THE INCORPORATORS 129 



Called once more to service at sea, Admiral Davis in 1867 

 assumed charge of the Brazilian Squadron, when he encountered 

 the unfortunate trouble with Lopez, which caused so much 

 discussion in military circles. During his absence in Brazil, 

 Harvard University conferred on him the degree of Doctor 

 of Laws, the only instance up to that time in which it had been 

 given to a naval commander. 



Admiral Davis commanded the naval station at Norfolk for 

 three years, returning to the superintendency of the Observatory 

 in 1874, when he became chairman of the Transit of Venus 

 Commission. In editing Captain Hall's journal of Arctic 

 expeditions and in work on the naval exhibit at the Centennial 

 Exhibition, he overtaxed his health and died at Washington, 

 February 18, 1877. He was buried on the banks of the Charles 

 River, overlooking the University and his old home, and a 

 stained-glass window, bearing his record, has been placed in 

 the Memorial Hall at Harvard. 



Admiral Davis was one of the members of the " Permanent 

 Commission " of the Navy Department, out of which the 

 Academy appears in a measure to have developed. He was one 

 of those most deeply interested in the Academy movement, and 

 seems to have been the first to conceive the idea of having it 

 incorporated under the Federal Government. He was a mem- 

 ber of the first Council of 1863, and served on many important 

 committees. 



(From C. H. DAVIS, in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, vol. 4, 1902, pp. 23-55; see also " Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear- 

 Admiral, 1807-1877," by the same author, 1899.) 



GEORGE ENGELMANN 

 Born, February 2, 1809; died, February 4, 1884 



Engelmann was descended on his father's side from a long 

 line of ministers for the Reformed Dutch Church at Bacharach- 

 on-the-Rhine, and on his mother's side from a family of Hugue- 

 not emigres from the vicinity of Amiens. He was born at 

 Frankfort-on-the-Main, February 2, 1809. His parents estab- 



