In memory of Henry Coit Perkins, of Newburyport, Mass., 1873

IN

MEMORY OF

HENRY COIT PERKINS,

OF

NEWBURYPORT, MASS.,
1873.

IN

MEMORY OF

HENRY COIT PERKINS,

OF

NEWBURYPORT, MASS.,

1873.

"

FROM THE

HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTE,
VOL. xir.

PRINTED AT THE SALEM PRESS.

SERVICES

IN memory of the late HENRY COIT PERKINS, M.D., were
held Sept. 11, 1873, in the Whitefield Church, Newburyport,
under the auspices of the Essex Institute, of which the de-
ceased was a member.

The order of the service was as follows : —

1. Hymn. — "The spacious firmament on high."

2. Reading of Scripture and Prayer, by Rev. R. Campbell.

3. Singing. — " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."

4. Address by Rev. S. J. Spalding, D.D.

5. Singing. — "God who madest earth and heaven."

6. Benediction.

The singing was by a quartette under the direction of Mr.
Wm. P. Dodge.

^
Library.

®f California-

MEMOIR

OF

HENRY COIT PERKINS,

BY

SAMUEL J. SPALDING.

[READ THURSDAY, SEPT., 11, 1873.]

SOME few years since, while sitting with our friend,
Dr. Perkins, our conversation turned on the great ad-
vances made during the last quarter of a century in all
departments of physical science. He was led to speak
of his own personal interest and work in the same direc-
tion, and of the satisfaction and pleasure he had derived
from these side studies of his professional life, as he was
accustomed to call them. His account seemed to me of
so much value, especially as showing how much could be
accomplished by concentration of purpose and a wise use
of opportunities, that I ventured to ask him to commit
the same to writing.

It is to the brief autobiographical sketch, written shortly
after that conversation, that I am indebted for most of
the facts respecting Dr. Perkins, which I shall give you
to-day.

In this sketch he speaks of his ancestors as

i

to the family of Perkins in Topsfield. His own imme-
diate ancestors were from Topstield, but remotely from
Ipswich.

The Perkins family of Topsfield comprises the descend-
ants of Rev. William Perkins, of whom a sketch is
given in the July No. of the 10th Vol. of the "Hist, and
Gen. Register."

The Ipswich family comprises the descendants of John
Perkins the elder, as he is called in the Records, of whom
a sketch is given in the same No. and Vol. of the Reg-
ister.

"He was born in Newent (as supposed) in Glouces-
tershire, England, in 1590. He embarked with his wife
and family for America, Dec. 1, 1630, at Bristol. England,
and arrived at Boston, Feb. 5, 16-31, after a 'very tem-
pestuous voyage.' They came over in the ship Lyon,
Capt. Wm. Pearce ; and the famous Roger Williams was
one of their fellow-passengers. At this time their young-
est child was about seven, and their oldest seventeen
years. On the 18th of the following May (1631) he
was admitted freeman. He remained in Boston about
two years, when, in 1633, he removed to Ipswich. He
was representative to the General Court from that town
in 1636, held various town offices and trusts, and appears
to have been a man of great respectability. He owned
the large island at the mouth of Ipswich river, which was
then, and until quite recently, called Perkins' Island.
It is still believed to be in the family. His house, which
he gave, after his wife's decease, to his youngest son,
Jacob, stood near Manning's Neck and close to the river.
His will is dated March 28, 1654, and he probably died
not long after, as he then says he was ' sick and weak in
body.' The will was proved Sept., 1654, and his estate

3

was valued at £250, 05s. He was sixty-four years old at
his death. The name of his wife was Judith, and he left
six children, as follows : —

John2, Thomas2, Elizabeth2, Mary2, Lydia2, Jacob2;
Thomas2, b. 1616; settled in Topsfield ; m. Phebe, dau.
of Zaccheus Gould, and d. May 7, 1686, aged 70.

He is usually called on the records 'Dea. Thomas Per-
kins, Sen., of Topsfield.' His will is dated Dec. 11,
1685, and proved Sept., 1686. It is quite long and
minute, and his estate was large.

His children were John3, Thomas3, Elisha3, Timothy3,
Zaccheus3 and three daughters.

Thomas3, second son of Dea. Perkins, m. Sarah Wallis,
1683, and d. 1719. Children, Martha4, Robert4, Samuel4,
Sarah4, Phebe4, Hannah4.

Samuel4, b. 1699 ; m. Margaret ; their children

were Thomas5, Hannah5, Margaret5, Samuel5, Mary5,
Archelaus5, Sarah5."

Thomas5, b. Feb. 19, 1725; m. 1st, Dinah Towne ; m.
2d, Martha Burnham. Children, Archelaus6, by the first
wife, b. April 4, 1756; Daniel6, Israel6, Hannah6, Israel6,
Margaret6, Thomas6, Samuel6.

Thomas6, b. May 28, 1773; d. Oct. 29, 1853. He m.
Elizabeth Storey, Feb. 16, 1804. She was the dau. of
Daniel and Ruth (Burnham) Storey of Essex, and was
b. June 30, 1778, and d. May 14, 1864. Their children
were Henry Coit7, Daniel Storey7, Harriet7, Elizabeth7,
Caroline7, Mary7.

Henry Coit7, b. Nov. 13, 1804 ; m. Harriet Davenport,
Oct. 30, 1828. He d. Feb. 1, 1873. Their only child
is Henry Russell, b. April 2, 1838; m. July 6, 1868,
Georgiana Prescott, dau. of Samuel G. and Caroline
(Prescott) Reed ot Boston.

The autobiographical sketch is as follows : —

'The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places ; yea,
I have a goodly heritage.'

I first saw the sunlight, Nov. 13, 1804, as it beamed
into an apartment of the old Wolfe tavern in State street,
Newburyport, where also was born the father of my affec-
tionate and beloved wife.

The most vivid recollection that now remains of the old
mansion is that impressed upon my vision as it was seen
wrapped in flames in the great fire of May 31, 1811. I
was borne by my aunt from the scene of conflagration to
a place of shelter in the residence of the father and family
of the late Miss Hannah F. Gould.

At the age of eight years, I commenced the study of
the Latin language under Michael Walsh, A. M., the
author of the 'Mercantile Arithmetic ;' with whom, as I
well remember, Hon. Caleb Gushing was fitting for col-
lege, and from which school he entered Cambridge in
1813 at the early age of thirteen }rears.

I continued the study of Latin under Asa Wildes, Esq.,
at the Newburyport High School, and finally fitted for
college under Mr. Alfred Pike, at the Newburyport Acad-
emy, and in August, 1820, entered as freshman at
Harvard .

