SIMON NEWCOMB. 
161 
No doubt this faith sustained him in the physical trials 
which during his latter years he had to undergo, among 
them the malady in his leg, which for months entailed acute 
suffering and which, not yielding even to an operation, was 
finally only bullied into submission. 1 use the term of the 
prescription itself, but only those who have tried such treat- 
ment for such a malady can estimate the heroism which it 
implied. He undertook it and carried it to success, unmur- 
muring, so far as we could see, and even humorously. 
And that faith must peculiarly have sustained him to the 
triumphant heroism of his last days, when, knowing his end 
near, his opportunity for service ebbing, he persisted still in 
giving the finishing touches to the work which was his last 
great contribution to science. For, to the several traits which 
alone of many I must content myself with emphasizing — 
to the spacious yet consistent mind, to the deep yet clear 
understanding, to the patient will, to the simple, modest, 
lucid, affectionate nature — to all these add one which com- 
prehended and amplified all — Sincerity. I mean that word 
and that trait to the full measure of it, and, as it was not 
diminished in him, so I will not diminish it by either elab- 
oration or paraphrase. Its expression was in every personal 
relation of which I saw evidence, but it was also, of course, 
profoundly in his work itself : sincerity, and loyalty. At its 
close he might surely say, with Sir John Herschel: 
“To thee, fair Science, long and early loved, 
Hath been of old my open homage paid ; 
Nor false, nor recreant have I ever proved, 
Nor grudged the gift upon thy altar laid.” 
