always insisted upon seeing with his own eyes, and was not overmuch inclined to reverence authority, or rely on commonly received statements. Not only were his own personal services very considerable in the exploring of regions difficult of access, or in the investigation of facts difficult to observe; but when, as of late years, he could command the means, these were liberally given in aid of other explorers in his favorite fields. - At the outbreak of the Rebellion he went at once to Washington and offered his services to the government. Commissioned as assistant surgeon in the regular army, without waiting for a position he accepted that of surgeon in the Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers in July, 1861, and was made brigade surgeon in the following September, but remained with his regiment until after the disaster of Ball's Bluff in October. Afterwards he served on the staffs of Generals Lander and Shields, until he was ordered to Washington to take charge of the Lincoln Hospital, one of the first large hospitals established, while the medical department of the army was as yet imperfectly organized, so that the whole responsibility for plan and execution came mostly upon the surgeon in charge. In this position Dr. Bryant's remarkable talent for administration was conspicuous; and his hospital was pronounced, by professional men, to be admirable. His failing health obliged him to resign his commission before the close of the war. Afterwards he went abroad with his family; and in France he bought and presented to the Boston Society of Natural History the La Fresnaye collection of birds, comprising nearly nine thousand specimens, and probably unequalled in types of American species by any cabinet in Europe. Returning home late in the year 1866, he sailed for the West Indies, as winter drew on, intending thence to rejoin his family in France, and in spring to return home with them. Landing at Porto Rico, he was seized, on the 30th of January, with a severe illness, of uncertain character, but rode with great suffering twenty-five miles to Araceibo, where, the next day, he closed for us, far too soona life of rare excellence and promise. REV. DR. WILLIAM JENKS, the most venerable of our late departed associates, died in Boston on the 13th of November last, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. He was born at Newton, Massachusetts, November 25, 1778, and was the son of Captain Samuel and Mary (Haynes) Jenks. His parents having removed to Boston in his early childhood, he received a classical education in the Latin School, 39 VOL. VII. and entered Harvard College in 1793, where he was devoted to the study of Greek, and was one of the founders of the Hasty Pudding Club. He was graduated in 1797, and at his death left the Hon. Horace Binney, of Philadelphia, the only survivor of his class. He married, October 22, 1797, Miss Betsey Russell of Boston, with whom he enjoyed fiftythree years of domestic companionship, as the mother of his children and his associate in varied professional cares, till her death in Boston in September, 1850. He and his wife were among the first in the country to celebrate a "golden wedding." As a teacher, pastor, and scholar in classical and Oriental studies, and as a most earnest and devoted laborer in various causes of humanity and philanthropy, he was enabled to crowd a long life with much valuable service. After his graduation he devoted himself to the work of instruction, having pupils from various parts of the country. While pursuing the study of Theology he was employed as reader in the Episcopal Church in Cambridge, and prepared twenty-five students for college. Having adopted the views and principles of the Congregationalists, he accepted, in 1806, a pastorate in that communion at Bath, Maine, which he filled for twelve years. During the last three of those years he served as Professor of Oriental and English Literature in Bowdoin College, declining an invitation which he had received to succeed the eminent Dr. Buckminster in the ministry at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was ever an active friend of Bowdoin, and for many years a trustee and overseer. The degree of Doctor in Divinity was conferred upon him by Bowdoin College in 1825, and by Harvard in 1842, and that of Doctor of Laws, at a subsequent period, by the former college. While living in Maine, Mr. Jenks was Regimental and afterward Brigade Chaplain in our army, till the close of the war of 1812. In 1818 Mr. Jenks returned to Boston, and opened a private school; continuing, however, to preach as opportunity offered, interesting himself in the religious instruction of seamen, for whom he procured the erection of free chapels, in which he ministered. He performed this service as Secretary of the Boston Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor, being, in fact, the first "missionary at large" in the city. He opened seven distinct religious assemblies in as many different localities, which generally became established churches. His zeal, and the high estimation in which he was held, led to the gathering of a new religious society and church, who built a place of worship in Green Street, installing him its pastor in 1825, for - a ministry of twenty years. While sustaining this office he undertook and completed the chief literary labor of his life, the preparation and publication of a compend of various expository and illustrative works on the contents of the Holy Scriptures. This appeared from the press during the years 1833 1838, in six imperial octavo volumes, entitled "A Comprehensive Commentary on the Holy Scriptures," a list of twenty thousand subscribers having anticipated its publication. He also, subsequently, prepared his "Explanatory Bible Atlas." He was among the very first in the circle of our literary men to cultivate and pursue the study of the Oriental languages and literature; and, in connection with our late President, the Hon. John Pickering, and the Rev. Dr. Anderson, he led the way in founding the American Oriental Society. He was also an active member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. His acquaintance with the present State of Maine, while it was a District of Massachusetts, and his known philanthropical and religious interest in the aborigines, led to his appointment by this Commonwealth to induce the Indians to exchange a roaming life as hunters for that of permanent residents and tillers of the soil. For all his trusts and duties