MEMORIAL. 
Thomas Perkins Shepard. MEMORIAL 
OK 
THOMAS PERRINS SHEPARD, I, D, 
READ BEFORE 
THE TRUSTEES OF THE RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL, 
SEPTEMBER 19, 1877, 
BY 
GEORGE I. OHAOE, 
President of the Hospital. 
PROVIDENCE: 
SIDNEY S . It I D E li . 
1 8 7 7. PRINTED BY THE PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY. M E M O R T A L. 
Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees: 
It is fit that somewhat more than a passing notice 
should be taken of those who have filled an important 
sphere and deserved well of their day and generation. 
It is due not only to them, but to the best interests of 
society, that their virtues and services should not be 
immediately forgotten. The important lessons to be 
derived from their lives — from the principles which 
guided them, and the results achieved by their labors — 
lessons more valuable than any mere material results 
however beneficial, should not be lost upon the com- 
munity in which they have lived. It is an ill omen, 
when society ceases to hold its benefactors, of whatever 
degree, in reverent and grateful remembrance, — when 
it allows the good and the bad, the worthy and the 
unworthy, the generous and high-minded, and the mean 
and ignoble, to pass alike into forgetfulness. This 
must be my apology, if apology be needed, for attempt- 
ing a brief sketch of the life of one who for a whole generation has occupied a prominent place in our com- 
munity, and left his impress upon an unusually large 
number of its varied interests — more especially who 
has identified himself to so great an extent with the 
Rhode Island Hospital, having from its very inception 
through every stage of its growth and progress, con- 
tributed to it without stint of his means, his counsels, 
and his untiring labors. 
Thomas Perkins Shepard was born on the 16th day 
of March, 1817, in Salem, Mass. He was the oldest son 
of Michael Shepard, a man of great probity and benevo- 
lence of character, distinguished no less for his public and 
private benefactions, than for his success as a merchant, 
at a time when the old town was the seat of large 
wealth and an extensive commerce. On his mother’s 
side the family record shows an honorable descent from 
the time of the landing at Salem in 1636. The old 
homestead in which he was born and where he spent 
his early years, was on a corner of the street, imme- 
diately opposite the house, now standing, in which the 
Salem witches were tried, and which is still known as 
the “witch house.” His boyhood must have been 
unusually bright and happy. Amiable in disposition, 
gentle and winning in manners, quick of apprehension 
and apt to learn, he was the favorite of his teachers, 
and the hope and pride of his family and friends. The 
following touching letter from the Hon. Henry K. 
Oliver, by whom he was prepared for college, now 
Mayor of Salem and verging upon fourscore years, 
gives an interesting picture of him at this period of his 
life: — “My recollection of Dr. Shepard as a lad is very 
distinct; lie having been a near neighbor, pupil and 
beloved young friend. The similarity of our tastes 
brought us into more frequent intercourse than is usual 
between master and scholar; and I took all the more 
interest in him, and employed him the more, because 
of his unfailing fidelity to himself, to his studies and 
to me, as well as his most salutary example among his 
associates, and his premature skill in the department 
of chemistry; in which he was of great service to me, 
by assisting in preparation for lectures and experimen- 
tal illustrations. Ilis tastes lay principally in that study, 
and they seem to have influenced him in the business of 
life.” 
“His native disposition, as I knew it, was gentle, his 
deportment respectful, yet always pleasant and confid- 
ing, his manner always winning. I can see even now 
at this remote period, the gentle smile that pervaded 
his features, whenever he came to me for aid in any of 
his studies. With excellent natural gifts and faithful 
habits of study, and conscientiousness in all his work, 
he could not fail to be an excellent scholar; so that 
when offered for college, it was but to enter with ease.” 
His devotion to his studies and his comparative 
indifference and even disinclination to the active sports 
of boyhood might have proved detrimental, by impairing 
his excellent constitution, but for the practical tenden- 
cies above referred to, which early manifested themselves. 
While still at an almost tender age we find him in a 
cabinet-maker’s shop near his father’s residence, in which 6 
lie had hired a bench and tools, and where he spent 
most of his leisure hours in learning to use them. 
Believing it wise to encourage a taste so innocent and 
healthful, his father fitted up for him in the chamber of 
his barn a workshop and laboratory, and supplied them 
with all needed implements and apparatus. “ Here,” 
says a near relative and friend, “ he could most generally 
be found, outside of his study hours, engaged in 
mechanics or experiments in chemistry; and here I 
have had many lessons from him in fancy box-making, 
turning, etc.” While he was thus following with 
boundless content the strong leadings of a youthful 
fancy, he was unconsciously training himself to that 
accurate use of eye and hand for which he was remark- 
able, and which in after life was of so great assistance 
to him in his chosen pursuit. Although drawn by so 
powerful an attraction to his shop and laboratory and 
finding so great pleasure in them, he did not allow his 
employments there to take from the time due to his 
studies. His lessons were faithfully and well learned. 