My parents were of humble origin, but of respectable
descent ; my father, Thomas Perkins, was of a Topsfield
family of that name ; my mother, Elizabeth Storey, was
born at Chebacco, now Essex. The parents of both my
father and mother were husbandmen, and the children
were brought up to habits of industry and frugality, and
enjoined the same upon their descendants.

With my brother and sisters, 1 was led to the baptis-
mal font, May 13, 1816, at the age of eleven years, and
received the sacred rite at the hands of Rev. Daniel Dana,
D. D., at that time pastor of the Old South Church. A

little tract given me about this time by my pastor, enti-
tled, ' My son, give me thine heart,' I regard as among
the first sources of my religious impressions, although I
always had been taught, on Sabbath evening, the West-
minster confession of faith by my father, and had been
blessed with the prayers of a pious mother.

Among the books in my father's small library was a
duodecimo entitled ' Elements of Natural Philosophy,'
published in 1808, at New York. It contained chapters
upon 'matter and motion, the universe, the solar system,
the fixed stars, the earth, the atmosphere, meteors, springs,
rivers and the sea, fossils, plants, animals, the human
frame and the understanding.'

In these, to use the the words of the poet,

' I saw a mighty arm, by man unseen,
Besistless, not to be controlled, that guides,
In solitude of unshared energies,
All these thy ceaseless miracles, O world!'

This little volume was the nucleus, around which was
to gather all the knowledge I was to be permitted to
collect in my after life, and next to the Bible, the volume
of nature is the one I have loved most to study. When
a lad, I well remember the pleasure afforded in contem-
plating the changing forms of the silvery clouds, lost in
wonder how they could contain and pour out the drench-
ing rain and the rattling hail, — whence could come the
mighty wind that prostrated the forest, the dazzling light-
ning and the heavy thunder that made the earth tremble
beneath my feet. Ofttimes, in returning from the even-
ing school have I stood alone gazing into the clear blue
sky to see and love the twinkling stars as they ran their
silent course, watching me as my heart breathed out the
words of the Psalmist, 'When I consider thy heavens,
the work of thy fingers ; the moon and the stars, which

thou hast ordained ; what is man, that thou art mindful of
him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?'

Another favorite book was to be found in my father's
library, 'Ferguson's Astronomy,' a book brought over
the sea by my deceased uncle, Daniel Perkins, a contem-
porary of Dr. Bo wd itch, which served to give me a taste
for a science the love of which has remained by me until
the time when many of the stars I could then distinctly
see with the naked eye are only to be seen by the aid of
the telescope.

In the retrospect of the time spent at Harvard, no
cloud of any size casts its shadow upon the pleasant
years.

To a slight incident (namely, the meeting of a person
in the road which led to the Botanic Garden), the writer
looks back with pleasure as the turning point of his future
employment through life. The individual referred to
was Prof. Thomas Nuttall, the distinguished English
botanist and naturalist, who had been recently appointed
Lecturer on Botany and Curator of the Botanic Garden.
A strong attachment sprang up between this teacher and
many of the students ; this friendship the writer enjoyed,
and by it was often enticed away from the drier studies
of the course, to a pleasant ramble through the woods and
fields in search of their fruits and flowers.

Among the number to whom the volume of nature was
first opened, by Mr. Nuttall about the same time, was one
recently taken away by the pestilence which walketh in
darkness, and with whom for forty-five years, I have been
intimately acquainted. I refer to Dr. Augustus A. Gould
of Boston. He leaves behind him a character untarnished,
and a name long to be held in remembrance by every
physician and student of natural history.

On the 27th of Aug., 1824, 1 graduated at Harvard and,

ill company with Rev. William Barn well of Charleston,
S. C., and Rev. Dr. Samuel Parker Parker of Boston,
took part in a ' colloquy ' before an exceedingly large
audience drawn together by the presence of General La-
fayette. While an undergraduate, I had attended the
lectures of Dr. John C. Warren upon comparative anat-
omy, and was forcibly struck with the analogies of the
skeletons of the lower animals with that of man. I had
studied chemistry under Dr. John Gorham, and had
often returned from the Botanic Garden with my pockets
well filled with minerals from my friend Mr. Nuttall, and
my botany box well stored with plants for analysis.

I had unwittingly entered upon the threshold of the
medical profession, and on the 27th of Sept., 1824, I
entered my name as a student with Dr. Richard S.
Spofford of Newburyport, at that time the leading physi-
cian of the town.

In Oct., 1825, I entered my name with Dr. John C.
Warren and commenced attending the regular course of
lectures at the Medical College and practised dissections
with a view of understanding more perfectly the structure
of the human body. Shortly afterwards I became the
house pupil, lodging and studying at his dwelling. Here
I made the acquaintance of his son, my highly esteemed
friend, J. Mason Warren, then a lad fitting for college in
his father's study.

With the students of Dr. James Jackson and Dr.
Walter Channing, I attended the clinique at the Mass.
General Hospital, and, with Dr. David Bernis, discharged
the duties of Dr. Warren's dresser, and assisted him in all
his private operations. So diligent were we, that, with
the exception of an occasional visit to my friends at New-
buryport and Cambridge and a ride once over the neck to
Roxbury and back over the Mill-dam, I do not recollect

8

to have been absent from the Hospital, or away from
Boston, for more than two years.

To Dr. James Jackson, I must in justice say, I feel
more indebted for what I know of my art, in so far as
instruction, written or oral, is concerned, than to any other
person. With multitudes of others, I feel that he is my
father in medicine. I love him for his virtues, I respect
him for his knowledge and I delight to honor him. He
has impressed upon the physicians of New England much
that has made them useful and skilful practitioners, and
to him the public is indebted for much that is valuable in
the healing of their diseases. Newburyport has the honor
of being the birthplace of this amiable and ever-to-be-
remembered Christian gentleman.

In the latter part of August, 1827, I took the degree of
M. D. at Harvard, having read a thesis upon the 'Indirect
Treatment of Surgical Diseases.'

On the 27th or 28th of this same month, between nine
and ten o'clock in the evening, there appeared in the
heavens a luminous bow, about five degrees in width and
extending across the celestial vault from east to west.
This was the first auroral arch I had ever heard of, read
of, or seen. At that time, no one knew what to make of
it. The frequent appearance of such arches since, either
alone or accompanied by auroral streams, has called much
attention to such phenomena on the part of many scien-
tific writers."

These arches were ever afterwards objects of special
interest to Dr. Perkins, and his observations upon them,
as published April 9, 1863, have been regarded as of
great value.

