ORATION OF PRESIDENT NOAH PORTER. 7 
ical analysis, through ever-ascending steps of adventurous speculation, up to the 
most gorgeous cloudlands of theory. Experiment, too, had never made such 
daring ventures, whether in the form of applications to art, or the determination 
of problems purely scientific. With every one of these onward movements, 
whether of theory or experiment. Professor Henry was in active sympathy. In many 
of the most important he was the leader of thought and act, as witness his place 
in the very first anticipation of the doctrine of correlation of forces; his prophetic 
experiments and suggestions in respect to the use of the telegraph in meteorolog- 
ical observations and the reports of astronomical discovery; his devices to render 
available the reports and essays, scattered over the scientific world, by system- 
atized bibliography ; the long-continued researches in respect to light and sound, 
which were incidental to his official experiments as a member of the light-house 
board; his comprehensive experiments in respect to the sustaining capacity of 
building stone, and his never-ceasing study of acoustics in every possible produc- 
tion, prolongation, and disturbance of sound, whether in his own parlor, in soli- 
tary walks, in fog or sunshine, or in travel by land or sea." 
Briefly alluding to the dark days of the war and the lofty bearing of Henry 
during that period, which lifted him above personal bitterness from any man, the 
orator dwelt on the singleness of purpose actuating the Secretary of the institution. 
That singleness of purpose lifted him above jealousy, envy, and even the idea of 
a reasonable compensation for his labors. He never directly or indirectly sought 
for place or honor, nor even asked for increase of pay. Continuing, the 
orator said : ■ 
" In the wars of theory against theory he was recognized as an upright media- 
tor, who thoroughly understood the criteria by which scientific truth can be estab- 
lished, and would impartially apply them. If political, or ethical, or theological 
traditions seemed to conflict with established scientific principles or facts, he 
calmly awaited the issue, and insisted that science must have its rights, whatever 
might be the consequence to any received ethical or theological interpretations. 
Though his own faith was fixed and fervent in respect to the leading Christian 
verities, he scorned, with all the energy of scientific integrity, to apply these con- 
victions as a test to any question that was properly scientific. It would have been 
strange in a man who was always learning something new, had he not modified 
his views of objective and practical Christian truth with the progress of his mind 
and his manhood, but he would never acknowledge any base compromise of senti- 
mentalism, or mysticism, or one-eyed dogmatism, with the processes or conclu- 
sions of his scientific thoughts. Within the domain of science proper he was a 
clear-eyed, impersonal, and uncompromising arbiter and judge. Theorists might 
complain, dogmatists might rage, zealots might bemoan, but not one of them 
would dare accuse the judge of an ignorant or partisan decision. 
For all these high and varied functions, in his high position. Professor Henry 
had one supreme advantage, in that he had not only studied and mastered so many 
of the sciences of nature, but that he made science itself, in its principles and 
processes, the subject of his profoundest reflection. We have abundant evidence 
