LIFE OF JAMES DWIGHT DANA 



are ordered and adjusted as a part of a whole. Nor would 

 he deny, when he looked up at the heavens, that this 

 earth, with its endless variety of races and languages, and 

 infinity of human interests, each one so individual and 

 particular, and each man only to be regarded as a pebble 

 on the seashore, is a point in immensity in comparison 

 with the universe; in this universe, in the utmost limit to 

 which the most powerful instrument can carry the eye of 

 man, there is still the same order reappearing everywhere, 

 the same uniformity of nature, the same force which acts 

 upon the earth. This is that law, one and continuous in 

 all times and places, which may be truly said to be ' the 

 visible image of God,' and ' her voice the harmony of 

 the world.' ' 



II 



The origin of the Dana family in America is clearly 

 traced to the arrival of Richard Dana in 1640 (or earlier) 

 at Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is believed to have 

 come from England, and it is conjectured that his father 

 came from France or Italy. ' ' We are all one man's sons " 

 is the motto prefixed to the genealogical memoranda 

 compiled in 1865 by Rev. John Jay Dana. " It may be 

 considered as settled," he writes, " that the surname 

 borne by our common ancestor, Richard, was a word of 

 two syllables, properly spelt Dana (not Dane nor Denny), 

 and that no person is found to have borne that name in 

 America or England (entitled to it by descent) who is not 

 descended from him." This Richard Dana died April 2, 

 1690, having been for half a century a citizen of good 

 standing and a landholder in Cambridge, Massachusetts 

 (in that part now called Brighton), and at different times 

 a surveyor of highways, a constable, a tithing-man, and 

 a grand-juror. He married, probably in 1648, Anne 

 Bullard of Cambridge, who died July 15, 1711. Among 

 their descendants are many who have won distinction in 

 science, literature, military service, the editorial chair, 

 law and politics, and in the ministry of the Gospel. 



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