117 
in wood, but which had given way, he strongly urged the 
employment of firé-proof material, to the adoption of which 
the preservation of the valuable collections of the Institution 
is indebted. In the discharge of his duty as one of the Ex- 
ecutive Committee, he acted with the same conscientious 
regard to the sacredness of the trust which characterized 
all his official labors, and critically examined all the accounts, 
assured himself as to the proper expenditure of the funds, 
- and advised as to the general policy to be pursued. In him 
the Secretary ever found a firm supporter, a sympathetic 
friend, and a judicious adviser. Unostentatious, unselfish, 
and only desiring to advance whatever cause he might be con- 
nected with, he gave the most valuable suggestions as if 
they were of little moment, and in such a way that they 
might appear to be deductions from what others had said or 
done, being more anxious that his suggestions should be 
“leg carried out than they should be accredited to him- 
As a recreation from the more arduous studies of his pro- 
fession, he devoted in the early part of his life his spare 
hours to Natural History, paying much attention to the Mol- 
lusea of the Northern coast of the United States ; and he was 
perhaps, the first, or at least one of the first, to introduce 
into this country the use of the dredge for the search of 
these animals, thus not only obtaining many species which 
would otherwise have escaped attention and getting fresh 
and unmutilated specimens |of species previously known only 
from dead imperfect shells, but enabling us to learn some- 
thing of the habits and associations of the animals, —infor- 
Mation of much greater scientific value than the Tacarery: 
of a few new species. His observations and studies = 
Conchology were embodied in an article entitled “ Descrip- 
tions of some Shelly belonging to the Coast of New England, 
