Page:A memoir of Lewis David von Schweinitz.djvu/12



the small number of native Americans, who had thirty years ago begun to make natural history an object of deep and curious research, is the name of one whose memory may, upon various grounds, claim the respect and veneration of all the admirers of scientific excellence. It is not less a dictate of the head, than an impulse of the heart, to honour those who have stood forth as the leaders in new, useful, and difficult enterprizes. Even persons who themselves never enter the same career, may still participate largely in the sentiment of gratitude for those efforts which have had in view, the improvement of society by additions to its treasures of knowledge. But the obligation to respect, is felt with a double force by those whose pursuits are of a character congenial with that of the individual, who has thus made himself a pioneer in a laudable undertaking. And if to this common bond be added that of personal intercourse and intimacy, and a reception of great and lasting benefits from his labours and his liberality, it must be obvious that reason, feeling, and duty, alike demand the grateful remembrance of one who has