24 Life and Character of Nathaniel Bowditch. 



gard, I should have been most happy to have made a similar 

 acknowledgment of my gratitude, by legacies to those literary 

 and charitable institutions for which that city has always been so 

 preeminently distinguished. And, in particular, it would have 

 given me pleasure to have noticed the Boston Marine Society, of 

 which I am a member, and the Boston Charitable Mechanic As- 

 sociation, which has placed my name on its small and select list 

 of honorary members ; since these institutions are of a similar 

 character to the Marine Societies in Salem, and have, for one of 

 their important objects, that of affording valuable aid to the des- 

 titute families of deceased members. But the pecuniary circum- 

 stances of my estate do not permit it." 



In delineating the character of Dr. Bowditch, it deserves to be 

 mentioned, first of all, that he was eminently a self-taught and 

 self-made man. He was the instructor of his own mind, and 

 the builder up of his own fame and fortunes. Whatever know- 

 ledge he possessed, — and we have seen that it was very great,^ — ■ 

 was of his own acquiring, the fruit of his solitary studies, with 

 but little, if any, assistance from abroad. Whatever eminence 

 he reached, in science or in life, was the product of his untiring 

 application and unremitting toil. From his youth up, he was a 

 pattern of industry, enterprise, and perseverance, suifering no diffi- 

 culties to discourage, no disappointments to dishearten him. 



Within a few years, a very interesting work has been published 

 in England, under the patronage of the Society for the Diffusion 

 of Useful Knowledge, entitled " The Pursuit of Knowledge un- 

 der Difficulties." Dr. Bowditch deserves a place in that work, if 

 any man does, and had he died before its appearance, he would, 

 unquestionably, like our countryman Franklin, have occupied a 

 prominent chapter. We sometimes hear persons say, how much 

 they would do, if they only had the means and the opportunities. 

 But almost any body can work with means and opportunities. 

 It is the privilege and characteristic of genius to work without 

 means, to be great in spite of them, to accomplish its object in 

 the face of obstacles and difficulties. 



It would be interesting and instructive, had we space for it, to 

 draw a parallel and contrast between the lives, characters and sci- 

 entific attainments of Franklin and Bowditch, unquestionably the 

 two greatest proficients in science that America has produced. 



