IS70 ] bUi [Patterson. 



remains the same. Other improvements whicli he introduced, were the 

 so-called milling machine, for raising the edge of the planchet ; the steam 

 engines, small and large ; the automatic or retroactive return of the draw- 

 bench ; and, in particular, the scales for the weighing of gold and silver. 

 These last are models of simple mechanism and nice accuracy. So, in fact, 

 was all of Mr. Peale's work. And we may add, that he brought to all 

 the eye of an artist. It was not enough that a machine should be effec- 

 tive ; it must also be graceful and attractive. " Nihil tetigit quod uon 

 ornavit." But I cannot enter at large into details of his labors at the 

 mint. I simply add my conviction, (which I know to have been that of 

 the revered Director already named, under whose administration the work 

 was accomplished,"^) that without Franklin Peale, the most of that which 

 attracts the admiration of the visitor to the coining department of the 

 Mint would have been wanting. The mark of his inventive genius is here 

 conspicuous, and I have often thought, as I passed through that part of 

 the establishment, how appropriately might be there ascribed to his honor, 

 the words, " Si monumentum requiris, circumspice." But a more com- 

 petent judge than myself, thoroughly qualified by long experience in mint 

 aftairs, has spoken to this point in words which I take the liberty to quote: 

 " It has been my privilege (he says,) to visit the mints of London and 

 Paris, and to witness their inferiority in their mechanical arrangements, 

 to the Mint in Philadelphia. The superiority of our Mint is most mani- 

 fest in just those points where his hand has touched, and when Ameri- 

 cans visiting the mints of Europe, feel a pride in remembering the supe- 

 riority of their own, they ought to know that to the genius and taste of 

 Franklin Peale are they mainly indebted for it. At the mints of both 

 Paris and London, he was well known and inquired for with interest." 



Mr. Peale's connection with the Mint ceased in December, 1854, and he 

 retired for some time from all public employment. In 18G4, he was elect- 

 ed President of the Hazleton Coal and Rail Road Company, in the direc- 

 tion of which he had been for many years an active member. He continued 

 in this office until 18G7, when he resigned, and finally closed his long 

 career of active business life. 



I have thus hastily sketched the professional life of Mr. Peale, by which 

 his public reputation was established ; but any notice of his character 

 would be far from complete which left out what we may call its aesthetic 

 side, including those varied accomplishments and elegant tastes, which 

 made him one of the most interesting of men. 



We have already referred to the artistic hand which he brought to his 

 mechanical work. This was a characteristic naturally growing out of his 

 strong love and devotion to art. In the society in which he was brought u^^, 

 — his father and brother eminent as painters, — he came to a knowledge 

 of the subject rare among amateurs. He was for many years a member 

 of the Academy of Fine Arts, which his father had been instrumental in 

 establishing, and for the last fifteen years of his life, one of the Board of 

 Directors, and a member of its most important committees. We are told 



*Dr. Robert M, Patterson, the father of the writer, and late President of tliis Society. 



