476 SCIENCE. 
ANDREW ATKINSON HUMPHREYS. 
AMERICAN science is again called to mourn 
the loss of one of its leaders, the friend and 
colleague of Bache and Henry. With him, as 
with them, administrative duties restricted and 
hampered individual investigation ; but he was 
able to accomplish enough in this field for last- 
ing fame. 
Andrew Atkinson Humphreys was born in 
Philadelphia on Noy. 2, 1810. His family was 
one of the oldest and most distinguished of 
Pennsylvania, represented in the first conti- 
nental congress, and eminent for two genera- 
tions in the corps of naval constructors. To 
the skill of his grandfather were due the designs 
on which were built the famous Constitution 
and her five sister-frigates, which carried the 
flag of the Republic so proudly in the war of 
1812. 
When between sixteen and seventeen years 
of age, the boy entered the military academy at 
West Point, then almost the only mathematical 
and scientific school in the country. He was 
graduated in 1831, in the same class with 
Henry Clay, jun., who fell so gallantly in the 
battle of Buena Vista; Professor Norton, late 
of Yale college; and several others eminent 
both in war and in peace. He first served 
in Florida as an officer in the second artil- 
lery ; but the climate so affected his health, 
that in 1836 he was forced to resign his com- 
mission. 
Two years later the corps of topographical 
engineers was re-organized as a distinct branch 
of the army, and Humphreys was appointed 
one of the first lieutenants. Among his earlier 
duties was to prepare a plan for extending 
and remodelling the Capitol at Washington ; 
and his design, in many of its features, was 
finally adopted. 
In 1844 he was assigned to the charge of 
the coast-survey office, under Professor Bache 
as superintendent ; and for five years he labored 
most assiduously and successfully to perfect 
the organization of this institution. His assist- 
ance was appreciated by his chief, who always 
remained a warm personal friend. 
In 1850 Capt. Humphreys was charged with 
the surveys and investigations, then inaugu- 
rated, to determine the best method of re- 
straining the floods of the Mississippi River, and 
of deepening the channels at the mouths. This 
work continued for ten years, and, even if he 
had done nothing else for science, would have 
placed him at the head of his profession. The 
hydraulics of rivers have been studied by emi- 
nent physicists for hundreds of years: but it 
[Vox III., No. 63. 
may safely be asserted that none among them 
displayed more skill in conducting investiga- 
tions, or more ability in discussing results ; 
while the size of the river, and the thorough- 
ness with which the work was executed, were 
without precedent in any former operations of 
like character. ) 
But this labor represented only a small part 
of the professional burden resting on Capt. 
Humphreys during those ten years of his life. 
He was also charged (1854) with the direction. 
of the surveys for selecting the best railroad- 
route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific 
Ocean, and with discussing and analyzing the 
results, —a work which he accomplished in a 
manner scarcely less admirable than that upon 
the Mississippi. He was also an active member 
of the Light-house board and of several impor- 
tant commissions. 
associated with him that there was no limit to 
the demands to be made upon him, or to his 
ability to meet them. His health suffered from ~ 
his intense application, but was quite restored | 
during the war. 
Gen. Humphreys’ military services need not 
be recounted here. They were of a distin- 
guished character, especially after Gettysburg. 
From that date he was either chief of staif 
of the Army of the Potomac, or in command of 
one of its army corps; and his brilliant reputa- 
tion as a scientific man was equalled by that 
acquired as a soldier. 
Shortly after the war he was called to the 
chief command of the corps of engineers and 
of the engineer department, with the rank of 
brigadier-general; and for thirteen years he 
filled this responsible position in a manner to 
win the respect of every one thrown in con- 
tact with him. In 1879 his name was placed 
upon the retired list of the army at his own 
request. 
With such a record, and at the age of over 
threescore years and ten, most persons would 
be content to rest on their laurels. Not so was 
Gen. Humphreys. His connection with the 
Army of the Potomac had been of a character 
to render him, of all men, the most fit to write 
its history. He undertook the task for the 
period after Gettysburg; and in two volumes 
of the ‘ Campaigns of the civil war,’ published 
by Scribner, he has left a military classic which 
will form the basis of future history. It is to be 
regretted that the limits as to size, of this — 
publication, rendered a degree of condensation 
necessary which has marred the work for any 
but a professional reader. 
Gen. Humphreys’ individual contributions 
to science, and his care to advance its interests, 
Indeed, it seemed to those. 
