BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
OF 
JAMES MELVILLE GILLISS. 
Mr. Presipent AND GENTLEMEN OF THE ACADEMY : — 
Tue year which has just elapsed has been more sparing 
of our number than its predecessors; yet death has taken 
one from the ranks of the Academy who could ill be spared, 
and on the 9th of February last the tidings went forth from 
this capital to all parts of the land, that a great bereavement 
had come upon the science of America. A month before 
we had met Gilliss ‘here in the vigor of his manhood, the 
fullness of his energy, and the manly dignity so characteristic 
of his bearing. 
“ QO, had it been but told you then 
To mark whose lamp was dim, 
From out these ranks of nae men 
Would you have singled him 
His life has been in some respects its own sufficient record, 
for its impress has been given and will long remain; yet in 
other respects the time is not yet come for the full por- 
trayal of his many services to science and to his country, — 
for these are still too recent for complete recital, and their 
enumeration and description might tend to impair their best 
influence. Loyalty to his country, his government, his 
science, his friends, — stern integrity, unflinching resolve, 
and earnest piety were the predominant traits of his moral 
nature. A keen sense of duty, which never permitted to 
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