On the 30th of Oct., 1828, he was marrried to Harriet
Davenport, daughter of John Davenport of Newbmyport.
Their only child is Henry Russell Perkins, b. April 2,

9

1838, who early chose the career of business rather than
the profession of his father. Dr. Perkins always spoke
of his domestic relations in terms of the strongest grati-
tude and affection.

"On the 3d of Sept., 1827, I took an office and put
out my sign as a physician. On the same day I had a
professional call from one of my acquaintances. And
here I may be permitted to say that one of the most grat-
ifying experiences of a medical man is the continuance of
the kind and friendly feelings of his early patrons, espe-
cially in this day of change. There is, or there should
be, an attachment between physician and patient. We
become attached to the beast which carries us safely by
night and by day over the dreary, perhaps dangerous,
road, and we should speak well of the bridge that has
borne us safely over the deep and rapid stream, and why
should we not become attached to the watchful physician,
who, like a guide travelling over the dangerous crags and
precipices of the mountains, conducts safely, and often
at the risk of his own reputation and life, it may be, those
who have intrusted themselves to his care and skill?

In the year 1828, I think, the dysentery appeared in
Xewburyport in an epidemic form, and, young as the
writer was, he was invited to meet Dr. Bradstreet in con-
sultation in such a case. The Doctor was tardy in his
appointment, and did not arrive at the patient's house until
after the lapse of an hour or more ; coming in at the door,
clad in his brown camlet cloak saturated with the rain, he
apologized for the delay; 'he had been to the quarantine
grounds' to visit a vessel from an unhealthy port. This
was among the last professional visits Dr. B. ever made.
Whether he took disease on board the vessel or not, he
soon was taken clown with a severe form of fever, and
although he had the benefit of the professional skill and

10

sound judgment of Drs. Noyes and Spofford, he shortly
died with symptoms resembling those of yellow fever.
His second daughter died within a fortnight after, appar-
ently with the same disease. The sick men, who had
been brought to a boarding-house in town, recovered.

Dr. Oliver Prescott, the oldest practising physician in
Newburyport at the time, died within a month of my
entrance into the profession of medicine. Dr. Francis
Vergne, a distinguished physician in his day, had relin-
quished practice, and Dr. Nathan Noyes was crippled
from a partial paralysis of his lower extremities, so that
the medical practice in town fell chiefly into the hands of
Drs. Noyes, Spofford, Johnson and Wyman.

The latter gentleman, the nearest to the writer in age,
was well read in his profession, especially in surgery and
diseases of the eye, and, had specialties been known in
his day, he would doubtless have gained in a large city a
great reputation and fortune by his skill. The writer
enjoyed his uninterrupted friendship and many kind offices
in his early and later years.

The decease of Dr. Bradstreet threw a large amount of
general practice into the hands of Dr. Spofford ; of ac-
couching into the hands of Dr. Johnson ; and of surgery
into the hands of Dr. Wyman. Several young physicians
flocked to the town, among whom we may name Dr.
Huntington, who afterwards removed to Lowell and be-
came a distinguished physician as well as a mayor of the
city, and before his death was honored with the highest
gift the Massachusetts Medical Society had to bestow — its
presidency.

What was left, after the lions1 parts were taken out, fell
into the hands of the younger physicians, Drs. Cross, F.
V. Noyes and the just fledging Thompsonians and ho-
moeopaths and the writer. The hill before us was high and

11

steep, and, besides, some obstacles were placed in the path.
The young physician was not allowed, by the rules of the
association he was invited to join, to take the place of an
elder until he had recommended and advised the payment
of his predecessor's bill ; and if he tarried longer than
four hours at a case of accouching, which he might be
obliged to do at the outset of his business, he was to
charge one dollar an hour, for every hour thus spent, in
addition to the prescribed fee. The elders knew how to
make flying visits, a trick not as yet found out by the
juniors. In general, however, the intercourse between
young and old was pleasant and advantageous, especially
to the former ; and at the termination of three years, viz.,
in 1830, the writer was recommended by them as qualified
to become a member of the Mass. Medical Society."

Speaking of the character of the diseases he met with,
Dr. Perkins remarks : —

"Besides fever, the most common diseases that I have
been called upon to treat in Newburyport have been
rheumatism, either acute or chronic, and neuralgia, which
sprang up about that time, croup, pneumonia, either by
itself or combined with pleurisy, influenza, consumption,
dropsies, indigestion, dysentery, diarrhoea, erysipelas,
measles, scarlet fever, whooping-cough; and of surgical
cases, fractures, dislocations, hernias, diseased breasts,
and hands maimed from carelessness in the use of machin-
ery or of fire-arms. Many other diseases and injuries,
to be sure, I have met with. Some, however, that I ex-
pected to see often, have been quite rare, as gout, and, of
late years, delirium tremens, which, at one time, was
very common, and wounded arteries of large size, to cases
of which I have never been called but in three instances.
On the contrary, I have met with those I never expected
to see.

12

In the treatment of diseases, I have never dared to draw
my bow at venture, or to neglect nursing the patient'; be-
lieving that, in the large number of diseases, the better
course was to conduct the patient safely through his ill-
ness, if possible, than to throw off disease, if it was fas-
tened upon the patient; and that after all, it was much
easier to keep well than to get well. And in a practice of
forty-four years as an accoucher, I have been so highly
favored as to have lost only two patients, where I had
charge of the case from the commencement.

Believing always in a superintending Providence, in
the paternal and loving character of our Heavenly Father,
and aware of the sudden mishaps that might befall such
patients, I do not remember that I ever attended one such
case without a silent petition in their behalf and that of
the infant about to come into this world of temptation and
trial. And whenever I presented my petitions at the
Throne of Grace for myself, I have endeavored to remem-
ber others also, and especially the sick and the afflicted.

I early learned how to sympathize with those who were
afflicted, and having borne the yoke myself, I have en-
deavored to comfort those who were destined to bear the
same. As I have been often called to see others as they
descended into the dark valley, I have tried, but oh ! how
vainly ! — to place myself in their situation that I might
learn how to follow them. This is an experience we must
all meet sooner or later, but it can be met only once.
We must learn to die by learning how to live. I have
seen many die, but I have seen many more who recovered,
and this is one great source of comfort to the physician,
that in the ordinary course of nature he is called to see
the same individual recover many times, before he is
called to see him die once. His duties are, however, of
the most responsible character, and no one can be too faith-

13

.ful in preparing himself to meet them, or too sedulous or
patient in taking care of the sick."

