fervent piety; it influenced all his conduct from his youth. He was an Elder of the Scotch Presbyterian Church nearly half a century.

ROBERT M. PATTERSON, M.D.

DR. PATTERSON was born in Philadelphia, and was the son of Robert Patterson, at one time President of the American Philosophical Society.

On completing his education as a chemist under Sir Humphry Davy, he returned, in 1812, to his native country, and soon after was elected Professor of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Mathematics, in the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1828, he accepted a Professorship in the University of Virginia, where he remained until 1835, when he was appointed Director of the United States Mint at Philadelphia, which office he held until 1853, when his declining health induced him to resign.

Dr. Patterson was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1809, in his twenty-second year, at an earlier age than any person previously admitted. He was a most active participant in the labors of the Society, and contributed largely, both by oral and written communications, to the interest of its proceedings. He delivered, May 25th, 1843, while Vice-President, a discourse on the early history of the American Philosophical Society, pronounced, by appointment of the Society, at the celebration of its hundredth anniversary. It closes with the reorganization of the association, March 5, 1779. Dr. R. M. Patterson was elected President of the Society in 1849. He died in Philadelphia, September 5th, 1854, aged sixty-eight years. He married a daughter of the late Thomas Leiper.

HENRY S. PATTERSON, M.D.

THE prescribed limits of this article will allow but a very imperfect notice of its subject; and hence, it does not pretend to narrate fully the personal history or portray the character of one whose versatility of genius and extensive range of observation brought him in contact so much with science, literature, and art; whose high personal character distinguished him, during his too brief life, as a man of note in his time; and caused his early death to be mourned by so many, who greatly loved and respected him.

Dr. Henry Stuart Patterson was born in the city of Philadelphia, on 15th August, 1815. His father, Mr. John Patterson, a much-respected citizen and merchant of Philadelphia, was a native of the North of Ireland, who came to this country in the closing year of the last century, and here married a daughter of Colonel Stuart, of the Revolutionary Army. The subject of our notice was the youngest child, a sensitive, gentle, and studious boy in school; elsewhere he entered upon boyish pursuits and recreations with the earnestness which always marked his efforts in any direction.

The usual preparatory instruction, and, afterward, the best mathematical and classical schools, afforded him his opportunities and incentive to study. Very early in life, by his close application, he laid the strong foundations on which afterward he built his accurate and extensive learning. The study and practice of medicine was his early and decided choice, and this he was permitted to pursue.

A graduate of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, and a private student of the late venerable and eminent Dr. Joseph Parrish, with a most diligent use of the opportunities thus afforded he came forth, in every proper sense, the "good physician,” and commenced the practice of his noble art in the city of his birth.

In 1839, he was appointed one of the Resident Physicians of the Philadelphia Almshouse, where he remained two years, when he

relinquished that position, and again entered upon general practice, and was soon after appointed Physician to the Philadelphia Dispensary.

In November, 1843, upon the reorganization of the Faculty of the Medical Department of Pennsylvania College, the chair of Materia Medica in that institution was accepted by him; and, during the first year, he performed the duties of the chair of Chemistry also.

In 1846, he was appointed Physician-in-chief to the Philadelphia Almshouse, Blockley, the duties of which he performed during two years with great industry and success, at the same time continuing his medical lectures, and contributing largely to the medical and general literature of the day. His continued labors made a sensible impression on the condition of his health; and, in 1852, he sought relief and restoration by a voyage to Europe. He was received in Great Britain and on the Continent by medical and literary men with a cordial welcome. On his return, in the autumn of that year, it was observed, with painful solicitude, by his family and friends, that his disease had alarmingly progressed, and, as a last hope, in the winter of 1852 and 1853, he visited Georgia and Florida, and there remained until the following spring. The next summer he passed with his family on Chestnut Hill, near Philadelphia, but the repose of his quiet life in that beautiful region, and the affectionate care of his family and friends, failed to arrest the progress of the fatal disease, and he returned to his home in the city to take to his bed, where he remained until his death, in April, 1854, a period of confinement of more than six months. It was during this last sickness, and near its close, he wrote his last literary composition, the admirable "Biography of Dr. Samuel G. Morton." It was written with pencils on slips of paper, attached to a small piece of wood, and so adjusted as to enable him to write without taking a sitting posture, or lifting his head from the pillow, which he was unable to do. It was most affecting to behold the dying eulogizing the dead. This memoir of Dr. Morton closes with this sentence, the last he ever wrote: "I conclude this notice, the preparation of which has been to me a labor of love, and the solace for a season of a bed of suffering."

In attempting to make a proper estimate of Dr. Patterson it is