•'!•"> I MEMORIAL OF JOSEPH HENRY. 



Among tlir subjects to which he had given a close and critical 

 attention, was the attractive field of Architecture, both in its his- 

 torical development as a Fine-art — symbolizing devotional senti- 

 ment, ami in its later manifestations as the application of antique 

 and eclectic forms of ornamentation to utilitarian structures. His 

 very admiration of ancient classic ami gothic art. made him intoler- 

 ant ul' tin- servile reproduction of Temple anil Cathedral stvles 

 for purposes and uses to which they were wholly unstated. 51 And 

 he was severe in his criticisms on the tun frequent practice of 

 wasting a large portion of the funds bequeathed tu scientific, edu- 

 cational, 'if charitable purposes, on showy and pretentious piles, 

 (the inspiration ami the monument of an ambitious architect,) to 

 tlir permanent spoliation ami restriction of the endowment intended 

 for intellectual ami moral ends. 



llir Reign of Law. — I bury held very broad ami decided views 

 as tu the reign of order in the Cosmos. Defining science as the 

 "knowledge of natural law," and law, as tin' "will of God," he 

 was always accustomed tu regard that orderly sequence called the 

 " law," as being lixrd and immutable as the omniscient providence of 

 its Divine Author : admitting in no case caprice or variableness : and 

 he would quote with expressive emphasis, Halley's classic lines, 



"Quas dum primordia rerum 



Pangerei Omniparens logos violarc Creator 

 Noluit. retcrniquc operis fundamina lixit." 



*"Thc Greek architect was untrammelled by any condition of utility. Archi- 

 tecture was with him in reality a fine-art. Tlir temple was formed to gratify tin' 

 tutelar deity. It-- minutest parts were exquisitely finished, since nothing l>m 

 perfection on all snlrs and in tin' smallest particulars, could satisfy an all-seeing 

 and critical eye. Ii was intended for externa] worship, and not for internal 

 use. - - - 'iln' uses therefore i" which in modern times, buildings of this kind 

 can be applied, are exceedingly few. - - - Modern architecture is not like 

 painting or sculpture, a 'fine-art' par ■ reellcnee: the objeel of these latter is to 

 produce a moral emotion, to awaken the feelings of the sublime and the beau- 

 tiful: and we egregiously err when we apply these productions to a men 

 utilitarian purpose. To make a fire-screen of Rubens' Madonna, or a candela- 

 brum of i!m' statue "i Mm' Apollo Belvidere, would !»■ t" debase these exquisite 

 productions of gi niu . and do violence to the feelings of the cultivated lover of 

 art Modern buildings are made for other purposes than artistic effect, and in 

 them tin- oesthctical must !"■ subordinate to the useful; though the two may 



ist, and an intellect ual plcasur b derived from a sense of adaptation i 

 fitness, combined with a perception of harmony of parts, and tin- beauty of 

 detail. The buildings of a country and an age should be .in ethnological expres- 

 sion ul' tin 1 wants, habits, arts, and sentiments of the time in which tiny were 

 erected.' (Proceed. Am Assoc at Albany, Aug. IS.18, part i. pp. 120,121, and 5 

 si„u,i,i Report I'T 18511, p 222. 



