JOURNAL OF PEOCEEDINGS. 153 



life of tlie nation was saved. I knew less personally of hiin in judicial 

 life, but I think it is known and well understood through all the land 

 that he wore the judicial ermine with honor and untarnished ; that he 

 commanded the respect due to his judicial and legal learning, and that 

 his decisions comported well with those of the eminent men who had 

 occujiled the same exalted position, and was a worthy successor of those 

 who preceded him. 



On motion of General Sherman, the resolutions were unanimously 

 adopted. 



Mr. Hamlin, from the same committee, also reported the following 

 resolutions : 



Resolved, That the Board of Eegents of the Smithsonian Institution 

 record on the minutes of their proceedings their high appreciation of 

 the character and labors of their lamented associate, Louis Agassiz, and 

 the expression of their profound sorrow on account of his unexpected 

 death, in the full exercise of his power, and amidst his unparalleled use- 

 fulness. 



Resolved, That Professor Agassiz, by the attraction which he exerted 

 on all who came under the magical influence of his genial temperament 

 and generous sympathies, nobly advocated the claims of science to high 

 popular estimation, private endowments, and liberal public patronage. 



Resolved, That as an instructor in his adopted country, he introduced 

 methods of study and directed attention to fields of research in natural 

 history far more elevated than those which had been previously in use 5 

 that as an original investigator he made additions to human knowledge 

 which do honor to the science of the nineteenth century, and associate 

 his name with those of the prominent benefactors of his race. 



Resolved, That in the death of Professor Agassiz, the Smithsonian 

 Institution has lost a wise adviser in its scientific operations, a power- 

 ful supporter of its policy in regard to original research, and an influ- 

 ential friend, ready at all times to advocate its claims on Congress for 

 the independent support of a national museum. 



Resolved, That the Board of Eegents deeply sympathize with the 

 family of the deceased, on account of their sad bereavement, and that a 

 copy of these resolutions be transmitted to them. 



Dr. Parker spoke as follows : 



Mr. Chancellor : It may seem presumptuous in me to rise to move 

 the adoption of the resolutions submitted. 



To calculate the distance and magnitude of the sun, requires an as- 

 tronomer, and to analyze its chemical properties is the province of the 

 spectroscopist, but multitudes who are neither astronomers nor spectro- 

 scopists can delight in the revelations which are made in regard to 

 that luminary. 



I am not a scientist 5 still, I can appreciate, in some degree, the labors 

 of one who shone a star of the first magnitudem the firmament of science ! 