At the early age of fourteen he was prepared for college, 
but his father wisely kept him at home a year longer. In 
the autumn of 1832 he entered the Freshman class of 
Brown University, where a new and wider field for his 
activities and aspirations opened itself. Though not 
ambitious of rank, and influenced in study far more by 
his natural tastes and inclinations, than by a regard to 
mere college standing, his scholarship even in the more 
elementary studies of the first and second years, in 
which he was less interested, was such as to give him a high place in his class. It was not, however, till the 
third year, when the physical sciences were leached, that 
his real ability and character became apparent. I 
remember well a call which he made early in the junior 
year to remonstrate against what he conceived to be an 
act of injustice done to a classmate and friend. During 
the conversation he spoke to me of his interest in 
chemistry, which the class were then pursuing, and of 
the considerable amount of time he had given to its 
study, and to the preparation of experiments for illus- 
trating its truths. The interview, which commenced 
rather sharply, though without any intended discourtesy, 
terminated by his accepting the offer of a place in my 
laboratory as private pupil and assistant. From that 
time till the end of his college course, he was as much 
at home in the laboratory as myself, and spent almost as 
much time in it. His interest soon extended from 
chemistry to the other natural sciences. During the 
summer of his senior year he accompanied me on a 
somewhat extended excursion through the middle, 
southern and western States, having for its object the 
study of some of the more important geological forma- 
tions in situ, and the collection of mineral and fossil 
specimens from them. During this long period of 
almost daily intercourse, with relations as simple, affec- 
tionate and unrestrained as perhaps ever existed between 
pupil and teacher, was laid the foundation of a life-long 
friendship — a friendship which death alone on either 
side could terminate. 
That his other studies did not suffer from his devo- tion to the specialties which most interested him, may 
be inferred from the fact that on graduation he was 
appointed by the corporation to a tutorship in the 
University, although not yet twenty years of age. This 
office, however, he did not long hold. After a year of 
service, marked by signal ability, he resigned his place 
in the College preparatory to commencing the study of 
medicine, to which he had from the beginning looked 
forward. Returning to his native town he entered the 
office of Dr. A. L. Pierson, who afterwards lost his life 
in the disaster at Norwalk, Conn., on the 6th of May, 
1853. On the opening of the Harvard course of 
lectures in Boston he removed to that city where he 
remained till he had completed his medical studies. 
During the last year he was connected with the Massa- 
chusetts General Hospital. He had charge of the 
dispensary and performed the duties of resident physi- 
cian. The position involved a large amount of labor, 
but at the same time afforded rare opportunities for 
improvement in his profession. 
Having availed himself of the best means offered at 
home for carrying forward his education, he now 
resolved to go abroad. He was young and in good 
health, with a constitution capable of great endurance. 
His means were ample, he having inherited from an early 
friend of his father, whose name he bore, what was then 
regarded as a small fortune. There was no reason why he 
should restrain his aspirations for a broad and liberal 
culture, or place a restriction upon his desire to see what- 
ever of interest, whether in nature or art or human society the old world had to offer. He accordingly formed the 
most generous plans of study and travel. In a letter 
written a short time before leaving for Europe, he says: 
“ I intend to sail in the packet for Havre on the 16th of 
next month. I shall be in Paris probably from twelve to 
eighteen months, and if I do not make the Garden of 
Plants and the Lectures.on Chemistry, Comparative Anat- 
omy, etc., of value to me, I am very much mistaken. 
You know it is my desire to settle in life as a professor 
of chemistry—rather than as a practising physician ; but 
I shall prepare myself for both situations as thoroughly 
as if I had but one in view. From France I shall visit 
England, Scotland, and probably Dublin, as the profes- 
sional advantages of this latter place are very great. I 
shall pass through Belgium to Germany and stay long 
enough to learn the language. From Germany I shall 
proceed to Italy, and spend eight or ten months,— thence 
to Palestine, Egypt, and down the Red Sea—home. I 
expect to be abroad three years or more. Such is an 
outline of my route—hut circumstances will vary it, it is 
impossible to say how much — not materially, however, 
if I can prevent it.” 
This programme was substantially carried out. The 
period of his absence, however, extended to nearly four 
years, and he returned from his journeyings in the East, 
not as he expected by the Red Sea in one of his father’s 
ships, but back through Europe, revisiting on the way 
its principal cities. 
Though so full of interests and with a prospect so 
attractive opening up before him, he did not forget his 10 
friends or the University. Never was his thoughtfulness 
of others or his readiness to do for them more striking. 
In a letter of nearly the same date, September 16, 1840, 
he says: “Now think what I can do for you. I can 
exchange fossils, specimens, shells, etc., and if you will 
send me on duplicates I will do the best I can for you. 