As showing that Dr. Perkins was something more than
a student of medicine, and that he felt the need of broader
culture than his profession furnished, we have the fol-
lowing : —

"The early years of my professional life were spent
chiefly in attendance upon calls whenever they came, and
in reading upon medical subjects. Nearly every oppor-
tunity for post-mortem examination was improved, and
for some time I kept notes of my treatment of the cases
which came under my care. I determined to know some-
thing of medicine, if I remained ignorant of everything
else. But I soon found that variety in reading was requi-
site to prevent mental fatigue. An invitation was ex-
tended to a young friend to join me in reading French.
One or two others being desirous of pursuing the same
study, it was proposed to form a club for literary and sci-
entific pursuits. The result of our meeting was the foun-
dation of the Newburyport Lyceum in 1828. This was
the second institution of the kind in New England.

About the same time, and as an offshoot of the Ly-
ceum, the second Social Library was formed, to furnish
popular and useful books for those inclined to read ; and
this continued in existence for some years, and, after a
union with the Athenreum, afforded much instruction to
those inclined to learn. Reading that requires no think-
ing, in other words reading for amusement, being one
thing, and study being another, the character of the li-
brary, and we fear it is true of all popular libraries, soon
became very different from what it was at the outset :
the popular literature or the light reading and flimsy
material of the day soon crowded its shelves to the ex-
clusion of more solid and substantial works, and shortly

14

the books of the united libraries were sold and they be--
came extinct.

Acting for many years as the manager, or procurer of
lecturers for the Lyceum, an opportunity was providen-
tially offered for becoming acquainted with several gen-
tlemen eminent in their calling who consented to lecture
upon the subjects of their collegiate departments in our
literary institutions.

My attention was thus directed to some of the sciences
collateral to medicine, especially to the means of heating
and ventilation. The great eclipse of Feb. 12, 1831, af-
forded an opportunity of brushing up somewhat in
astronomy, which led also to some experiments in the
grinding and polishing of glass for optical purposes.
Little, if anything, at that time, was to be found in books
upon the grinding and polishing of lenses or specula. A
visit was made in a thick snow-storm to the venerable Dr.
Prince of Salem, for aid, who kindly gave such infor-
mation as he had, by referring to a young optician, Mr.
Widdifield of Boston.

A block of flint glass was then purchased and corre-
sponding ones of crown glass wrought out from the old
bull's eyes that were to be found in the doors of old build-
ings. 'Rees' and other 'Encyclopedias' were ransacked to
learn the mode of obtaining the specific gravity and index
of refraction of the different kinds of glass, and the
mathematical formulae for the correct curves of the dif-
ferent faces or surfaces of the lenses of an achromatic
object glass reduced to practice. This afforded employ-
ment and occupation for some of the later hours of the
winter evenings. Expecting to have the mechanical part
done by another, who shrunk from his promise when he
learned the nicety required, our own hands had to do the
labor, all of which however was lost, owing to the im-

15

perfection of the material used. After much rubbing
and polishing we at last found that glass of a better qual-
ity than the bottom of a tumbler, or the central part of
the disk which was attached to the iron handle of the
£lass blower, was needed for the object glass of a teles-
cope. We were disappointed, but made the best of it,
and laid aside the lenses in hopes of owning something
better.

The attempt to grind lenses for the telescope was a fail-
ure. But I was more successful in grinding and polishing
lenses for the microscope, and was led to a practical ap-
preciation of the value of this instrument in the study of
the structure of different tissues and fluids of the human
frame in health and disease, and to an interest in the
work of others in the same pursuit. The microscope is
no longer a plaything but a valuable instrument in the
hands of the physician as well as in those, of the natu-
ralist. As a means of diagnosis, this instrument has be-
come invaluable, and it is now (1866) in as common use
in the hospital as the test tube.

The physiological action of ether and chloroform was
made by me a subject of inquiry, and their effect in
staying circulation, the former in the capillaries, the
latter in the larger arteries, and in the heart itself, if too
long continued, was ascertained to be, in all probability,
the true explanation of the phenomena exhibited in
anaesthesia."

Dr. Perkins made experiments upon the frog, of which
an account was published. See also Dr. Jackson's book
on etherization; also Dr. Channing's book on etheri-
zation in midwifery.

"My second sister, Elizabeth Perkins, married Mr.
Nathaniel Perkins (nephew of the distinguished mech-
anician, Jacob Perkins) whose business was that of en-

16

graving and printing bank-notes. This led me often to
visit their establishment and to feel an interest in the
protection of their notes, against the counterfeiter, whom
there had been some reason to fear. I entered upon
some experiments and soon found that the tinest and most
highly finished engravings could be transferred line for
line to a plate either of steel or of copper, in such a man-
ner that it was at once ready for the etching tool or the
graver. Mr. Francis Peabody of Salem, or rather Mr.
Dixon, a person then in his employ, had done the same
thing on stone, and the only remedy was the printing in
different colored destructible ink on the face or back, or
on both face and back, of the bill. This was immediately
adopted, and proved of great service in an improved form,
when it was found that they were in the same danger from
the photographic process.

Had it not been for this danger to the banks, much ben-
efit to the art of the engraver would have resulted in the
duplication or transfer of the engraved illustrations of for-
eign books. The mode of softening the ink was soon
made use of by the wood engraver, and one-third of his
labor, at least, saved by the new process of transferring the
plate to be copied immediately upon his whitened block.
The process of transferring to steel and copper, especially
the white ground, which I made, is known, it is believed,
thus far, only to one other individual beside myself, a dis-
tinguished bank-note engraver in Philadelphia.

The ink upon the little engraving of the boy making
the boat (see the plate, the result of the transfer process)
had scarcely dried when my attention was called to the
process of copying landscapes by M. Daguerre in 1838.

Under the impression that it would be applicable to
copying dissections, and more especially the human face,
I set immediatly about having a few small plates made by

17

Mr. Sargent, a plater at Belleville, and the manufacture
of hypo-sulphite of soda, none of which was then to be
found in the shops, and the preparation of a camera,
iodine box, etc. ; and I photographed the brick house then
occupied by Mr. Enoch Huse in Middle street, nearly
back of the one I occupied in Essex street, about the first
of Nov., 1839. A young Frenchman, whose name has
escaped from my memory, advertised in Boston to teach
the art in twelve lectures, but before he had given his
second or third lecture, there was exhibited in Boston a
fine daguerreotype of one side of State street, Newbury-
port, which picture, as fresh and perfect as on the day
it first saw the light, is still in my possession. A friend
and classmate of Prof. Silliman had written to him that
he had succeeded in taking a picture, but not as yet in
preserving it, for the want no doubt of the hypo-sulphite.

In taking this picture the lens of crown glass manufac-
tured out of one of the bull's eyes, combined with others,
came into use and was of great service.

