168 MEMORIAL OF JOSEPH HENRY. 



Young Henry could not answer these questions, but proceeded 

 to read the answer and the full explanation. He perused the 

 volume with ever increasing interest. He asked some of his friends 

 these and other questions, and found that they were no better 

 acquainted with science than himself. He now determined to investi- 

 gate the subject that had thus presented itself. This little book and 

 these simple questions incited him to enter upon that scientific career 

 and those investigations which have rendered his name immortal. 

 A copy of this little book he was wont ever after to keep beside 

 him. It bore the following lines from his own pen : 



"This book, although by no means a profound work, has, under 

 Providence, exerted a remarkable influence upon my life. It 

 accidentally fell into my hands when I was about sixteen years old, 

 and was the first book I ever read with attention. It opened to me 

 a new world of thought and enjoyment;, invested things, before 

 almost unnoticed, with the highest interest; fixed my mind on the 

 study of nature, and caused me to resolve at the time of reading it 

 that I would immediately commence to devote my life to the acqui- 

 sition of knowledge. J. H." 



Professor Henry's subsequent career as a teacher in Albany, 

 Professor of Natural Philosophy in the College of New Jersey, 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, President of the United 

 States Light-house Board, and President of the National Academy ; 

 his discoveries in electricity, magnetism, and electro-magnetism; 

 his interesting experiments in optics and acoustics; are well known, 

 not only to the scientific world, but to the general public. It is 

 proper to state here that the venerable Dr. John Maclean, who 

 was connected with the Faculty for fifty years, and was for four- 

 teen years the President of the College of New Jersey, suggested 

 and secured the appointment of Joseph Henry as a professor in 

 this college in 1832. The friendship of these two men continued 

 unbroken for nearly half a century. They are separated now, but 

 it can be for only a short time. Dr. Maclean, in his History of 

 the College, vol. ii, pp. 288-291, gives a most interesting account 

 of the circumstances attending his appointment. Although known 

 to scientific men, the public had heard so little of him that a trustee 



