generous subsidy for necessary deficiencies. Even its limitations were among its advantages. That twice as many applied for admission as could be received into it assured to it a privileged character. The patronage and oversight which it enjoyed made its generous management a certainty. Through the kindness of President Eliot of Harvard College, the writer has been furnished with a copy, from the records of the Corporation, of the documents relating to that munificent donation to the College which bears the name of "Thayer Hall." The following items show the initiation and the completion of his design: "July 31, 1869. Voted, That the President and Messrs. Thayer and Lowell be a committee to consider the expediency of erecting a new dormitory, and procure plans and estimates if they see fit. "Sept. 25, 1869. The committee on the expediency of erecting a new dormitory presented a report recommending the immediate erection of such a building. Whereupon it was Voted, To proceed forthwith to the erection of a new dormitory, according to the plans of Messrs. Ryder & Harris, and under their superintendence. "Voted, That the sum of the tenders of contract upon the said building, and of the commissions chargeable upon the same, be limited to $100,000. "Voted, That the committee appointed July 31, 1869, be empowered to fix the site of the new building, and carry the above votes into execution." BOSTON, Jan. 10, 1870. To the President and Fellows of Harvard College: GENTLEMEN, As stated in the report of the Committee upon a new Dormitory, dated Sept. 25, 1869, I agreed to pay the first fifty thousand dollars which might be called for. I now agree to pay the entire cost of the building, as the money may be wanted. My object in doing this is not simply to meet a great want of the College at this time, but also as a testimony of respect to the memory of my much-loved and honored father, Nathaniel Thayer, D.D., who was a graduate of, and for some time an instructor in, the College; and also to that of my brother John Eliot Thayer, who showed in various ways his interest in the College, and especially in establishing the scholarships bearing his name. With much respect, yours truly, Whereupon it was— N. THAYER. Voted, That the munificent offer of Mr. Thayer be gratefully accepted, and that the President make suitable acknowledgment thereof. 8 Voted, That the new dormitory be named Thayer Hall. Voted, That the Building Committee be directed to place in the vestibule, or other suitable position, a tablet with an inscription expressive of the memorial design contemplated by Mr. Thayer.1 Professor Asa Gray has furnished the writer with some of the particulars connected with another of Mr. N. Thayer's benefactions to the University, namely, his provision of a fireproof Herbarium, with furnishings and library, in connection with the Botanic Gardens. This was one among the many objects and directions of Mr. Thayer's generosity, in which, while starting with a will and expectation of co-operating with others in instituting or advancing some special design, he found himself led on, by circumstances of his own prompting, to do the whole, and even then to be ready to meet the incidental consequences in the development of methods and necessities. The solid and well-protected brick structure for the Herbarium cost about $12,000. It needed an elaborate system of cases and drawers; then an addition to its library; then the Garden itself drew on him for its restoration, in the amount of $5,000. Only his own private papers would show the whole cost of his offering to the collection and preservation of Flora. Under the name of the "Thayer Expedition," rightly so called, because it was prompted, and so far as private liberality was engaged, was wholly sustained, at the charge of the subject of this Memoir, appreciative notice must here be taken of a most successful enterprise of world-wide interest to scientists and naturalists. The expedition combined in equal portions the lofty and chivalrous enthusiasm of Professor Louis Agassiz, and the unstinted generosity of Mr. Thayer. And it may be added that Mr. Thayer himself acted under the double inspiration of his interest in science and his admiration and love for the great naturalist. 1 The tablet bears this simple inscription: THIS HALL IS ERECTED BY IN MEMORY OF HIS FATHER, AND OF HIS BROTHER, Mr. Agassiz had procured in 1859, with large subsequent help from State grants, as well as from individuals, the founding of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, in connection with Harvard College. One of the fruits of the Thayer Expedition is a volume bearing the following title: "A Journey in Brazil, by Professor and Mrs. Louis Agassiz. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1868." The contents of the book are mainly from the journal of Mrs. Agassiz. The dedication of the volume is "To Mr. Nathaniel Thayer, the Friend who made it possible to give this Journey the character of a Scientific Expedition, THE PResent VOLUME is Gratefully inscribed.” In simple and graceful sentences the Professor relates the circumstances which led to the expedition. In 1865 he had felt it necessary to seek relief from the strain and weariness of work, and recuperation of health by change and motion. His thoughts and longings turned to the study of the Fauna of Brazil, particularly as its enlightened and generous Emperor had previously expressed his sympathy with Agassiz, and had sent valuable collections to the Museum at Cambridge. But the distance of space, the expense of time, the lack of pecuniary resources, and the necessity of providing for competent scientific assistants and companions to aid his single-handed efforts, were formidable obstacles in the way. The words of this earnest