful and truly admirable character would be 

 hard to find among the recorded lives of men of science. The 

 basis of all was in his personal qualities, his absolute truthfulness, 

 his great modesty, his quiet enthusiasm, his inexhaustible patience. 

 He never boasted, he never sneered, he never tired, he put forward 

 no pretensions to infallibility, though he was never caught making 

 mistakes; he was always exact and positive as to what he had 

 seen, but willing to suspend his opinion, however tempting a 

 generalization might offer itself, if it was only probable and not 

 proved. He was prompt to recognize the merits of those whom 

 he considered in any way his superiors, generous in his estimate 

 of his equals, and a willing helper of those who looked to him for 

 any kind of knowledge he could impart. In a word, he was always 

 the same honest-minded, sagacious, unprejudiced, sweet-souled, 

 and gentle-mannered creature of God, whom it was a joy to meet, 

 a privilege to listen to, a regret to part from, whom it is a sorrow 

 to lose, and whom it will always be a precious inheritance to re- 

 member." 



"The wisest man could ask no more of Fate 

 Than to be simple, modest, manly, true, 

 Safe from the Many, honored by the Few; 

 Nothing to count in World or Church, or State, 

 But inwardly in secret to be great; 

 To feel mysterious Nature ever new, 

 To touch, if not to grasp, her endless clue, 

 And learn by each discovery how to wait. 