Improvement after improvement rapidly followed each
other in this art. The ambrotype, a most delicate, beau-
tiful and sure process, was soon followed by, and culmi-
nated in, the Talbotype, giving the negative upon glass,
by means of which positives without number could be
rapidly and cheaply executed. One process, known only
or chiefly by two French artists, Firth and Fevier, of
making positives upon glass which presented the deepest
shades and the most delicate lights, was esteemed by all
as the ne plus ultra of the art ; and awakened in me
an irresistible desire to learn how it was effected. A
small piece of a broken picture was begged of a friend ;
a portion of the ground, removed from the plate, was
carefully scrutinized, analyzed as far as could be, and,
by the aid of an article in Humphrey's Journal for 1860,

2

18

determined to be wax. The knowledge and experience
of R. E. Mosely, a very delicate manipulator and pho-
tographer, brought out a most beautiful picture, known as
the "Sleigh-ride," in which the sleigh, freighted with its
lady party, stood amid the snow before the Merrimac
House, in State street, with the newly-fallen snow lodged
upon limbs and branches of the elms in front of the house.
These pictures, the most beautiful, in my estimation,
that the photographic art has given to the world, have,
thus far, proved too difficult and are too expensive to be
in great demand ; and inferior but cheaper pictures only
are generally known. In truth, we have seen many per-
sons, lovers of art, in Boston even, who had never seen
a picture upon glass.

An artist in Philadelphia, whose name has now escaped
me, had previously made beautiful pictures of the Sus-
pension Bridge at Niagara and taken views in the same
material at the White Mountains, but he is supposed,
from examination of his plates, to have used collodion in
place of the wax. These pictures, the perfection of the
art, easily to be made, as soon as the dry process, now
believed to have been satisfactorily acquired, is accom-
plished, still remain for some enterprising artist to bring
out, when they will take the place of all others. We think
we now have such an artist in Newburyport, Mr. Carl
Meinerth.

Although I failed to manufacture a telescope for myself,
I eventually procured one, and was prepared to examine
Donati's comet at its appearance in 1858, with an instru-
ment of five inches aperture and seven feet focus made
by Mr. Alvan Clark of Cambridgeport, the first telescope-
maker in the world.

The envelopes of this comet, but more particularly those
of the comet of 1861, were carefully observed, and from

19

data furnished by Mr. Bond of the Observatory at Cam-
bridge, of the time of successive rise of those of Donati's
comet, the suggestion thrown out by Prof. Pierce of Har-
vard was examined and fully concurred in, viz: — that
they rose on the principle of the summer cloud. By
means of a small home-made polariscope, I repeated
Arago's experiment upon the light of this comet and, as
was the case with him, found the light of the nucleus in
part polarized, showing it to be, in part at least, reflected
light." (See his Manuscript.)

"The occurrence of so many comets between the years
1827 and 1858, as also of auroras, columns and arches,
prompted the inquisitive mind to compare the two to-
gether, and to mark their analogies and discrepancies.
(See the hypothetical explanations of the tails of comets
in my scrap-book.)

In December, 1839, a succession of very severe and
disastrous storms occurred at about weekly intervals along
the Atlantic coast, which called my attention to the sub-
ject of meteorology, and for a number of years, about
the time of the publication of Mr. Espy's work on the
'Philosophy of Storms,' or shortly after, to a meteoro-
logical record, and to the study of meteorological phe-
nomena. As the result of this study, I learned that a
sudden rise rather than fall of the mercury indicated the
approach of a storm, especially if the mercurial column
had been, for a few days prior to the sudden rise, sta-
tionary ; that the fall came on gradually as the vapors,
visible as haze, came to the zenith from the S. W. or W. ;
that it was lowest in the lull, and that the gradual rise
afterwards indicated a return of fair weather. I thought
I could perceive an interval of about seven days in very
many successive storms — great atmospheric waves, as it
were, so that the occurrence of a severe storm on any day

20

of the week led me to expect another on or near the same
day the week following ; that many storms are true cy-
clones moving along the coast from the S. W. to the N,
E. or E. as Mr. Redfield taught, but that cumuli clouds
are more in accordance with Mr. Espy's theory. (See
paper on this subject printed in the 'Proceedings of the
Essex Institute' for 1865.)

While an undergraduate at Harvard, I became ac-
quainted with Robert Treat Paine, the son of the poet o:
that name, who first showed me Venus by a telescope he
had made while a junior in college, and to him, under
Providence, I am indebted for a position which brough
me into the company of some of the first men of the day
as members of the visiting committee of the Observatory
at Cambridge, viz., Hon. Wm. Mitchell, Hon. Josiah
Quincy, the distinguished and learned author Jared
Sparks, Hon. Edward Everett, J. Ingersoll Bowditch
Esq., and the above-named astronomer Mr. Paine. "
acknowledge I had no claims to this or to some other
distinguished honors that have been conferred on me, bu
I felt pleased to be placed by a kind Providence in situ
ations where I could sympathize with my associates
from whom I might learn much. This position gave me
opportunity of knowing somewhat of the discoveries mad<
at the Observatory and put their annals into my hands
and I had the pleasure, at Newburyport, of directing bj
telegraph the great equatorial upon Blinkerfue's come
before it had been publicly announced as visible in this
country.

In 1840 or 1841, a box containing some old bone!
was brought from California in a brig belonging to Capt
Gushing, which was kindly turned over to me by Capt. J
Couch, at that time one of the first ship-masters, wh<
visited that region in a vessel from this place, and

21

before the discovery of gold there. These fragments of
old bones I cemented together and arranged in their
proper places in the skeletons of several extinct animals.
This was my first attempt at bringing what little knowl-
edge of comparative anatomy I had into use. Several
papers from my inexperienced pen appeared in the 'Pro-
ceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History' and
in 'Silliman's Journal.' To these old bones, and more es-
pecially to the kindness of one of my excellent tutors in
college, Mr. George B. Emerson, I soon found myself in-
debted for membership in the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, and for the use of its valuable scien-
ific library.

