JMiscellanies. 205 
nature could not be less systematic and less interesting in her arrange- 
ment of living things, than in the inanimate creation ; and he was thus 
led to the study of Zoology. He was also a practical Botanist, and 
found health and contentment in the cultivation of plants. His mi- 
nute observations of philosophical facts have been, in various ways, 
manifested in the pages of the American Journal of Science, a work 
in which he ever delighted, and to which he felt himself indebted for 
much of that love of science, and those acquirements which enabled 
him to endure, with cheerfulness, a misfortune by which he was in a 
measure cut off from the social enjoyments of life. It is a great thing 
for a man who has been active in business, to withdraw from those 
scenes in which his mind was stimulated to constant effort, to see the 
place he has filled occupied by others, and to feel that the world can 
move on without him; but this condition is incident to human na- 
ture. Fortunate then are those who, at such a period, can, like him 
who is the subject of this sketch, find in the contemplation of the works 
of God, a resource against ennui, and a security against bitter and un- 
availing regrets. Avs EL Tau 
We are indebted for the above notice, to the pen of a lady, well 
known and much respected in this country. Gen. Field we knew 
only as a correspondent, but he was a much valued one, and a steady 
friend to this Journal. We sincerely condole with his friends and 
his country.—Eb. 
4. The Rotating Armatures, by T’. Edmondson, Jr., Baltimore. 
This instrument is 
intended to produce N” 
the rotation of a set of Nz 
armatures, by causing ry 
a current of galvanism \a 
to pass, at certain times, , 
through anelectro-mag- | 
net, placed near the cir- 
cle described by their 
revolution. Thearma- 
tures are attraeted by 
the induced magnetism 
as they approach the SS 
faces of the electro-magnet, and by the arrangement of the instru- 
ment, the current of galvanism is suspended, and of course the indu- 
; : 
ns 
us 
‘ 
: 
N 
N 
