FROM HIS YALE COLLEAGUES 



When we were gathering those buttercups so little time 

 ago for the ' golden wedding,' who would have believed 

 (we surely did not) that before the next gathering of 

 spring flowers the golden life itself would be ended ? 



" It was certainly a beautiful life ; and we are told that 

 the end was as beautiful. What better has the world to 

 give ? " 



Personal expressions of friendship and admiration had 

 reached Mr. Dana while he was growing old. One of 

 the most gratifying, because it came from those who 

 knew him best, was a letter addressed to him, on his 

 eightieth birthday, by some of his older colleagues in 

 the university to which the latter half of his life was de- 

 voted. It was published after his death by his friend 

 Professor Fisher, to whose pen it may be attributed. 

 After rehearsing the grounds of Dana's exceptional emi- 

 nence, the letter concludes with these words: 



"It is gratifying to know that your services to the 

 cause of science have obtained full recognition from 

 teachers and students of science and from learned bodies 

 in all civilized countries. None will question that the 

 honors which have thus been so abundantly bestowed 

 and so modestly received are well deserved. The con- 

 sciousness that the motive of your researches has been an 

 unalloyed love of truth and an unselfish desire to enlarge 

 the bounds of human knowledge must give to these testi- 

 monials all the value that such marks of honor can ever 

 possess. 



' We congratulate you that your academic relations 

 both with fellow-professors and with pupils have been so 

 uniformly pleasant. The classes which, in long succes- 

 sion, have listened to your instructions, could their 

 voices be heard, would unite in expressions of sincere 

 respect both for the qualities of character and for the 

 talents and learning of their revered instructor. But it 

 is no part of our purpose to enter into a detailed state- 

 ment of the reasons which render it peculiarly agreeable 

 for us, your old friends and neighbors, to offer to you to- 

 day our heartfelt congratulations. Had it been thought 



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