ADDRESS OF PROF. A. GRAY. 71 



tion. We have seen how he always developed the talent to do 

 wisely and well whatever he undertook. His well-poised spirit, at 

 once patient and masterful, asserted itself in the trials he encountered 

 in the early years of the Institution, and gave assurance that he could 

 deal with men as well as with the forces of nature. 



Again, not often is a man of science free from the overmastering 

 influence of his special pursuit. More or less his " nature is subdued 

 to what it works in, like the dyer's hand.'' Now, HENRY'S mind 

 was uncolored by the studies of his predilection. His catholic spirit 

 comes out in his definition of science : " Science is the knowledge 

 of the laws of phenomena, whether they relate to mind or matter." 

 It appears in his choice of the investigations to be furthered and 

 memoirs to be published by the Institution. These nowhere show 

 the bias of a specialist. 



Then, he was a careful, painstaking man, very solicitous perhaps 

 unduly anxious about the particulars of everything for which he 

 felt responsible. Therefore he was sometimes slow in making up 

 his mind on a practical question. May we here condescend to a 

 trivial anecdote of his early boyhood, which he amusingly related 

 to one of us many years ago and pleasantly recalled at one of our 

 latest interviews. It goes back to the time when he was first allowed 

 to have a pair of boots, and to choose for himself the style of 

 them. He was living with his grandmother in the country, and 

 the village Crispin could offer no great choice of patterns ; indeed, 

 it was narrowed down to the alternative of round toes or square. 

 Daily the boy visited the shop and pondered the alternatives, even 

 while the manufacture was going on, until at length the shoemaker, 

 who could brook no more delay, took the dilemma by both horns 

 and produced the most remarkable pair of boots the wearer ever 

 had ; one boot round-toed, the other square-toed. 



Deliberate as HENRY was in after years, taught by this early 

 lesson he probably never again postponed decision till it was too 