I had been a member for some years (not very active
;o be sure) of the Boston Society of Natural History,
ind also of the Society for Mutual Medical Improvement.
Che meetings of these societies, on account of profes-
ional engagements, I have been seldom able to attend ;
neither have I found time to re.ad many of their books.
My reading has been confined to such books as I could
ifford to own. Many very valuable works have been very
rindly presented to me either by their authors or some of
heir families, whose kindness I appreciate and gratefully
acknowledge. Among these I would name Dr. Bow-
ditch's appendix to La Place's great work, the 'Mecanique
Celeste,' from his son, my esteemed friend, Dr. Henry I.
iowditch of Boston. By means of this book, I went
hrough with an approximative calculation of the elements
jf the comet of 1861, being kindly assisted in under-
standing any difficult part by two worthy young friends,
whom Providence sent to me at just the right time,
Charles Tuttle, Esq., formerly of the Observatory at
Cambridge, and Mr. George Searle, now (1866) assistant
)bserver at the same place. Liable to almost hourly in-

22

terruptions from professional calls until after the hours of
the day and the early hours of the evening had passed, it
seemed at times as though a limit had been set to my
attempted acquirements in this direction, and that I must
be content to stop where I was, more especially as my
eyes had got to be too old to use mathematical tables by
gaslight. One book, however, remained, into which I did
desire to look and try to understand, for — I had almost
said — the inspired thought it contained. This was New-
ton's Trincipia,' portions of which I had studied in 'En-
field's Philosophy' in my junior year in college. Hap-
pening in at Little and Brown's bookstore in June, 1865,
my eye rested upon the very book I needed for this pur-
pose, viz., the first three lectures of the Principia by
Frost. Newton had said in his introduction to the third
book of his Principia 'that if one carefully reads the
definitions, the laws of motion and the first three sections
of the first book, he may pass on to the third which treats
of the phenomena or appearances of the heavenly bodies,
their motions, the disturbance of their orbits, etc., etc.5
The object of this book was to help the tyro to under-
stand these first three sections.

Providence had again opened the door to the apart-
ment into which I desired to look. The leisure moments
of that year I spent in part in the study of this volume.
I did not undertake to read it in course, but studied only
such parts as were more immediately applicable to the
orbits and motions of the planetary bodies. It enabled
me satisfactorily to read a very valuable compend of
astronomy by Rev. Robert Main, first assistant at the
Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

It may perhaps be thought by some that such studies
as the above can be of very little service toward helping
a physician to cure disease, or to prescribe skilfully for

23

his patient. But I believe it will be acknowledged by
every professional man, no matter how industrious he
may be in his professional reading and practice, that some
by-play is needed to keep his mind bright, even for pro-
fessional duties, and his views from becoming contracted
from too continued confinement to one thing. (See Dr.
J. Bigelow on the limits of science.)

For nearly forty years the main employments and en-
joyments of my life have been of the kinds enumerated in
the preceding pages. I have never engaged in politics or
taken any active part in any political party. In the
troubles that have arisen between the North and the
South, I have regarded both as more or less to blame ;
the North, a part at least, as being too earnest to enforce
their peculiar views upon their brethren at the South,
and the latter, as having an improper estimate of their
own character and standing, and of that of the Northern
and the Northwestern States. Notwithstanding all these
differences, craven must be that spirit that was willing to
see the constitution and the noble structure, reared and
cemented by the toil and blood of his fathers, trampled in
the dust by traitorous men."

The views of Dr. Perkins on this point are more fully
given in an address upon "The Physician and Surgeon in
time of War."

"The present generation in America have lived in a
wonderful age, and have seen what ' prophets and kings/
it might be said, 'have desired to see but have died with-
out the sight/

They have lived to see time and space on the land and
on the sea almost annihilated by steam ; to see the heav-
enly bodies, the landscape and the features of the human
countenance transcribe themselves upon the sensitive tab-
let ; to see their messages carried across continents and

24

oceans by the swift-winged lightning ; to see the celestial
bodies tell the story of their own physical structure and
condition ; to see fleets and navies worthless things ; to
see the earth reveal her hidden secrets of the ages long
since buried in oblivion ; to see the institution of slavery
crumble to the dust and every man of every color stand
up a freeman ; to see kingdoms and empires tottering to
their base, and their own beloved country saved from
ruin only by Divine interpositions and a kind overruling
Providence. To see what else? To see, in the future,
the Omniscient One only knows what. God grant we
may be prepared for the sight.

For one thing we are permitted to ask, — that the
happy day foretold and promised in the Scriptures may
soon come, when peace and the peaceful principles of the
religion of Christ shall extend and cover the earth as the
waters cover the sea ; when all shall know and serve him
from the least even to the greatest, and when he, whose
right it is, shall reign King of Nations as he now reigns
King of Saints, and his kingdom come and his will be
done on earth and in our hearts as it is in heaven.

With the exception of about two mouths while in the
Legislature, I have never laid aside my professional char-
acter or taken any recreation that would lead me away
from home, save a visit for four days to the White Hills
in 1858, and a visit to the hospitals for the sick and
wounded in Washington in 1861."

An account of this last visit was given in the New-
buryport Herald soon after his return.

"During the larger part of my professional life I have
attended to all calls, no matter by whom made or what
was the case. Having of late years suffered somewhat
with lumbago, I gradually relinquished my night business
and such as required prolonged attendance. I have en-

25

deavored to attend upon the poor as faithfully as upon the
rich, and I do not remember ever to have taken a dollar
from a sick or wounded soldier or to have troubled any
one who could not well afford to pay the fee.

I did not enter upon my profession expecting to grow
rich thereby. I have seen dark days when, if there was
sickness abroad, in my own circle there were but few
calls upon a physician. At such times the words of the
Psalmist, ' Trust in the Lord and do good and verily thou
shalt be fed,' comforted me and gave me courage. From
the day that I commenced business to the present, my
purse — thank Heaven ! — has always enabled me to grat-
ify every reasonable want, although in the early years of
my life I was not able to be as generous as I desired. But
if of silver and gold I had little, of such as I had I was
willing to divide with those who needed. I have endeav-

O

ored to follow Him who 'went about doing good,' but, I
feel, at a great distance.

In visiting my patients, I have, until I was sixty-two
years of age, gone on foot, except when they resided too
far out of town. If memory serves, I have thus made as
many as thirty visits in a day and had time enough to eat,
drink and sleep. I attribute a large share of the health
I have enjoyed to this good habit and regular daily exer-
cise. I have lost by sickness only about thirty days ;
having been once confined to the house by erysipelas,
once or twice with influenza and once with dysentery.

In Oct., 1869, I had dysentery which confined me to
my house about a month ; this time was not lost as it
gave me an opportunity to re-read Flint's work on the
respiratory organs, and to examine more carefully 'the
earliest manifestations of organic crystallization,' as Owen
calls the Eozoon Canadense, which I had, iu connection
with Mr. Bicknell of Salem, discovered the August be-

26

fore in the serpentine of our Devil's Den, and which has
since then been found also at Chelmsford, a fact which at
once settles the character and age of the rocks in our
neighborhood, placing them among the lower Laurentian,
and proving them to have been originally deposited in the
form of mud at the bottom of the sea and since then to
have undergone metamorphic change and crystallization.
It is very interesting thus to trace the operations of infi-
nite wisdom and power on the floor of the ocean. 'Thy
way, O God ! is in the sea, and thy path in the great
waters, and thy footsteps are not known.'

