MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH. 23 



and America, Professor Henry of Princeton Col- 

 lege was selected, and solicited to assume that 

 onerous duty. What tribute was that to the 

 achievements, the attainments, and the character 

 of the man ! He must be famous, that his selec- 

 tion might at once command the assent of the 

 world ; he must be learned, that he might be able 

 to carry out the purposes of the donor; and he 

 must be virtuous, that he should not degrade the 

 high office to any base or selfish uses. And thus 

 he was called. 



When brought to the parting of the roads, choice 

 was extremely difficult. On the one hand, a life 

 devoted to the most delightful of all pursuits the 

 searching out the laws of nature, which are the 

 thoughts of God ; a reputation already great and 

 daily growing ; and a happy home, surrounded by 

 congenial and loving friends, and undisturbed by 

 cares for the present or the future. On the other 

 hand, an abandonment of the field of scientific 

 research, where the harvest was abundant and the 

 laborers few ; and a surrender to others of the 

 prizes he saw glittering before him in the race 

 he was running ; and furthermore, a grapple with 

 the problems of organization and finance, and 

 with the discordant elements which the scheme of 

 the Smithsonian Institution would necessarily 

 evoke. He foresaw that he might find himself, after 

 some years had passed, like a giant shorn of his 



