Vlll INTRODUCTION. 



message through, a lengthened space ; together with many 

 others, the fruits of whose labours we are now reaping. 



The following pages briefly record the births, deaths, 

 and more striking incidents in the lives of those bene- 

 factors to mankind. 



" Lives of great men all remind us we may make our 

 lives sublime/' The truth of this is strongly enforced in 

 the brief memoirs which are included in this volume. 

 They teach us that mental power, used judiciously and 

 applied with industry, is capable of producing vast changes 

 in the crude productions of Nature. Beyond this, they 

 instruct us that men, who fulfil the commands of the 

 Creator and employ their minds, in unwearying efforts to 

 subdue the Earth, are rarely unrewarded. They aid in 

 the march of civilization, and they ameliorate the con- 

 ditions of humanity. They win a place amongst the great 

 names which we reverence, and each one 



" becomes like a star 

 " From the abodes where the Eternals are." 



ROBERT HUNT. 



