Memoir of the Life of Eli Whitney. 25 1 



the more remarkable, because it is so common to find men of great 

 powers of mechanical invention deficient in this quality. Nothing is 

 more frequent than to see a man of the most fertile powers of inven- 

 tion, run from one piece of mechanism to another, leaving the former 

 half finished ; or if he has completed any thing, it is usual to find him 

 abandon it to others, too fickle to pursue the advantages he might reap 

 from it, or too sensitive to struggle with the sordid and avaricious, who 

 may seek to rob him of the profits of his invention. We cannot bet- 

 ter express our views on this subject, than by transcribing from a letter 

 now before us, the following remarks communicated to us by a gentle- 

 man* who had intimately known Mr. W. from early life. 



"I have reflected often and much upon Mr. Whitney's character, 

 and it has been a delightful study to me. I wish I had time to bring 

 fully to your view, for your consideration, that particular excellence 

 of mind in which he excelled all men that I have ever heard of. I 

 do not mean that his power of forming mechanical combinations was 

 unlimited, but that he had it under such perfect control. I imagine 

 that he never yet failed of accomplishing any result of mechanical 

 powers and combinations which he sought for ; nor ever sought for 

 one for which he had not some occasion, in order to accomplish the 

 business in hand. I mean that his invention never failed, and never 

 ran wild. It accomplished, I imagine, without exception, all that he 

 ever asked of it and no more. I emphasize this last expression, from 

 having in mind the case of a man whose invention appeared to be 

 more fertile even than Whitney's ; but he had it under no control. 

 When he had imagined and half executed one fine thing, his mind 

 darted off to another, and he perfected nothing : Whitney perfected 

 all that he attempted ; carried each invention to its utmost limit of 

 usefulness ; and then reposed until he had occasion for something 

 else." 



It would be difficult to estimate the full value of Mr. Whitney's 

 labors, without going into a minuteness of detail inconsistent with our 

 Hmits. Every cotton garment bears the impress of his genius, and 

 the ships that transported it across the waters were the heralds of his 

 fame, and the cities that have risen to opulence by the cotton trade, 

 must attribute no small share of their prosperity to the inventor of 

 the Cotton Gin. We have before us the declaration of the late Mr. 

 Fulton, that Arkwright, Watt and Whitney, (we would add Fulton 



"* Hon. S. M. Hopkins. 