Mr. Huxley has, within a short period, found similar
instances of organic protoplasm at the bottom of many
warm seas, showing that through all time organic crea-
tions have taken place. The material universe is full of
interest from whatever standpoint it is examined, but we
should be careful not to get lost amid material things, re-
membering always that above matter is mind, and above
mind are holiness, goodness and truth.

The sick headache, until I was past fifty years of age,
was the greatest annoyance in my way. From this, at
times, I suffered severely, but it is very rarely that I am
now troubled with any difficulty looking toward the brain.

I have been a temperate man through life, having no
desire for any stimulant or sedative except a little tobacco,
which I have used moderately more or less since a lad in
college, it having been* prescribed for me at that time by
a classmate for my headaches, but which I must say
never did me any good, neither can I say much harm, to
my knowledge, except perhaps to disturb that steadiness
of hand which the surgeon always needs, and for this
reason I have often regretted that I had ever put it into my
mouth. In 1867 I omitted its use and got rid of an ir-
regularity of the circulation which formerly troubled me.

27

My food has been in great measure derived from the
vegetable kingdom, although I have not been strictly a
vegetarian, using a little meat at all times when I felt like
it ; what some would have regarded as but a mouthful
has, with vegetables, answered my purpose for a meal.

In the fall of 1870 my attention was providentially
called to the subject of 'Germs of Disease ' by Dr. L. Beal's
work upon this subject. Shortly after, namely, in Nov.,
Dr. Ernest Hallier's work on the 'Plant Organisms found
in Measles, Sheep-pox and Kine-pox' was put into my hand
by a German friend, Mr. Carl Meinerth. I could not
read a word of German, but my interest in the subject
induced me to commence its perusal, which in the course
of the winter of 1870 I accomplished, and of which I
have now a manuscript translation, corrected by another
German friend, Mr. Castelhun.

To test for myself the truth of Prof. Hallier's theory,
I had a microscope of excellent optical qualities got up
for my especial use by Mr. Edwin Bickuell of Cambridge ;
and in April or May commenced cultures after Hallier's
method. Mr. C. Castelhun was familiar with the use of
the microscope, and I engaged him to make a report of
what he met with in my cultures.

A belief in substantial organisms as the contagion of
what are called Zymotic diseases is entertained by many
German and other physicians, and it is probably in this
direction, viz., of a sanitary character, that the next pro-
gressive step in my profession is to be taken. If the
causes of disease can be discovered, its prevention may
in time follow, and then truly will have come the medical
millennium.

Under date of Oct. 31, 1871, Dr. Shattuck, Chairman
of the Committee on Publications of the Mass. Medical
Society, informed me that the Society would print and

28

publish my translation of Prof. Hallier's work, as soon as
the manuscript could be prepared. I was to add an ap-
pendix of my own confirmative cultures. Dec. 6th, I
wrote to Dr. Getting, on the same committee, informing
him that the manuscript was ready. On March 21, 1872,
I returned the last corrected proof sheets of the work,
and am now awaiting the arrival from Germany of the
plates, for the use of which I have Prof. Hallier's consent,
as well as that of his publisher."

The plates arrived in season for the translation to
appear in the "Publications of Massachusetts Medical
Society" issued in 1871.

As a brief synopsis of a portion of his work, Dr. Per-
kins gave the following : —

"I had the pleasure in 1840 or 41 of figuring and de-
scribing the tooth and the right humerus of Mylodon
Harlani (Syn. Or ycter other ium Oregonense) in 'Silliman's
Journal,' the first specimens of the skeleton of that
animal found west of the Rocky Mountains. Also the
tooth, portion of the tusk, and the atlas or first bone of
the neck of the Elephas primigenius, and the astragalus
of the fossil ox. All which bones are referred to in
Leidy's work on 'Extinct Mammalian Fauna of Dakota
and Nebraska/ in the synopsis at the latter part of the
volume ; also in his book on ' Fossil Sloths.'

Notice of my observations on the effect of ether and
chloroform may be found in Dr. Channing's work on
'Etherization in Midwifery,' and in Dr. C. T. Jackson's
volume on 'Ether and Chloroform.'

Some of my observations on the aurora may be found
alluded to by Mr. Marsh of Philadelphia in the 'Pro-
ceedings of the American Philosophical Society,' as well
as in the communications made by him in the 'Journal of
the Franklin Institute/

29

In the 'Proceedings of the Essex Institute,' Vol. iv, No.
6, 1865, may be found an abstract of a paper read by me
on the 'Formation of the Thunder-cloud.' In the ' Amer-
ican Naturalist* for July, 1870, may be found some obser-
vations by me on the 'Action of Light upon the Circulation
of Plants,' and in different numbers of the Newburyport
Herald for 1858, I think, upon the formation and nature
of the envelopes and tails of comets, their polarization of
light, etc., etc. Upon most of which subjects I have had
the pleasure of finding my views to correspond with those
of other observers.

In the discovery of Eozoon Canadense in the ser-
pentine of our Devil's Den, I had some share, having first
noticed the resemblance of the apparent organic crystalli-
zation there seen to that found at Ottawa, Canada, which
led to the detection of the characteristic tubules by
the microscope, by Mr. Bicknell of Salem, which facts
show our rocks to belong to the Laurentian series and to
have been deposited amid water rather than to have been
of Plutonic origin.

Also the bones of Mylodon, as having been found in
Oregon and described by myself, are alluded to and cred-
ited in Murray's 'Geographical Distribution of Mammals,'
published in London. My experiments and observations
upon the 'Circulation in Chelidonium majus' and the 'Ac-
tion of Light' we re reprinted in the 'Journal of Micros-
copy,' published in London."

Dr. Perkins was a member of the following literary so-
cieties : —

Phi Beta Kappa of Harvard University ; Boston Med.
Society for Mutual Improvement ; Boston Society of
Natural History ; Portland Society of Natural History ;
Essex Institute ; American Academy of Arts and Sci-
ences ; Massachusetts Medical Society, of which he was

30

chosen President at the Annual Meeting of the Coun-
cillors in May, 1866.

He was identified with the educational interests of New-
buryport, being a member of the Board of Trustees of
the Putnam Free School. Elected in 1851, he served for
nine years as Treasurer, and in 1869 he was chosen Pres-
ident of that board, which office he held at the time of
his death.

He was elected a Director of the Public Library holding
that office in 1858 and 1859. He was again elected in
1866, and held the office at the time of his death.

