The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-10-17

himself in a letter written in 1869; "I
 am Of more than usually reserved
 and unsocial nature. avoid society as
 much as I can, and am never quite
 comfortable in the company of any ex-
 nearly bound, My besetting sin Is
 burying myself fin my books and pa
 pers, and too much overlooking all
 that is outside Of thcm.--partly from
 natural tendencies. partly because I
 feel that in that way 1 shall on the
 whole do most good and give most
 pleasure to others" His bearing was
 perfectly simple and unpretentious-in
 short. that of a gentleman.
 Like Aristotle's ''mngnanimous
 man." he gave little heed 10 praise or
 blame-not being elated or cast down
 by either. He loved learning for It's
 own sake and not for it's rewards of
 fame. The words which he wrote with
 regard 10 Professor James liadley are
 strikingly true of himself: No one
 was ever more free from the desire 10
 shine among his fellows. His was a
 modesty entirely unfeigncd, and free
 from every taint of lower feeling.
 He devoted himself so entirely to truth
 and virtue and duty, as he knew them,
 that there was left no room for any
 thought of self. He neither extolled
 himself nor gave way unduly to oth-
 CTS" Another says of him: He knew
 his power, but possessed 1t in the spirit
 of moderation and reserve" He was
 emlnently guileless-though by no
 means a subject for imposition by oth-
 CTS. He would have made an admira-
 ble lawyer or statesman, but he could
 not have been politician. He saw
 truth clearly and abhored anything like trickery or disingenuousness. He
 was also thoroughly sane. Sentimen-
 tai enthusiasm never led him to denote as certain views which later were to be proved false. He had few scientific re- fractions to make in the course of for ty-five years of publication. His state ments on uncertain points were care fully guarded. Where doubt existed he was apt to feel 1t; in fact he was called in Germany "der Skeptiker der Sprach- wissenchaft." His sanity restrained eAAa'i iAohh NAi SNSeSSts. OplIl- ions on the desirability of freedom in the spelling of the English language were clear and clearly expressed, and he was the first chairman of the con- mittee appointed by the Pathological association for the furtherance of this reform in our country but he saw so distinctly the difficulties in the way of an abrupt change, at least for the pres ent, that he wasted no time in a QuiX- otic crusade. He was invited by the Japanese government to prepare an opinion in regard to the adoption of English as the official language of Ja- pan-but he was not carried away by any sentimental notions of English as a Weltsprache. II, His mind was like a diamond and his style was eminently clear and forcible. He never strove to be eloquent, but always expressed his thoughts in the fewest and simplest words. His was the style of a. teacher rather than that of a popular platform lecturer, but was enlivened by strong sense of humor and by keen wit.
 Professor Whitney's services to sci ence and learning were freely recog- nlzed, both at home and abroad. He received the degree of Ph. D., causa honoris, from the, University of Breslau in 1865; that of LL D. from Williams college in 1868, from the College of and Mary in 1869, from Har- ward in 1876; and from the University of Edinburgh in 1889; that of J. U. D. from St. Andrews university in Scotland in 1S74 that of l.. H. D. from Columbia in 1887. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences: m honorary member of the Oriental pr Asiatic societies of Great Britain and Ireland, of Germany, of Bengal, of Japan, and of Peking; of the Literary societies of Leyden, of Upsala, and of fellow of the Royal society ,f Edinburgh; member or correspondent of the academies of Dublin, of Turin 'f Rome dynceD, of St. Petersburg of Berlin, and of Denmark; also, cor of the Institute of France, and foreign knight of the Prussian order pour le merite for Science and Arts, being elected May 31, 1881, to fill l he vacancy made by the death of l IlolIldS CdTlyle.
 Just after a hard summers work, l tt the Very beginning of the college | 'ear ill the autumn of 1886, Professor was prostrated by a severe | lisorder of the heart. For a. time he vas forbidden by his physician to do nore than a minimum of work. He vas obliged to avoid fatigue and ex- itement, and was limited strictly in lis physical exercise. Those who had cen him return invigoratad and ex- liberated from a ten-lnilas' walk in he country were deeply pained to watch his slow, measured gait. He sur rised many by his graceful submis- ion to restrictions which he must have cit most keenly, and his household Tas still the brightest and most cheer- ul Ill the city. The gantler side of is nature became more prominent nan before. His face grew more and 1oie beautiful, with his white hair nd beard, and delicate fair con- lexion. Though not an old man, he ecame truly venerable in appearance. nd his presence was a real bene6ic- ion to all whom he met. He was obliged , abandon entirely his work with un- ergraduate classes, but continued his lasses in sanskrit, receiving the sru- ents in his study at his home. Dur IS most of the past year he had six these exercises each week. He did ot abandon his other scholarly work. turing the early years uf this period weakness, the Century Dictionary "