SKETCH OF THOMAS EGLESTON, 265 



the results of this training among a class of children that, from their 

 general environment, would grow up to be a burden or a menace 

 to the city. The intelligent culture of hand and eye, the mental 

 quickening and moral uplifting, the capacity and purpose of hon- 

 orable self-support, and the protection from moral and social perils, 

 that are imparted and secured through the agency of these schools, 

 are to him a constant source of enthusiasm. 



The jeweled chalice above referred to is of scientific interest 

 from the great variety and rarity of the gems with which it is set. 

 During years of travel to and from many parts of Europe, Professor 

 Egleston had remarkable opportunities, in his visits to mining regions 

 and his intercourse with mineralogists, to obtain fine and choice 

 specimens of gems; these he had mounted in elegant forms as pres- 

 ents to his wife, Mrs. Augusta McVickar Egleston. Her death, in 

 1895, was a very great blow to her husband, as their married life 

 had been extremely happy; and the only satisfactory use to which 

 this beautiful treasure of jewelry could be put seemed to him to be 

 in the services of divine worship in the church. It is not possible 

 in brief compass, without a figure, to describe the arrangement of 

 these jewels on the base, stem, and cup of the golden chalice; but it 

 must suffice to say that there are one hundred and eighty stones set 

 in, with embossed work, on a cup and pedestal nine inches high and 

 half that width. The species and varieties number fifteen, many of 

 them in rare shades of color; among them are the ruby-colored Siriam 

 garnets, green " demantoid " garnets of the Ural (" Uralian emer- 

 ald "), Ceylonese moonstones, colored diamonds, sapphires, both yel- 

 low and green (Oriental topaz and emerald), rubellites, red zircon, 

 moldavite (the rare green obsidian of Moravia), green tourmaline, 

 chrysoberyl, the rich purple amethysts of the Urals, etc. Considered 

 either mineralogically or as a work of art, this chalice is almost 

 unique; while the conception and designing, which are wholly of 

 Professor Egleston's own, reveal the same union of artistic and sci- 

 entific qualities that was shown in the Audubon monument above 

 mentioned, joined with a religious and a personal sentiment almost 

 too sacred to dwell upon in a sketch like the present. 



In all these aspects of his life and work, as we said at the begin- 

 ning, Professor Egleston has been little known to the general public ; 

 but among scientific and engineering circles he has been highly hon- 

 ored. In these pages he may become more widely known, and the 

 people of the metropolis and of the country at large may learn 

 something of the manner of man that has lived and labored so hon- 

 orably among them, and has done so much for science and his fel- 

 low-men. 



