Life of Count Rumford. 379 



regarded as exclusively his own. His, too, was the 

 organizing mind, nor can I discover any evidence that 

 he was induced, or felt it desirable, to modify his origi- 

 nal idea of it, or to change the details of his plan by 

 suggestions from any of the wise and earnest advisers 

 and helpers whom he engaged in it. While he was 

 himself one of the most zealous and laborious Fellows 

 of the Royal Society, he saw that without trespassing at 

 all upon the range, wide as it was, that was recognized 

 by his associates, there was room for an Institution 

 whose aims should be more practical and popular, com- 

 ing into direct contact with the agricultural, the me- 

 chanical, and the domestic life of the people. To 

 Rumford, then, belongs the signal honor of creating an 

 Institution which has a most creditable history, and 

 which has been the medium for bringing forward, 

 through the opportunities there afforded them, many 

 men who have won the highest distinctions in practical 

 science. 



Count Rumford's spirit and activity had at this 

 period of his life become restless, and perhaps slightly 

 morbid. He had been for many years so busily en- 

 gaged in most exacting labors, in which he had em- 

 ployed a large number of assistants and subordinates, 

 that he, beyond most men even of marked ability and 

 influential position, needed to have some conspicuous 

 and comprehensive scheme to engross his mind and J:o 

 task his energies. For reasons soon to be mentioned 



o 



he had grounds for believing that his official position 

 and his high functions in Bavaria would no longer 

 secure him such opportunities for civil and military 

 administration or high influence as he had so long en- 

 joyed. Failing, to his great chagrin, of reception in 



