553 



which the most important acts of human history have been per- 

 formed, he was seized with fever, and expired in Jerusalem. 



The position which Dr. Coulter occupied in this Academy, in 

 our University, and in science generally, rendered it the duty of the 

 Council to prepare, with more than ordinary care, a sketch of his life 

 and labours, such as might not be derogatory to his fame ; and, hap- 

 pily, the task was undertaken by one who, from long acquaintance 

 and intimate friendship with the deceased, was enabled to speak mi- 

 nutely of his personal career; and whose own extensive and profound 

 acquaintance with almost every department of knowledge, which this 

 Academy has had so often occasion to admire, enabled him to judge 

 correctly of the aspects in which the labours of Doctor Coulter 

 should be placed. The following biography of Doctor Coulter has 

 been drawn up for this Report by the Rev. Dr. Robinson. 



" It is an old saying, that science has its martyrs as well as reli- 

 gion ; we may add that it has its Forlorn-hope as well as war, urged 

 to the adventure by loftier and nobler impulses, encountering in its 

 pursuit even a greater amount of suffering and danger; but too often 

 unnoticed and unrewarded. Its heroism is of too high an order to 

 be appreciated by vulgar minds ; the wise and good, who alone value 

 it, are comparatively few and powerless, and the triumphs which it 

 achieves are not in unison with the evil tendencies and passions 

 which unhappily predominate among mankind. Therefore it finds, 

 in the Present, neglect, perhaps scorn or contemptuous pity of the 

 folly which wasted on such unprofitable pursuits the powers that, if 

 otherwise directed, might have commanded wealth, rank, and power. 

 But the Present ere long becomes the Past ; all of its glittering ar- 

 ray which is not based on the eternal and immutable principles of 

 virtue and truth moulders to dust ; the stream of time in its flow 

 washes all that is earthy from the ruin, and leaves in imperishable 

 brightness the grains of gold and gem which it contained, the trea- 

 sure of the Future. In this sacrifice of self to science, few have sur- 

 passed the associate, whose loss, during the last year, it is my painful 

 duty to announce to you ; and a brief notice of his history may 

 therefore be permitted*. 



" Thomas Coulter was born in 1793, near Dundalk. His parents 

 died during his childhood, but the loss was in part supplied by the 



