100 MEMORIAL, OF JOSEPH HENRY. 



Associated with our Government through the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, and with the world through the amenities of science which 

 it created, the loss of Joseph Henry is not merely national ; it is 

 cosmopolitan, universal. It is fitting that the head of an institu- 

 tion which welcomes all countries and all worlds should have a 

 tribute here worthy of such extended and shining fame. 



In our federal way, we order condemned cannon to make bronzes 

 for our soldiers. Our land is full of the effigies of military 

 heroes. I have no criticism upon such a patriotic custom. Indeed, 

 I see that the gallant soldier (General Sherman) is to follow me ; 

 and I am more than reluctant to suggest a word of dissent from 

 such an honored observance. Our parks display also the forms of 

 literary celebrities — Shakespeare, Goethe, Scott, and Burns, 

 and the grand bead-roll, favored of the muses, with only now and 

 then a Humboldt, and a dim memory of Goethe as a devotee of 

 science. The Washingtons and Tells, soldiers and patriots, 

 arouse the enthusiasm of the,masses of mankind. This too may be 

 well; for the Princes of Science, like Archimedes, Galileo, Kep- 

 ler, Newton, GiojA, Toricelli, Boyle, Leibnitz, Laplace, 

 Davy, Herschel, Arago, Lyell, Faraday, and Henry, 

 have their niche in a more exalted and enduring Pantheon. 



Bacon, the father of experimental science! What are divines, 

 jurists, statesmen, soldiers, princes, to this great and audacious 

 leader of human investigation for truth against mere speculation? 

 Newton, of whom Macaulay says that " in no other mind have 

 the demonstrative faculty and the inductive faculty coexisted in 

 such supreme excellence and perfect harmony?" — what are the 

 mere temporary favorites of the mass of men compared with him ? 

 History gives its muse unbounded license to sing the glories of the 

 Napoleons of our world. They were indeed guiding intellects; 

 they were wonderful for civic organization and still more wonderful 

 in their genius for destruction. But to the thoughtful mind their 



