In delineating the character of Dr. Bowditch, it deserves to be mentioned, first of all, that he was eminently a self-taught and self-made man. He was the instructer of his own mind, and the builder up of his own fame and fortunes. Whatever knowledge he possessed, and we have seen that it was very great,—was .

to it; but he believed and said that the circulation of the books would make the library ten times more useful, and he persevered till he accomplished the measure. It was always a favorite object with Dr. Bowditch to render books easily accessible to those who wanted them, and could make a good use of them. He doubtless remembered the difficulties under which he labored in early life for want of books, and was disposed to obtain for others the advantages which had been extended to himself. He was Trustee of the Athenæum from Jan. 2, 1826, to Dec. 4, 1833.

Immediately after his election as Trustee, Dr. Bowditch, perceiving the paucity and poverty of the scientific department of the library, which might all be put into one small compartment,-" dum tota domus rhedâ componitur unâ,"—declared that “it was too bad, and a disgrace to the institution and to Boston." He accordingly set about supplying the deficiency, by collecting subscriptions for this express purpose. Col. T. H. Perkins, one of nature's noblemen, whose monument is "The Institution for the Blind," gave $500, his brother James the same amount, Dr. Bowditch himself $250, and other gentlemen $100, among whom should be mentioned the subscribers to "The Scientific Library." With this sum were purchased the Transactions of the Royal Societies of London, Dublin and Edinburgh, of the French Academies and Institute, of the Academies of Berlin, Göttingen, St. Petersburg, Turin, Lisbon, Madrid, Stockholm, and Copenhagen; forming, as Dr. Bowditch once told the librarian, "the most extensive and complete collection of philosophical and scientific works on this continent."

Dr. Bowditch took a deep and active interest in the "Boston Mechanics' Institution," which was established in 1826, and of which he was elected the first President, January 12, 1827. In the winter of 1828,

of his own acquiring, the fruit of his solitary studies, with but little, if any, assistance from abroad. Whatever eminence he reached, in science or in life, was the product of his untiring application and unremitting toil. From his youth up, he was a pattern of industry, enterprise and perseverance, suffering no difficulties to discourage, no disappointments to dishearten him.

more than a thousand dollars were subscribed for the purchase of apparatus, chiefly through his influence with his friends, and he headed the list with the sum of one hundred dollars. It is an important fact, that the mode of communicating instruction by popular lectures, now universal, was first introduced in this community by the Boston Mechanics' Institution, and chiefly by the exertions of the mechanics of this city. Dr. Bowditch resigned the Presidency April 27, 1829, and on May 14, he was elected first honorary member of the institution.

Dr. Bowditch was also an honorary member of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, having been elected on the 5th of February, 1828. On the 3d of April last, a Eulogy on their departed associate was pronounced before that body by the author of this Discourse, on which day the flags of all the shipping in the port were hauled to half-mast by direction of the Boston Marine Society, of which he was likewise a regular member, having been admitted on the 2d of March, 1830. His sense of the honor thus conferred on him by these elections, and his affectionate regard for these Societies, will be best seen by the following extract from his Will:

"And, in respect to Boston, the home of my adoption, where, as a stranger, I met with welcome, and where I have ever continued to receive constantly increasing proofs of kindness and regard, I should have been most happy to have made a similar acknowledgment of my gratitude by legacies to those literary and charitable institutions for which that city has always been so preeminently distinguished. And, in particular, it would have given me pleasure to have noticed the Boston Marine Society, of which I am a member, and the Boston Charitable

Within a few years a very interesting work has been published in England, under the patronage of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, entitled "The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties." Dr. Bowditch deserves a place in that work, if any man does, and had he died before its appearance, he would unquestionably, like our countryman Franklin,* have occupied a prominent chapter. We sometimes hear persons say, how much they would do if they only had the means and the opportunities. But almost any body can work with means and opportunities. It is the privilege and characteristic of genius to work without means, to be great in spite of them, to accomplish its object in the face of obstacles and difficulties.

Mechanic Association, which has placed my name on its small and select list of honorary members; since these institutions are of a similar character to the Marine Societies in Salem, and have, for one of their important objects, that of affording valuable aid to the destitute families of deceased members. But the pecuniary circumstances of my estate do not permit it."

* It would be interesting and instructive to draw a parallel and contrast between the lives, characters and scientific attainments of Franklin and Bowditch, unquestionably the two greatest proficients in science that America has produced. Both rose from obscure situations in humble life, and from the straits of poverty. Both left school at the age of ten years, to assist their fathers in their shops. Both had an early and passionate love of reading, and the vigils of both often "prevented the morning." Both had the same habits of industry, perseverance and temperance. The contrast between their characters would be still more striking than the resemblance. But I cannot go on now. I may resume this topic hereafter.

It was my good fortune, some years since, in one of those familiar interviews with him in his own house with which I was favored,—and which those who have once enjoyed them will never forget,-to hear him narrate, in detail, a history of his early life. From that day to this I have never ceased to regret that, on my return home, I did not instantly put it down upon paper, for the refreshment of my own memory, and for the benefit of others. At this distance of time, I can recollect but a few, the most striking, particulars; the rest have faded away and are lost. I remember, however, very distinctly, his relating the circumstance which led him to take an interest in the higher branches of mathematical science. After mentioning his going to sea at an early age, he told me that, in the intervals of his voyages, he endeavored, by himself, to pick up a little knowledge of navigation, and, as preparatory to that, to acquire the elements of geometry. It so happened, that an elder brother of his, who likewise followed the sea, was then attending an evening school for the same purpose. On returning home one evening, he informed him that the master had got a new way of doing sums and working questions; for, instead of the numerical figures commonly used in arithmetic, he employed the letters of the alphabet. This novelty excited the curiosity of the youthful navigator, and he questioned his brother very closely about the matter; who, however, did not seem to understand much about the process, and could not tell how the thing was done. But the

master, he said, had a book, which told all about it. This served to inflame his curiosity; and he asked his brother whether he could not borrow the book of the master and bring it home, so that he might get a sight at it. (It should be remembered that, at this time, mathematical books of all sorts were scarce in this country. In the present multitude of elementary works on the subject, we can hardly conceive of the dearth that then prevailed). The book was obtained. It was the first glance that he had ever had at algebra. "And that night," said he, "I did not close my eyes." He read it, and read it again, and mastered its contents, and copied it out from beginning to end. Subsequently he got hold of a volume of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, which he treated pretty much in the same summary way, making a very full and minute abstract of all the mathematical papers contained in it; and this course he pursued with the whole of that voluminous work. He was too poor to purchase books, and this was the only mode of getting at their results, and having them constantly at hand for consultation. These manuscripts, written in his small, neat hand, and filling several folio volumes, are now in his library, and, in my opinion, are the most curious and precious part of that large and valuable collection.

I have more than once heard him speak in the most grateful manner, and he repeated it the last time that I saw him,-of the kindness of those friends in Salem who aided him in his early studies by the loan