ALEXANDER DALLAS BACHE. 



1806-1867. 



THE life of Alexander Dallas Bache lends support to the 

 belief that what a man is to be, or, rather, what he is capable 

 of being, is mainly determined by what his parents and an- 

 cestors have been. According to the doctrine of heredity, it 

 is not surprising that Bache, descended from illustrious pro- 

 genitors on both sides of his family, should himself achieve 

 intellectual eminence. But as he received an education ad- 

 mirably suited to the work he was to perform, his career gives 

 little help in answering the question whether heredity is or is 

 not stronger than training. 



His most important work is instructive in another way. It 

 shows how effective efforts for the advancement of knowledge 

 can be made by the power and resources of a great govern- 

 ment when the right man is secured to direct them, just as 

 other instances have made plain how wasteful and demoraliz- 

 ing such efforts may become when unwisely directed. 



Alexander Dallas Bache was born in Philadelphia, July 19, 

 1806. His father, Richard Bache, was a grandson of Benjamin 

 Franklin, being one of the eight children of Richard Bache, 

 Postmaster General from 1776 to 1782, and Franklin's only 

 daughter, Sarah. His mother, Sophia Burret (Dallas), was a 

 daughter of Alexander J. Dallas, who was Madison's Secretary 

 of the Treasury, and sister of George M. Dallas, Vice-President 

 of the United States in Folk's administration. 



Dallas Bache, as he was usually called by his intimates, was 

 placed in a classical school at an early age, and proved to be a 

 remarkably bright pupil. When fifteen years old he was ap- 

 pointed a cadet in the Military Academy at West Point. He 

 maintained a high stand in scholarship from the beginning to 

 the end of his course, and graduated in 1825 at the head of 

 his class, although its youngest member. This was no small 



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