9 



Bache, whose death he so deplored, who was himself at 

 the head of this branch of learning, a man of the most 

 enlarged views and the most liberal feelings, as much 

 above the narrowness, that so often bounds the vision 

 of the votaries of science I repeat, if Professor Bache 

 were now alive, he could tell you, how profound Dr. 

 Alexander was in that particular department. His 

 skill and extraordinary accuracy were often tested in 

 the Coast Survey ; and much of the fruit of his explo- 

 rations was stored up in that treasure house of science. 

 What was abstruse he mastered, and what was com- 

 plex he simplified ; so that he could readily solve the 

 most difficult problem, and by the beauty of his 

 method, and the richness of his genius, he could and 

 did devise systems of calculation, that saved hours of 

 labor, and never at the sacrifice of accuracy. I doubt 

 whether any man in this country possessed greater 

 profundity, united to equal accuracy of detail. 



As a scholar, it is with more capability of appre- 

 ciation I can speak of him. A Hebraist, deeply 

 versed in Greek and Latin, as deeply skilled in mod- 

 ern tongues, he was without question the first linguist 

 of this hemisphere. He wrote Latin as readily as he 

 wrote English, with the same beautiful command of 

 words, and skill in construction. When going abroad, 

 he prepared his passports in seven different languages, 

 and for penmanship and attic purity, they were splen- 

 did specimens, worthy of the most accomplished mas- 

 ters in either. It was really wonderful to see with 

 what facility he could dash off, at a sitting, Latin 

 verse, as fluently, as though it were his native tongue, 

 and he a poet of the fair Italian clime. He was as 

 exact as he was varied in his gift of tongues. He 

 understood the rules of grammar, the principles of 

 construction, the philology of words; and consequently 



