The Three Secretaries 117 



most brilliant promise, notwithstanding the protests of many 

 who considered it a waste of high talent for him to give up 

 his own investigations for the sake of providing opportunities 

 for the work of others. 



The story of his administration will be found interwoven 

 with that of the Institution in every chapter of this book. In 

 this place attention will be directed chiefly to his contribu- 

 tions to science and to his personal traits and interests. 



ii. 



JOSEPH HENRY was born in Albany, December 1 7, 1 799. His 

 father was William Henry, his mother was Annie Alexander. 

 His grandparents on both sides, the Henrys and the Alexan- 

 ders, came in the same ship from Scotland to the colony of 

 New York on June 17, 1775, landing while the first guns 

 of the American Revolution were sounding. 



During early childhood he lived in Albany, and from the 

 age of seven to thirteen near the country village of Galway, 

 in the adjoining county of Saratoga. 



He was seemingly an idle boy, whose mind was full of 

 romance, and whose time was chiefly occupied in the read- 

 ing of novels, poetry, and Shakspere. His young life was 

 full of dreams, and the efforts of his relatives to induce him 

 to give attention to practical matters were for a time fruitless. 

 He was apprenticed to a watchmaker ; but, notwithstanding 

 his natural taste for mechanism, the occupation was uncon- 

 genial, and was soon abandoned. For the time the theater 

 was more to his taste. When in Albany 1 visiting his rela- 



1 There was from 1813 to 1816 an excel- Samuel Drake, Henry Placide, Norah M. 

 lent theater in Albany under the manage- Ludlow, and Frances Ann Denney (Mrs. 

 ment of Mr. John Bernard, one of the best Drake), all of whom were noted in the his- 

 of the English comedians, author of " Retro- tory of the American stage. See Sol Smith's 

 spectus of the Stage " and " Retrospectus of " Theatrical Apprenticeship," which was pub- 

 America, 1797-1811." In his company were lished in Philadelphia in 1845. 



