220 Miscellanies. 



who has before circumnavigated the world in L'Uranie ; in zoology, M. 

 Eydoux, naval surgeon of the first class, who sailed round the world in 

 L'Favourite; in geology, M. Chevalier Enseigne de Vaisseau ; in astron- 

 omy, M. Chevalier Fouchard ; in hydrography and observations on terres- 

 trial magnetism, in connection with the other officers of the ship, M. Dar- 

 ondeau. M. Lauvergne, the same artist who has twice before been around 

 the world in the Astrolabe and the Favourite, was draftsman to the ex- 

 pedition. What is most singular, is the fact, that not one person died 

 out of the whole crew and numerous passengers ; nor did any serious ill- 

 ness appear, except a few cases of scurvy, towards the close of the voy- 

 age. This extraordinary exemption is to be attributed to the watchful 

 care of the captain, in airing the vessel, and enforcing exact cleanliness 

 among his men, and making them suit their dress to the climate they were 

 in, and to the diurnal variations of the temperature. No accident occur- 

 red to the vessel herself 



OBITUARY. ^THE HON. NATHANIEL BOWDITCH. 



The death of this excellent and illustrious man has left a void in the American 

 scientific world, which it will be very difficult to fill. 



His reputation was not merely American — it was European — it belonged to his 

 fellow-men of every enlightened and christian land. 



We heard of his extreme and hopeless illness, and almost immediately after, of 

 his death, with acute pain, and with a sense of hopeless bereavement — hopeless, 

 as regards the prospect of looking upon his like again. 



The following able obituary from the pen of an eminent scholar, and one inti- 

 mately acquainted with Dr. Bowditch and his history, appeared in the Boston Daily 

 Advertiser and Patriot of March 17, 1838, and we, without hesitation, adopt it, as 

 better and fuller than any thing which our more limited acquaintance with Dr. 

 Bowditch would enable us to prepare. We are happy, however, to learn that a 

 more ample biography will be written by the same able hand, and will appear in 

 the Memoirs of the American Academy of Boston. While waiting for this full 

 portrait of one of the most distinguished men of his age, we will venture only to 

 add, that from opportunities which we were so fortunate as to enjoy, of familiar 

 interviews with Dr. Bowditch, in the bosom of his amiable and happy family, we 

 were not less delighted with the warm and generous expression of his private affec- 

 tions, and the frank assuring impress of his manly manners, than we had been, 

 before knowing him, with the splendor of his public reputation. Of the latter, he 

 appeared to be almost the only person who was unconscious; and if he was great 

 to the world of mathematicians and astronomers, he was delightful in the hours and 

 scenes of the domestic and evening circle.* — En. 



It gives us pain to announce the decease of our distinguished townsman, Dr. 

 Bowditch, which took place yesterday, at 1 o'clock, after an illness of several 

 weeks. 



The death of this eminent man will be felt in America as a national loss. His 

 name was identified with the science of his native country; and our national char- 



* The President and faculty of Yale College, where Dr. Bowditch's character was 

 much honored, on hearing of his death, transmitted to his children, resolutions ex- 

 pressive of their high veneration for the deceased — of their deep sense of the loss 

 to the nation and the world, and of their sympathy with his bereaved family. 