Though no aspirant for political honors, he represented
the town of Newburyport in the Legislature in the session
of 1841-42. He was a member of the Common Council
of the city of Newburyport in 1857, 1858 and 1859, and
during the last two years was President of that body.

He thus concludes : —

"I desire and humbly pray that I may 'deal justly, love
mercy and walk humbly before God ' all the days of my
life ; that I may manifest my gratitude toward my Heav-
enly Father by acts of obedience and of love ; that I may
discharge all my duties to myself, my fellow men and my
Maker faithfully and in such a manner that I may meet
with his approval and his blessing ; that I may ever love
the truth, speak the truth and obey the truth : and that
at the last I may be so happy as to be found with those I
have loved and do love, washed in the blood and clad in
the righteousness of our Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. And let God the Father, God the Son and God
the Holy Ghost, be praised now and forevermore."

Such was the life and such were the labors of Dr.
Perkins as sketched by himself. The rare simplicity and
directness of his autobiography and the lessons of it are
so clear that very little is left for other hands to add.

31
It was «i most industrious life. From the beginning to

O O

the end of it there was the same unvarying devotion to
some useful end. We think he erred in allowing himself
too little recreation. But it was a maxim with him that
recreation could be obtained as much from a change of
labor as from an entire cessation from it. Most persons
would have felt that the calls of his professional life were
sufficient to engross all his attention. He judged differ-
ently. Without neglecting these, he seized upon the little
interstices of time, and by using them diligently he laid up
his large stores of varied information. While he had an
eager thirst for knowledge for its own sake, he was re-
markably free from any desire for display. Ruskin has
well said "it is ill for science when men desire to talk
rather than to know."

His mind seized with avidity all hints and suggestions,
whether they came from nature or from the minds of his
fellow men. The old bones brought home by a New-
buryport ship-master, set him at work in comparative
anatomy. The news of the approach of a comet led him
to the study of Newton's "Principia," and to rambling
among the stars. A tiny plant would beckon him to the
fields, the groves and the river-side.

It was a pure life. Every one who came in contact
with him, even for a single half hour, was impressed with
the guilelessness of his heart and soul. No word of his
but might have been spoken anywhere and to any person.
The earliest schoolmate or the latest friend of his recog-
nized him as "the pure in heart."

It was a life of untarnished integrity. Starting in his
profession with the purpose that he would depend entirely
upon himself for the support of his family, he was com-
pelled for many years to practise the most careful frugal-
ity. It was a hard and long struggle for a young man to

32

gain a professional standing and a remunerative employ-
ment in such a community as ours.

But in all his transactions he was truthful and honest,
and with the Apostle he could say at the close of a long
life, "I have defrauded no man." Nor was this integrity
of a hard, cold, calculating nature. He would go as
readily at the call of the poor from whom he could expect
no return, as at the call of the rich, who could reward him
most bountifully. And in his account book, he left
special directions to those who might have the charge of
his affairs, that no poor person should be put to hardship
by the payment of his bills.

It was a life without sham or deception. Had our
friend been less transparent and outspoken he might have
had a larger measure of what the world calls success.
But his whole nature revolted from all imposition, trick-
ery or charlatanism. He never pretended to do impossi-
bilities, nor would he excite hopes when he saw there
was no foundation for them. It was not often that his
usually quiet and genial disposition was disturbed ; but
nothing would ruffle it sooner than the discovery of im-
posture or deceit. He was severe upon such exhibitions
in his own profession, but not less so in business or in
society.

It was a thoroughly religious life. He united with the
church in Harris Street, May 1, 1834 and was dismissed
from that communion, September 5, 1845. He joined
the Whitefield Church Jan. 1, 1850, being one of the
twenty original members of that church.

His piety was simple and unostentatious. While he
made no parade of it, he never flinched from avowing his
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of lost
men. He gave to the matters of religion his most earnest
and most profound consideration, and was a Christian be-

33

liever not less from the convictions of his reason, than from
the associations and training of his early life. He was a
man of prayer. The sweet incense of it rose from his home ,
his office and from the bedside of his patient. Although a
man of science he was a firm believer in the efficacy of
prayer. Dr. Perkins believed in it, because he had
proved its efficacy in his own experience. His faith did
not rest, however, on any test to which he had put it, but
on his conviction of the reality of God's spiritual kingdom,
the laws of which he felt that he but imperfectly under-
stood. As a religious man his ground of trust was in
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

No man was more deeply sensible of his faults than our
friend. To one who spoke to him as though he had few,
if any, defects of character, he said,* "You do not know
me." It was this deep sense of faultiness which led him
so often to the mercy-seat, and which filled all his peti-
tions to heaven with humble confessions. He was a be-
liever in the divine authority of the Scriptures. The
revelations of science never for a moment shook his firm
belief in the Bible, as the revelation of God, He was no
blind slave of the letter. He never put the Scriptures
and science in antagonism. If for a time they seemed to
be so, he would say, "This is only apparent. The
Author of the two books is the same, and they will be
found harmonious by-and-by." He was accustomed to
speak of religion as historically old, and science as his-
torically young, and when annoyed or perplexed by the
hasty deductions of the friends of either, he declined to
express an opinion, saying, "I want more time." His
religious hope took a peculiar inspiration and grandeur
from his firm faith in the immortality of the soul.

There was singular beauty and force of meaning in
the incident related by a friend.
3

34

Said a visitor to him at parting, "I am twenty odd years
younger than you ; if I should survive you, there is one
thing I wish you would leave me. "

" What is that?" said the Doctor, smiling.

" Your mind, Doctor. "

"Oh ! that is little enough, — but you know, my dear
friend, it is the only thing I can take with me."

In Dr. Perkins we see how consistent and beautiful is the
life of a man of science and a sincere Christian. There
is something in the study of the works of God calculated
to make men humble and devout. It has sometimes
seemed to us that literature and science had a different
effect upon students, that while one led a man to value
and often overrate his own ideas, the other kept him simple
and humble in the presence of the great facts of nature.

We have certainly in the life of our friend, a beautiful
example of a critical scholar, yet a devout Christian be-
liever, a man of science and yet a man of God, a friend
of progress, and yet holding fast to all that was good and
true, — a physician by profession, but a friend and helper
by choice — truthful, genial, pure, honest, he has finished
his course on earth, and gone to join the society of the
spirits of just men made perfect in glory.

On Saturday morning, February 1, 1873, our friend
was taken ill. No special danger was apprehended during
the day, though some anxiety was felt. About 7 o'clock
that evening, while physicians were in the house and friends
were near him, he suddenly closed his eyes upon this world
and fell asleep in Jesus.