Obituary. 373 



:some mvi method oi" supporting or illustrating truths already 

 known, or by the aid of discoveries already made, to advance 

 to some new and more remote conclusion. 



" As might be expected, he was confident in his own 

 opinions, — but not impatient of contradiction ; he was al- 

 ways candid and ingenuous, — asserted his own views with- 

 out dogmatism, and defended them without obstinacy. His 

 deportment, on all occasions, was unassuming and modest, 

 marked with no pretension, and the farthest removed from 

 ostentation or display. If in the society of his friends, or 

 in more enlarged circles, he conversed on subjects connect- 

 ed with his peculiar pursuits, these were never topics of his 

 own selecting, but introduced by others. His studious and 

 retired habits may have given him among those who imper- 

 fectly knew him, the appearance of reserve; yet among his 

 iamiiiar acquaintance, his disposition seemed frank and open, 

 his affections warm, and he discovered those qualities which 

 are usually thought to prepare, in a high degree, those who 

 possess them, for social and domestic life. 



"As to the extent of his scientific and literary attainments; 

 the proofs he has given of eminence in mathematical and 

 physical knowledge, leave no room in this department for 

 doubt or hesitation. . Whoever has watched the progress of 

 his studies, or the course of his instruction, or has examin- 

 ed his communications to the public, will need no further 

 evidence of talents and acquisitions in his own peculiar prov- 

 ince, of the first order. But his researches, as before inti- 

 mated, were not confined to mathematics and physics. The 

 philosophy of the mind was likewise his favorite study. He 

 was familiarly acquainted with the writings of the most dis- 

 tinguished metaphysicians, and had examined with the 

 closest scrutiny, their various reasonings, speculations and 

 theories. If his knowledge of the exact sciences qualified 

 ]]im to pursue with uncommon advantage the evanescent and 

 less easily defined objects of intellectual plilosophy, — his 

 knowledge of the laws of the human mind, its capacity, 

 and the proper region for the exertion of its powers, was 

 no less useful in directing and regulating his physical inqui- 

 ries. This rare union of two kinds of knowledge so differ- 

 ent, and the want of which union has so often been attended 

 with injury to both, was considered by the friends of Pro- 

 fessor Fisher as constituting one of his chief excellencies, 



