Nat the Navigator. A Life of Nathaniel Bowditch. For Young Persons

by Henry I. Bowditch

ACADEMIC HONORS.

The other papers I shall not mention, because they are upon subjects difficult to be comprehended. The last appeared in the volumes of the Memoirs of the Academy published in 1820. All these papers were read by the astronomers and mathematicians of Europe, and the consequence was, that Mr. Bowditch was chosen a member of many of the learned societies instituted there for the promotion of science. In 1818 he was chosen into the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, and in the year following was enrolled on the list of the Royal Irish Academy. While I am upon this subject, I would state that he afterwards was elected associate of the Astronomical Society of London, of the Academies of Berlin and Palermo, and had a correspondence with most of the astronomers of Europe. The National Institute of France was about choosing him one of its candidates for the position of foreign member, only eight of which are chosen from the whole world. He died before any election was held.

LITERARY LABORS.

In addition to the papers to the Academy, Mr. Bowditch published several articles in reviews, &c. One of them is an interesting history of modern astronomy, which is intended to give us an account of the lives and doings of the most celebrated astronomers of modern times. Such were his principal literary labors, and the greater part of them were performed during his residence in Salem.

The article on modern astronomy was prepared a few years after his removal to Boston. To that removal let us now turn. In 1823 overtures were made to him to control two institutions in Boston, one for life insurance, the other for marine risks. The offers were too liberal for him to refuse. His duties to his family compelled him to accept them. On his determination being known, his fellow-citizens paid him a pleasant tribute of respect and love by inviting him to a public and farewell dinner.

REMOVAL TO BOSTON.

As the family left Salem, Mr. Bowditch and his wife often thought that, after remaining eight or ten years at Boston, they would return, in order that their bodies might be laid by the side of those of their ancestors. But new friends awaited them in Boston; new ties were formed there; and although they always looked to their native place as the seat of many of their most beloved associations, they both lived in Boston until their deaths.

His engagements of a public nature, during his residence in Boston, were similar to those he had whilst at Salem. For many years he managed both of the institutions to which he had been called. But the directors, finding that the duties of one were sufficient to occupy all his attention, broke up the Marine Insurance Company, and Mr. Bowditch (or Dr. Bowditch, as he was now generally called, having received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard University in 1816) devoted himself to the life insurance office. This he raised to be one of the greatest institutions in New England. By an alteration in the charter, proposed by Dr. Bowditch, this became, in fact, a great savings bank, where immense sums are now yearly put in trust for widows and orphans. The only difference in his habits, caused by his removal to Boston, was an enlargement of his sphere of labor. All objects of public utility still engaged his attention.

The system of popular lectures, of which we have now so many, commenced with the Mechanic Institution of which he was the first president. He was zealous for the improvement of the Boston Athenæum, and was very influential towards getting for it large sums of money, and in making it more liberal in its rules.

SERVICES TO HARVARD COLLEGE.