436 MEMORIAL OF JOSEPH HENRY. 



gave his views of the relations , between 'meteorology and agricul- 

 ture. In tliis and other ways, the SmithHonian Jnstitution has been 

 a liot-bcd for sUirtiiig and nursing new projcicts in iljoir days of 

 infancy and weakn(iss. AfUir they have outgrown its ac<x)mnio- 

 dations and proved their usefulncas, they have been a<lopted l>y the 

 general (jiovernment and transplanted to a richer soil. 



For many yitura Professcjr Henry has been a conspicuous figure,, 

 not merely in scientific circles, but in the full view of the public: 

 hi.s name and his CMMj[)eration have beeuiin constant demand. |He 

 naturally gravitated U) places of honor which were often places of 

 additional labor. Men of leisure have no time to give to (x;casional 

 calls upon their public si>irit.ii The /hard- workers mustalso do all 

 the extra work., Piofessor iremy was no exception to this rule. 

 To the day of his death, he filled positions of trust and responsi- 

 bility, with duties sullicient to crnsh an effeminate!' man.i But they 

 seenuHl to rest lightly upon shonlders which sustiiined, beside, the 

 weight of a great institution. His mind was ever in a state of 

 prolonged tension ; 1 but it kept its balance under these distractions, 

 us do the rings of Saturn amid the nudtitudinous di.stnrbances of 

 iLs HaU;llites. Often he waitc;d for the leisure which never (;an»e to 

 him, when he,might,writeiOut for J)ubli(!iition, scientific' communi- 

 (jations whi(!h h(! ha<l made from a brief. He was President of the 

 American Association at its second meeting, in Cambridge, in 1849, 

 He gave the usual address of the retiring President at the fourth 

 meeting, in New Haven, but it was not ])rint(!d. He was Vice- 

 Pnisident of the National A<uid(!n»y of Hciencea in 1800^ succeeded 



J )r. liache as President in 18G8,, and died in ollic^.i i 



The most responsible and the most onerous of the gratuitous ser- 

 vices which he gave to sciemxjand the country ^verd rendered in his 

 capacity of member of the Light-House lioard, of which he was 

 for seven years the chairman. The substitution of lenses for mir- 

 rors b(!gan the revolution in light-houses; but kins or nn'rror, with- 

 out the light, is no better than a steam-engine without steam. To 

 (KHupier prejudi<!e by experiment, and save millions to the country 

 by ex(;hanging Hi)erni oil for lard oil, is not so brilliant a service lUi 

 the discovery of a new law of nature. But, more than any dis- 

 covery, it niakes science respected in high pla<5es, and enlists the 



