INCKEASE A. LAPHAM, LL, I). 265 



My first acq^nalnlance with Dr. Lnphara was in 1846, when one morning there 

 landed from the steamer Suhana a small man with a huge collecting box hanging at 

 his side. 



lie came from Milwaukee and intended returning on foot along tlie lake-shore 

 in order to collect iilants and shells, no easy journey, encumbered, as he soon 

 ■would be, with a well filled specimen l.ox lie spoke lightly of the undertaking, 

 saying he had performed similar f.-ats before Truly where the heart is in the woik 

 and the mind is fully occupied, labor becomes mere play, and what otherwise 

 would seem drudgery is performed wilh ease and pleasure. 



In after years we were often together, studying the mounds, quarries, forest trees 

 €tc., near Eaciiie, and my first impressions of his energy, perseverance, enthusiasm, 

 accuracy and extent of information were all deepened by our subsequent meetings. 



ne was a quiet unassuming gentleman, benevolent and most Iiospltable, as both 

 strangers and friends can abundantly testify. He had not the advantages of com- 

 manding presence, and was not gifted in public speaking, and being modest to a 

 f luit, always inclined to underrate iiis own abilities and labors, he often did not re- 

 ceive that recognition which his knowledge demanded and which would liave been 

 Cjuickly yielded had he possessed more self-assertion or a more combative temper- 

 ament. Yet, his hight could not be hidden, though he succeeded .sometimes in 

 shadowin'j it, and he soon became the authority on all scientific suiijects, and v/as 

 often appealed to from city, state and country for information which he alone could 

 furnisli. 



His politeness and patience under the inQlctiin of ignorant question-a-^kers who 

 often trespassed upon his valuable lime with matters of little importance, and his 

 rule of always answering letters asking information, no matter how trifling, show his 

 kind heartedness and unselfislmess. 



No one could doubt his industry who saw his large, valuable, and well used li- 

 brary, and his extensive and systemitically arranged collection of minerals, fossils, 

 shells and antiquities; or who examined iiis Herbarium of three thousand specr- 

 men.s — the finest in the Northwest — and then remembered in connection with all 

 this his work in other directions. His idea of rest was characteri.stically shown by 

 Iiis once cataloguing my hundreds of insects for future use in some publication, at 

 a time v/hen he visited me under his physicians' orders to take a needed rest and 

 abstain from business. 



He was no politician and never sought office. Such offices as he held sought him. 



Among the many services he lias rendered to science not the least, is his work in 

 establishing the Signal Service, which has already worked such good in .saving 

 wealth and precious lives. As his connection with this enterprise seems to have 

 been enveloped in doubt with some, I wrote to Prof. Henry, Secretary of tlie Smith- 

 sonian for information. In reply I received the following: 



" The acticm of Congress in securing the Signal Service was due to the immediate 

 exertions of Dr. Lapham through the member of Congress from his district. Gen. 

 Payne, in setting forth the advantage of the .system in the commen ial interest of the 

 Great Lakes." So this matter is settled as Prof. Henry Ls the end of tbe law in 

 meteorological afTairs, 



"Was Lapham a self-made man? 



