224 Memoir of Dr. Douglass Houghton. 
the duties of the professorship. His influence was however of 
great service to the rising institution. 
The ambition of Dr. Houghton and his popularity in the state 
led him to attempt other fields of distinction. He knew how the 
political wires were worked, and though he permitted himself to 
enter that difficult and harassing arena, only in the latter period 
of his life, he yet came sufficiently “before the public” to evince 
that he possessed, ina high degree, the talents, which in this 
country are supposed to be necessary to the statesman. As Mayor 
of the city of Detroit he acted independent of party or clique, 
and was at once energetic, keen sighted and assiduous. Of his 
other political connections, which were cut short by his death, 
we will only say, that it was the desire and expectation of his 
numerous friends to see the gubernatorial chair of the state filled 
by one who would so well have honored that station. 
Dr. Houghton was married in 1833, to Miss Stevens, of Fre- 
donia, and his death bereft also two children. But for his faith- 
ful devotion to the duties of his public station, he would undoubt- 
edly have left his family in affluence, since his success in the 
business operations in which he engaged showed that in these 
matters also he possessed a vigilant eye and correct judgment. 
Dr. Houghton was about five feet three inches in height. He 
had a remarkably animated blue eye, and his light hair and com- 
plexion indicated a sanguine nervous temperament. 
The mind of Dr. Houghton had that preéminent stamp of'gen- 
ius that it was equally great in whatever he undertook. Whether, 
amid the rocks and wilds of the West, he was solving some intri- 
cate problem of nature, or at his desk directing the ordinary con- 
cerns of business, he applied to all alike the most active energies 
of his intellect. He thought nothing beneath his notice from 
which any thing might be learned, and he uniformly obeyed the 
maxim that “what is worth doing is worth doing well.” He 
thus became the man of resources, both from the amazing extent 
of his acquaintance with the details of the arts, and from his 
power of combining and applying this knowledge under varied 
circumstances. 
If in so utilitarian a country as ours, this practical tendency 
can be carried too far, it was so in Dr. Houghton; for though it 
did not destroy his appreciation of what may be called the 
‘“poetry of nature” and the beautiful in art, it diminished his 
taste for them, and rendered him less susceptible to their sympa- 
thetic influences. It was a frequent observation with him that 
the usual college course was ill fitted for the proper education of 
the useful man. He would have the inventions o 1 | 
studied, the works of nature more. 
Dr. Houghton’s powers of perception were wonderfully rapide: 
He could with the celerity of thought seize upon the strong 
with the 
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