The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-05-21
BENZ. NJ. /
BALTIMORE, May 18th, 1859.
DEATH OF DIR. NER.

| The same steamer which brings intelligence of
the death of the great HUMBOLDT contains also the
report of the decease of the famous DR.. DGoNYs1Us
LARDNER. We condense from the Tribune the fol-
lowing brief notice of Lis career: DIR. LARDNER
born on the 23d February, 1870, and conse-
quenty sixty-nine years of age at his death.
He was the of an attorney of Wexford, Ireland
said to have been better Judge of horsefesh and
whiskey, than of points of law. The breaking of a
limb, when young LARDNER was sixteen, deprived
him of the society of his companions-nrned his at
tention to books-and he rose from his bed an
anxious and successful student. He entered
Trinity College, Dublin, as a sizar, a rank but one
| removed above mental. He soon distinguished
himself so much, as to create demand for his SER
! vices as tutor After having spent two years at
| College, he met with Miss FLooD-a natural daugh-
ter of Counsellor FLOOD, lady whose sole charm
was the possession of f5.00O-a temptation too
strong for the poor student, whose father was
dead, and who had a mother, brother and four Sis
tiers dependant upon him for support-and he mar
ried her. By this lady be had two sons Soon
after the birth of the second, in 1885, he separated
from his wife, land some twelve years subsequently,
procured divorce from her. 1t is said that about
this period he took holy orders and became chap
lain to the College, but allowed his sacerdotal
prefix to become obsolete. Between 1918 and 1925,
he wrote his two best works-"Elements of Eu-
clid," and "The Steam Engine" When the Lon
don University was founded, HENRY BRoUGHAM,
DESTROYS Of enlistng the most vigorous intellects
in its service, caused LARDNER to be called to the
chair of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy. The
University, set up by the reform party to counter
balance Oxford and Cambridge, however, did not
succeed, and LARDNER vacated his seat, and turned
his
provement of educational works. He suggested
the idea of the "Penny Magazine" and
| afterwards, having secured the assistance of
such men as Sir HUMPHREY DAvY, Sir WALTER
ScorT, Sir JAMES Macintosh, SoUTuEY. SIsMoyDr,
&C., he founded his celebrated Cabinet Cyclopedia.
To this work be contributed some of the most valu-
able papers-those on Geometry, Heat &C. In
1856 his eldest son, HENRY, committed suicide by
drowning himself in the Serpentine river. For his
remaining son he obtained commission in the
Supply Department in the British Army-a post
which he still holds. In 1889, when DR.. LARpNER
was forty eight years old, he formed an at
tachment for Mrs. HEAvYsIDE wife of CAPTAIN Fl
and eloped with her. Her husband recovered
verdict to the amount of $40, 900 in
suit for damages. He came, as many will re-
member, accompanied by Mrs. H., to this country
In 1910, and his career here is said to have been
! pecunary success. He was attacked BY the New
lorK Herald, but by the good offices of the unayoid-
| able Chevaller WIKoFF, the thing was arranged
ana the DIR. became an occasional contributor TO
that journal. In lS45 he returned to Europe and
on the death of the legal proprietor of Mrs. Heavy
SIDE, married her. By her he has family of three
children. The fact by which DR.. LARDNER is most
generally remembered, is his supposed assertion of
the impossibility of steamer successfully naviga
ting the Atlantic. Upon this point the Herald SAYS
A remarkable fact in the history of Dr. Lardner,
and one that possesses peculiar interests for this
try, his prediction that transatlantic navi-
CATION by steam impossibility. When the
idea first suggested the Doctor secuted it, and
declared that steamer could be built large enough
to carry coal sufficient for so long a voyage. How
that prediction has failed to be verified we all know
Since the realization of the grand idea we believe
that the Doctor attempted to deny that he had
ever uttered the sentiment; but there was little
doubt that such was his expressed opinion at one
time.
The Tribune, on the contrary, declares:
Popular men, whether artists or men of science.
are generally undervalued by their cotemporaries
and Dr. Lardner has suffered severely by the criti-
cisms of his brother philosophers, who charge him
with shallowness. One of these charges, perhaps
the most popular, against his scientific character
was the assertion alleged to have been made by
him that emo steam vessel would ever successfully
cross the Atlantic ocean," No such opinion was
ever uttered by him. 1t was in 1886. we believe
that in discussion with Vignolles, at meeting in
Dublin College, during the Congress of the ASCOT
alton of Science in that city, Dr. Lardner stated
his opinion that no steam vessel that he had ever
seen could possibly carry enough fuel to accomplish
the passage from Europe to America. We, who
now write, were present and sitting next to him as
he spoke, and frequently since have heard him ad-
vert to the matter, remarking how trifing thing
might affect the popular character of public man.
We have no doubt that DR.. LARDNER will have to