he proved himself a most faithful and efficient agent. He gathered a large and valuable library, characteristic in its contents of his own mind and tastes. He wrote for publication numerous papers, small and brief in their size and contents, but requiring scholarship, research, and the exercise of intelligent judgment, in their subject-matter. Some of these appeared in pamphlet form, others will be found in the Collections, Transactions, or Proceedings of the Societies of which he was a member. There are poetical pieces above ordinary merit from his pen, and he left in manuscript many valuable fruits of his industrious and lengthened life. The large and very miscellaneous library, the manuscripts and diaries which this venerable man has left behind him, bear witness alike to his conscientious industry, the wide scope of his mental activity, and the pure and lofty aims of his heart. It is to be considered that he engaged upon the most difficult linguistic studies, even of the languages of China, Hindostan, Turkey, &c., before commerce or missionary zeal, or the accumulation of the many facilities and the helpful apparatus of our times had brought to the aid of the inquirer any external guidance or labor-saving appliances. Yet, when actual need was felt in our community of men and information for opening the way to the extended intercourse and the Christian enterprise of the last forty years, Dr. Jenks proved to be a most valuable pioneer and counsellor. He had never crossed the ocean; but it is believed that he could have imparted valuable information touching their own countries, in his own home, to travellers hither from all parts of the world. The personal character of this excellent man, distinguished as he was by many virtues, and beloved for his winning and gracious ways, deserves for its rehearsal more space than could be fitly occupied here. He was short in stature, and distinguished in bodily presence by one characteristic which has marked him during the last few years as he walked the streets, as he attended the meetings of the learned, the humane, or the religious fellowships in which his mind and heart were so engaged, or silently shared the platform or the pulpit close beside the speakers. An infirmity of hearing visited upon him a severe deprivation of what he craved so much. He carried with him a large ear-trumpet which he set upon its office when a friend approached to speak with him, or when he put a question which required an answer. The exquisite urbanity and courtesy of his manner, his venerable looks, and his grateful appreciation of the effort made to communicate with him, removed all the irksomeness and constraint from that fettered mode of intercourse. He seemed to be the last survivor of the old school of Christian gentlemen among us, modest, deliberate, and refined in his bearing; considerate and measured in his speech, and carrying with him everywhere an atmosphere of grace and gentleness. He was a profoundly religious man. His relations and intercourse with eminent and worthy as well as with humble and untaught members of the different religious fellowships, and the wide compass of his studies, gave him a most comprehensive friendliness, and a large liberality. He exhibited constant fidelity to his own convictions, with a strong allegiance in love with those who coincided in them, and a most respectful recognition of views from which he differed, and of those who held them. COLONEL SAMUEL SWETT, who died in Boston on the 28th of October last, had reached the age of eighty-four years. He was born at Newburyport June 9, 1782; was prepared for college at the Grammar School of his native town by his father, Dr. John Barnard Swett; and received his degree of Bachelor of Arts at Harvard, with the class of 1800. Having studied law, first with Judge Jeremiah Smith of New Hampshire, and afterwards with Judges Jackson and Livermore of Massachusetts, he commenced the practice of his profession at Salem in 1803, but relinquished it in 1810, to become a partner with his brother in the mercantile house of William B. Swett & Co. in Boston, having in the mean time married a daughter of the eminent merchant, the late Hon. William Gray. Soon after the breaking out of the war of 1812 he was active in organizing a volunteer corps in Boston, under the name of the New England Guards, of which he was the first commander, and which, under his lead, rendered important service in defence of our coast and harbor. Joining the United States Army as a volunteer, in 1814, he served as a topographical engineer on the staff of General Izard, with the rank of Major. After the declaration of peace he was an aid-de-camp to Governor Brooks, and was ever afterwards known as Colonel Swett. He had a strong, taste for military service, and devoted not a little study to the science of war, even to the latest years of his life. Few men followed the campaigns of the late Rebellion with more intelligent and patriotic ardor, or were more ingenious and fertile in the suggestion of whatever might contribute to the comfort, safety, and success of the Union soldiers. He was a member, successively, of the Common Council and of the School Committee of Boston, and for three years one of its Representatives in the Legislature. He was a frequent contributor to some of our magazines and newspapers; and, on his return from Europe, whither he had gone about the time of Napoleon's return from Elba, he published in the Boston Daily Advertiser an account of his tour, and of the events he had witnessed during the memorable Hundred Days. His principal, if not his only, independent publication, however, was an, elaborate account of the Battle of Bunker Hill, in a pamphlet, which went through more than one edition. He was elected into the Academy in May, 1813. Of his five children, two sons and a daughter survive him; but his wife died in 1844, and his eldest son, a Unitarian clergyman of many remarkable gifts, in 1843. Colonel Swett bore his bereavements and infirmities with a brave heart; and his familiar figure, though sorely bent by age, was seen in our streets, and at the meetings of our own Academy, until within a few months of his death. HENRY DARWIN ROGERS, for many years one of our most distinguished Resident Fellows, and whose name was, in consequence of his change of abode, transferred to the Associate list two years ago, died at Shawlands, near Glasgow, upon the very day of our annual meeting last year, namely, on the 29th of May, 1866. Born in Phila |