NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



On coming to New York Dr. Draper occupied at first a house 

 in Charles street, subsequently removing to the corner of Broad- 

 way and Amity street. But in 1848 he purchased a delightfully 

 located piece of property at Hastings upon the Hudson, where he 

 lived until his death. It was here that Henry Draper built his 

 observatory ; and in this building the father and son spent many a 

 pleasant hour together engaged in that most delightful of occupa- 

 tions, the pursuit of scientific knowledge. 



Dr. Draper, though somewhat below the average stature, was a 

 man of fine personal presence. He was mild in manner and quiet 

 in demeanor, having very little of self-assertion. The excellence of 

 his disposition and the charm of his personal intercourse drew to 

 him warm and disinterested friends on every hand. He was an 

 extensive reader and his conversational powers were remarkably 

 developed, so that he always had attentive listeners, whether the 

 subject of his discourse was literary or scientific. But it was when 

 he opened his rich storehouse of personal reminiscence that his 

 auditor was most charmed and delighted. His health, which through 

 life had been generally good, was disturbed during his later years by 

 severe attacks of gravel, which incapacitated him for journeying. 

 These attacks wore upon him and finally ended his life. He died 

 at Hastings, on the 4th of January, 1882, and was buried at Green- 

 wood. 



In the eloquent words of Professor Lovering, " Dr. Draper's mind 

 was too large to be shut up within the walls of his laboratory. To 

 him the minutest facts were of value, but only as they furnished the 

 key for interpreting the Universal Cosmos of nature and humanity. 

 In clear and graceful language the best that was in his thoughts 

 was shared by the world. There was a continuity in his life-work, 

 plain to himself, if not obvious to the superficial observer. He says : 

 ' When I thus look back on the subjects that have occupied my 

 attention I recognize how they have been interconnected, each pre- 

 paring the way for its successor. Is it not true that for every person 

 the course of life is along the line of least resistance, and that in 

 this the movement of humanity is like the movement of material 

 bodies?'" 



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