Page:A memoir of Lewis David von Schweinitz.djvu/27

18 had been excellent, and his spirits uniformly eheerfiil; but the various and increasing cares of his official station, with the sedentary employment of composing a dissertation on the affairs of his community, during which his usual excursions and exercise were omitted, wrought a visible change in the state of his health; a severe cough ensued, with other alarming symptoms,, which gave his friends just grounds for apprehension. From this time his health seemed gradually to decline. The want of his accustomed occupations in the open air also depressed his spirits, and produced a marked contrast to that buoyancy which had hitherto shed its influence on all around him.

A journey to the western states, undertaken in connection with his official duties, appeared, for a short time, to revive the energies of his frame. But though externally more active and cheerful, the deep working* of disease had undermined his system, and on the morning of the 8th of February 1834, being awakened at an early hour by a sensation of faintness, and when relieved by medical applications, again relapsing for a short time into a state of repose, he fell, at the age of 54 years, calmly and unconsciously into the arms of death.

A widow, and four sons at an age most needing a parent's counsel, survive to mourn his loss.

Such, gentlemen of the Academy, is a very inadequate view of the life of your lamented associate; a life of various, constant, unobtrusive usefulness.