92 MEMORIAL OF JOSEPH HENRY. 



Recording his own experience, he says: "At the first touch of 

 Shakesi'EARe's genius I made the glad confession that somctiiing 

 inspiring hovered above me. - - - Tlie first page of liis that 

 I read made me his for life; and when 1 had finished a single play, 

 I stood like" one born blind on Avhom a miraculous hand bestows 

 sight in a moment. I saw, I felt, in the njost vivid manner that 

 my existence was infinitely expanded." 



This Old World experience of Goet^ie's was strikingly repro- 

 duced, though under different conditions and with different results, 

 in the early life of Joseph Henry. You have just heard the 

 incident worthily recounted; but let us linger over it a moment. 

 An orphan boy of sixteen, of tough Scotch fiber, laboring for his 

 own support at the handicraft of the jeweler, unconscious of his 

 great powers, delighted with romance and the drama, dreaming of 

 a possible career on the stage, his attention was suddenly arrested 

 by a single page of an humble book of science which chanced to 

 fall into his hands. It was not the flash of a poetic vision which 

 aroused him. It was the voice of great Nature calling her child. 

 Willi quick recognition and glad reverence his spirit responded; 

 and from that moment to the end of his long and honored life, 

 Joseph Henry was the devoted student of science, the faithful 

 interpreter of nature. 



To those who knew his gentle spirit, it is not surprising that 

 ever afterward he kept the little volume near him and cherished it 

 as the source of his first inspiration. In the maturity of his fame, 

 he recorded on its fly-leaf his gratitude. Note his words: "This 

 book under Providence- has exerted a remarkable influence on my 

 life. - - - It opened to me a new world of thought and 

 enjoyment, invested things before almost unnoticed with the highest 

 interest, fixed my mind on the study of natui'e, and caused me to 

 resolve at the time of reading it that I would devote my life to the 

 acquisition of knowledge." 



