organized Asylums. Visiting Europe for the first time, he gave his whole time to the one object of his mission, spending the day in visiting the institutions and the evenings in the preparation of his plans, giving little or no attention to other objects of interest which had so many attractions for his inquisitive and enlightened mind. The results of his labors have been presented to the public in various forms, partly in a Report to the Trustees of the Butler Hospital, partly in a discourse delivered before the members of the Massachusetts Medical Society at their annual meeting, and in a printed volume entitled "The Practical Method of Ventilating Buildings." Dr. Bell occupied an eminent position in relation to the jurisprudence of insanity; and in our courts of justice his opinions were often called for, and were received with entire confidence and respect. The best criterion of the justness of his professional reputation is to be found in the estimation in which he was held by the members of the medical profession, who trusted in his wisdom and honored him with their highest gifts. His last days were given to the country. In the early stage of the rebellion he offered his services, and was appointed surgeon of the 11th Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers. At the battle of Bull Run he distinguished himself, not only by his humane devotion to the sick and wounded, foes as well as friends, but by the timely aid he secured for many of the soldiers who were wandering about after the disastrous retreat, without direction, and suffering great privations. He was subsequently made Brigade-Surgeon, and served in General Hooker's division on the Lower Potomac, where, in the active discharge of his duties, he was attacked with inflammation of the pericardium, and died in camp on the 11th of February, 1862. His life was a beneficent one; and thousands in the community whose minds have been restored from disease to health will hold him in grateful remembrance; and yet others in coming years will reap the fruits of his religious devotion to the interests of benevolence and humanity. CORNELIUS CONWAY FELTON, LL. D. was born in West Newbury, Massachusetts, November 6, 1807. His boyhood was passed amid the privations incident to the embargo and the war with England, so ruinous to the maritime parts of the North. He was formed by nature for a scholar, and even in extreme childhood showed aptness for learning. But the means of his parents were very limited, and he was early obliged to depend wholly on himself. The boy was an epitome of the man. He was industrious, exceedingly rapid in acquirement, always the resort of his schoolmates for aid in difficult tasks, always giving assistance with cheerfulness and alacrity, never jealous, constantly improving himself and amassing knowledge of all kinds. Moreover, his delicacy of thought and conduct in early years was as remarkable as his other traits; and these peculiarities distinguished him through his whole life. Beside the common-school training in the districts where his father at different times resided, the entire period during which our associate obtained the advantage of schooling in the classics was just one year and nine months; and yet, when, prompted by his teacher, he sought to become a student of Harvard College, and offered himself for admission, his acquisitions, especially in the Greek and Latin classics, were far beyond the requirements of that institution, and, under the circumstances, quite astonishing. He entered College in 1823, and received the degree of A. B. in 1827, among the first scholars of his class. He was eminent in every branch of the collegiate studies: if superior to all others in any one respect, it was in the Greek language and in general philology. His mind seemed to seize a language with no painful effort in the mastery of its vocabulary or its structure, and his memory retained it with an iron grasp. For two years after leaving College Mr. Felton was employed in teaching school in Geneseo, New York. In 1829 he was appointed Latin Tutor in Harvard College, and was transferred to the Greek Tutorship in 1830. From his first appointment at Cambridge till his death, his whole life was identified with that institution. Nearly a generation of men have witnessed his untiring devotion as a teacher. In 1832 he was made College Professor of Greek; and in 1834 he succeeded Dr. Popkin as Eliot Professor of Greek Literature, which chair he filled with signal ability until the year 1860. He mastered the whole classic literature of Greece, and became imbued with the life and genius of her people in all the epochs of her eventful history. He was familiar with the works of all the erudite Germans who have wrought in the same rich mine, and his knowledge extended to other realms of science. He also became a deep student of the English language and literature, as well as of those of most European nations. Art also found in him a votary. He was evidently first won by its illustration of his favorite authors. But soon his mind recognized the creative genius of the artist as akin to that of the poet, and he woke OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: MAY 27, 1862. 9 to a perception of the more abstruse meaning of Art; then he became entirely fascinated with Grecian sculpture and architecture, and we find him discoursing on the union between Greek Art, Song, and Philosophy. He took an active part in the government of the College under four administrations, and was for several years, as Regent, the chief executive assistant of the President. But his interest was not entirely absorbed by his academic duties. He had time to give, and zealous services also, to the cause of education and science elsewhere. He was an active member of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and one of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. In these offices of honorable confidence his influence was widely felt. He was a ready and an eloquent writer, always prepared to uphold the cause of truth. In the latter years of his life he established a reputation also for his interesting popular addresses on many passing occasions which could have allowed but little preparation. But his tongue and pen were never more eloquent than