Annual Address. 



13 



years, but with his noble form yet erect — his dome-like 

 head just whitening with advancing years — and with that 

 calm, benignant and yet intellectual look that still lives in 

 Inman's admirable portrait — where the shadows of com- 

 ing age have just touched the lines of thought and of " old 

 experience/' and mellowed them into the serene and gen- 

 tle aspect of wisdom. Beside him sat the young secretary, 

 Dr. Theodric Romeyn Beck, already giving promise of that 

 career of usefulness which has made his name everywhere 

 known and honored in the annals of science. There too was 

 Dr. James Low, gay and vivacious in manner, eminent as a 

 physician, and one who had enjoyed the rare advantage, 

 at that day, of having perfected his medical education in 

 Europe. I remember his exhibiting the crystals of some 

 salt, as the result of some recent chemical experiments in 

 which he had been engaged, and which called forth inquiries 

 and remarks from Dr. Beck, Dr. Jonathan Eights, Charles 

 R. Webster and others. There was also exhibited the 

 model of a bridge which the inventor had presented for 

 the examination and opinion of the society. The examina- 

 tion of plans and inventions thus submitted was one of 

 the most valuable services rendered by the society ; the 

 scientific and mechanical knowledge of such men as 

 DeWitt and his associates often enabling them to point 

 out to an inventor a defect in his invention, or perhaps to 

 show him that, in what was most valuable, he had been 

 already anticipated. It may also be proper that I should 

 mention, as illustrating the comparative habits of that day 

 and of our own, that when the formal business of the 

 evening was over, the members gathered socially around 

 the large stove and refreshed themselves with crackers, 

 cheese and ale, while we seek the same solace in buttered 

 biscuits, tea and coffee. 



Without detaining you with further details, I have 

 sought to give you some impressions of the great work 