seeker must be quoted here: ence. "While I was brooding over these thoughts I chanced to meet Mr. Nathaniel Thayer, whom I have ever found a generous friend to sciThe idea of appealing to him for a scheme of this magnitude had not, however, occurred to me; but he introduced the subject, and after expressing his interest in my proposed journey, added, 'You wish, of course, to give it a scientific character; take six assistants with you, and I will be responsible for all their expenses, personal and scientific.' It was so simply said, and seemed to me so great a boon, that at first I hardly believed I had heard him rightly. In the end I had cause to see in how large and liberal a sense he proffered his support to the expedition, which, as is usual in such cases, proved longer and more costly than was at first anticipated. Not only did he provide most liberally for assistants, but until the last specimen was stored in the Museum, he continued to advance whatever sums were needed, always desiring me to inform him should any additional expenses occur on closing up the affairs of the expedition. It seems to me that the good arising from the knowledge of such facts justifies me in speaking here of these generous deeds, accomplished so unostentatiously that they might otherwise pass unnoticed." (Preface.) Mr. Thayer found his full return in every circumstance and event, every appreciative and helping agency which came in to advance the enterprise, and in its rich and auspicious results. His pleasure began in realizing, as he parted with Professor Agassiz, the radiant and beaming delight of the great naturalist, as he started to seek the improvement of his grand opportunity and the fruition of his high expectations. His trained scientific assistants were an artist, a conchologist, two geologists, an ornithologist, and a preparator. There were also six or more volunteers, with scientific tastes and other accomplishments, all of them catching the ardent enthusiasm of their leader. Among these was Stephen Van Rensselaer, the eldest son of Mr. Thayer, whose career of promise and hopefulness closed in early manhood in 1871. The enormous collections of the expedition began to be received in Cambridge in 1866; and though the extensive spaces of the Museum for receiving and displaying them have been lengthening and broadening ever since, they are not yet all open and classified. The Professor made his first report before his return in 1867. In the Report of the Trustees of the Museum in January, 1866, it is “Ordered, That the grateful acknowledgments of this Board be offered by the President to Nathaniel Thayer, Esq., for his munificent, kind, and well-considered arrangements, enabling Professor Louis Agassiz, in the way he most desires, and in the most efficient manner, to serve the interests of the Museum, and the cause of science, during his present absence in South America." Mr. Thayer's munificent generosity for the objects which so engaged the toil and zeal of Agassiz met with much appreciative notice in Europe. The "Gesellschaft für Erdkunde," a Geographical Society in Berlin, one of the oldest, most honorable, of the European learned societies, and, like them all, exclusive, an association gathering such members as Humboldt, Carl Ritter, Lepsius, Dr. Livingstone, and the like, elected Professor Agassiz and Mr. Thayer to Honorary Membership. The diploma of the latter was accompanied by a letter to him as "a high-minded friend of science." It would not be consistent with a regard for the modesty and dignity which were so prominent in him to make an exposition or summary of his good and generous deeds. The list of our curiously classified institutions for every form of charity, benevolence, literary, scientific, and artistic culture, and all practical good objects and ends, is well known to be a very long one, and the solicitors for them are by no means only annual in their calls. It would be difficult to find a single one of them that was initiated without a gift of thousands from Mr. Thayer, or aided by repeated contributions lavish and heartily bestowed on the instant call. The Massachusetts General Hospital and the Children's Hospital in Boston were large sharers in his generosity. The newspapers might have kept his name in type as answering to all appeals at home and from abroad. Indeed, the announcement of a liberal gift from him appeared in the papers which noted his decease. The private pensioners on his bounty, continued on his memoranda for years, were as sure of an annual return as if they had claims on an annuity. The genial and kindly tone and smile added a grace to his favors. Another direction in which Mr. Thayer exercised a large liberality deserves a special mention. On a change in the ministry of the Second Church, then standing on its old site in North Boston, he connected himself, as his brother John had done, with the First Church, on its then site in Chauncey Place. The edifice there was fast becoming wholly unsuited to its purpose by the removal of its old households, the thinning of the congregation, and the conversion of the neighborhood into a crowded mart for business. It was necessary for the survival and prosperous renewal of the Society that it should prepare for a great change of place, and for the erection of a fifth edifice in succession to its first wilderness temple, rude and homely in material and structure. So long as the rich and tasteful and solid edifice of the First Church at the corner of Berkeley and Marlborough Streets shall stand, it will be a monument of the zealous perseverance and of the munificence of Mr. Thayer. His contributions exceeded the sum of $75,000, nearly a quarter of the whole cost, though much wealth is represented in the Society. He erected in the |