60 HENRY. 



among the first maintaining that view which he himself so earnestly 

 supported. 



It is greatly to be regretted that Dr. Henry did not contribute 

 more to the literature of science, as he appears to have been emi- 

 nently fitted, both by natural tastes and by after culture, to excel 

 in this particular respect ; especially is it to be regretted that he 

 did not live to carry out the great literary project for which he 

 had collected materials a history of chemical discovery from the 

 middle of the last century. He could have made it one of the 

 most popular books in our tongue. 



In the general intercourse of society Dr. Henry was distinguished 

 by a polished courtesy, by an intuitive propriety, and by a con- 

 siderate forethought and respect for the feelings and opinions of 

 others ; qualities issuing out of the same high-toned sensibility, that 

 guided his taste in letters, and that softened and elevated his whole 

 moral frame and bearing. His comprehensive range of thought and 

 knowledge, his proneness to general speculation in contradistinction 

 to detail, his ready command of the refinements of language, and 

 the liveliness of his feelings and imagination, rendered him a most 

 instructive and engaging companion. To the young, and more 

 especially to such as gave evidence of a taste for liberal studies, his 

 manner was peculiarly kind and encouraging. In measuring the 

 amount and importance of his contributions to chemical knowledge, 

 it must be borne in mind, that in his season of greatest mental 

 activity, he never enjoyed that uncontrolled command of time and 

 that serene concentration of thought which are essential to the 

 completion of great scientific designs. In more advanced life, when 

 relieved from the duties of an extensive medical practice and other 

 equally pressing avocations, growing infirmities and failing bodily 

 power restrained him to studies not demanding personal exertion, 

 and even abridged his season of purely mental labour. That amid 

 circumstances so unfriendly to original and sustained achievements 

 in science, he should have accomplished so much, bears testimony 

 to that energy of resolve, that unsubdued ardour of spirit which 

 ever glowed within him, urging him steadily onwards in the career 

 of honourable ambition, and prompting exertions more than com- 

 mensurate with the decaying forces of a frame that had never been 

 vigorous. At intervals during his whole life, Dr. Henry suffered 

 severely from the effect of the accident already mentioned. The 

 paroxysms of intense neuralgic agony which attacked him, at length 

 caused the whole nervous system to be so irritated as to deprive 

 him of sleep, and cause his death in September, 1836, at the age of 

 sixty-one. Biographical Account of the late Dr. Henry, by his son, 

 William Charles Henry t M.D., F.R.S., &c. Encyclopedia Britannica, 

 Eighth Edition. 