when employed in the interests of Greek learning, and in describing the reawaking of Hellas. He twice visited Athens. Becoming deeply impressed by the institutions of that city and the learning of its scholars, he was full of hope for the future of Greece, and through her of Eastern Europe. He enjoyed the opportunity thus allowed of knowing her men of letters and her statesmen; and, bearing with him their lasting friendship, he returned with the desire of proving to others his own convictions of the importance of modern Greek civilization and literature. Mr. Felton's published writings have been already enumerated in print. They consist chiefly of editions of the Greek Classics, of Homer, the Agamemnon of Eschylus, the Panegyricus of Isocrates, the Clouds and the Birds of Aristophanes, and compilations for the use of advanced classical students. He also published an edition of Smith's History of Greece, adding a continuation from the Roman Conquest down to the year 1844. His contributions to Reviews on a variety of subjects are numerous and able. Besides the lectures pertaining to his professorship, he also delivered four courses upon Greek Literature before the Lowell Institute in Boston, and others at the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. Nor does this enumeration fully represent the sum of his literary labors. peculiarity of his mature life. applied to him, and was sure 2 VOL. VI. The trait of his childhood remained a Every one who needed literary aid to receive a willing response. The 10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY amount of these generous contributions to the works of other writers can never be specified. In his educational works, as well as in the class-room, President Felton always aimed to develop before his pupils the prevailing thought of the author, and to lead them to appreciate its beauty or its grandeur. If they were reading an oration of Demosthenes, he rather helped them to perceive the compact perfection of the whole design, than lingered upon the phrases. All appliances of historical, archæological and critical knowledge were sought to help this great object. And yet the notes to his editions contain enough of minute philological remark, showing an appreciation of those points of discussion which the profoundest grammarians have dwelt on. His mirthful nature, also, another attractive feature of his mind,- caught every merry allusion and sparkled in its light, adding a grace to the wit it reflected. As he performed the prime duty of a teacher, that of securing his own growth while cultivating others, his teaching became continually more successful; and although his kindly nature led him to be lenient to the short-comings of his pupils, and to overlook their devices, yet the scholarly men of every class felt, as they passed under his care, that they were in contact with a master mind. Particularly has this development been apparent since his European tours in 1853 - 4 and in 1858. With the Odyssey before him, he then traced the Greek headlands and the islands of the Ægean, and learned to interpret the author by this commentary. Iliad in hand, he wandered over the Troad, and believed in Homer. At Athens he demonstrated to sceptics the identity of the Pnyx; and, standing on its Bema, looked towards the Acropolis and recalled the thunder-words of the great orator. Wandering to the remains of the Dionysiac Theatre, he was in imagination present at the representation of the Prometheus. He climbed the steps of the Propylæa, and, standing amid the ruined glories of the Parthenon, looked down on the waters of the Saronic, and away to the blue heights of the Peloponnesus, and read the whole Grecian history in the scene. He felt too the consecration of these monuments in the holier reminiscences of Mars Hill. The vivid pictures thus obtained, with the wider range of thought received from intercourse with the highly cultivated minds he encountered wherever he travelled, so wrought upon his plastic nature, that he seemed almost a new man, so fed and rekindled was his enthusiasm for his favorite studies, so felt was his assured position among the world's scholars, and so extended were his sympathies with everything embraced in human science. OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: MAY 27, 1862. 11 Thus developed, and thus prepared by academic life for the office, he succeeded to the presidency of the University in 1860. He entered on his new duties with the most conscientious determination to perform its functions with a sole regard to the best interests of learning and the true glory of religion. His aim was to bring about some wholesome reforms, and to foster a manly public sentiment among the students in favor of mental culture; to withdraw the young men from the pursuit of pleasure; to bring them more into sympathy with their teachers; to make the college less a resort of those who wish to amuse themselves, and more a place for vigorous training. In this endeavor he had achieved some measure of success; and, sustained by public opinion, had his life been spared, he would doubtless have seen his wishes fully realized. Disease had already insidiously approached him before he entered on this new office, the duties of which, so unremitting and engrossing, with such painful outlay of sympathy, evidently aggravated an organic derangement of the heart. He was advised to drop his cares and give himself rest during the vacation of the College, and he went to visit his brother near Philadelphia. There, early in February last, he was seized with more aggravated symptoms, and lingered till the 26th of that month, when, surrounded by his brothers, sisters, and wife, exhibiting all the amenities of his nature, he closed his eyes on this world, to explore the glories of the next, leaving a void here, and wherever his talents and character could be appreciated, never to be filled. His age was 54 years 3 months and 20 days. Greece speaks by her living representative from the ranks of the Academy in the following epitaphion, in the language that our brother loved so well: Ενθάδε ἡ γῆ κατακαλύπτει τοῦ ἐν Κανταβριγία Αρβαρδίου Συστήματος Εβίω ἔτη Ν Δ, μῆνας Γ, ἡμέρας Κ. Μετήλλαξε μηνός Φεβρουαρίου 15, ἔτους ΑΩΞΒ. Οἴχεαι εἰς Αίδαο, φίλων πολὺ φίλτατε Φέλτων, |