But to do this to advantage I must have letters to the 
Directors of the Jardin des Plantes, and to other scientific 
men. Can you procure them for me or put me in the 
way of getting them ? I shall be in Paris, probably 
eighteen months, and during that time shall have 
splendid opportunities, if I can only improve them. I 
mean to visit, also, all the scientific places in England, 
Germany and Italy, and can be of great service to your 
department, if you give me your cooperation. All I 
want is introductions and specimens, and such is the 
eagerness in Europe to obtain our fossils that I am 
certain you can do better in this way than by purchases.” 
On the desired letters being forwarded to him, he 
writes, October 5, 1840 : “I received with great pleasure 
the packet you sent me. I hope I can be of service to 
you while in Paris. You know how willingly I will 
execute any commissions. You shall hear from me 
every month, and I shall hope to hear as often from you. 
To a stranger in a strange land a letter from such a 
friend will be like cool waters to a thirsty soul.” His 
readiness to accept private commissions, one of the 
severest tests of friendship, was not greater than the 
care, fidelity and good judgment with which he executed 
them. The following extracts from one of his earlier letters from Paris will give some idea of the variety and 
fullness of his life in the new world to which he had 
come: “ For the first three weeks I did nothing but 
sight seeing ; and really you know not in America what 
sight seeing is. A man might pass his lifetime in Paris 
and find something new and entertaining every day. 
You cannot expect me in the compass of a letter to 
give you any idea of what I have seen. From the 
Louvre down to the shops of the Palais Royal, every 
thing is full of interest; and even the little fancy articles 
of the shops are so elegant in design and so skilfully 
arranged that every stranger who comes here passes 
hours in looking at shop windows. They say, and very 
truly, that Paris is the ‘ ladies’ paradise ’; for, from the 
bonnets to the shoes, every article of ladies’ dress is 
elegant in the extreme, and so great is the variety, and 
at such cheap rates for each article, that I wonder that 
every husband in the place is not ruined, as I cannot 
conceive it possible that any lady could resist the 
temptation to buy. After spending in this sort of idle, 
and yet delightful life, about three weeks, I moved over 
the other side into the ‘ noble faubourg,’ and began in 
earnest the study of medicine. I cannot give you even 
an outline of the courses of medical instruction here— 
for the system is so extensive that it would require a 
volume — but if I tell you my mode of life, you will see 
what American students usually do. I rise about seven, 
which is very early at this season, and get to the 
4 Hopital de la Charite’ about a quarter before eight. 
This is an immense hospital containing about six hundred beds, and is visited by three physicians and two 
surgeons every morning — a certain number of patients 
being allotted to each. Velpeau, now the first surgeon 
in the world, whom I follow, has about one hundred and 
twenty—these are all visited in about an hour and a 
quarter; and a little after nine he gives a lecture on all 
the cases, in the amphitheatre close by the hall. This 
lasts till half past ten. We then go home to breakfast. 
After breakfast we attend usually two lectures at the 
‘ Ecole de Medicine,’ on anatomy and surgical anatomy. 
From three to six we attend at ‘La Charite,’ three times a 
week, and at T’Hopital des Enfans Malades,’ three times, 
to study with the ‘ Interne ’ in private the cases which 
we see in public every morning. This completes the 
day. In the evening we read, write, or go to the 
‘ spectacle.’ But so completely do I get exhausted by 
the labors of the day, that it is really a great effort to 
go to the greatest attraction of Paris. I have been only 
four times since I have been here—twice to the ‘ Grand 
Opera,’ once to the ‘ Comique,’ and once to ‘ Franconi’s.’ ” 
In the same letter he says: “ Dr. Wayland arrived 
here last Friday; audit was not until he had been here 
four days that I heard of his arrival. Me was very sick 
the whole passage out, and was sick all the time he was 
in England. He is now nearly well, but not in good 
spirits. Much to my surprise and sorrow he has 
renounced his intention of visiting other parts of Europe. 
I hope, however, as he finds himself getting better he 
will change his mind and go at least to Florence and 
Rome. I shall do all in my power to induce him to do so. He is as pleasantly situated in Paris as a man who 
can scarce speak a word of French can be ; that is, he 
is like a lion tormented by wasps ; for he finds himself 
awfully cheated every time he attempts to purchase even 
the smallest article. He gave three and one-half francs 
for a pair of gloves which usually sell for twelve sons. He 
gave five francs for two armfulls of wood, and this morn- 
ing I found him buying ten kilograms of coal at four 
and one-half francs, when the price is seven francs per 
one hundred kilograms. The way he looked at the fel- 
low who was selling it to him when I told him what 
the common price was, was ‘ magnifique.’ He did not 
know French enough to say a word. But the fellow 
understood the look well enough without. He cut out 
of the room as if the Doctor were after him with a 
bowie knife. I have suspended one course of lectures 
for the purpose of going round with him, to do the 
talking. We have visited a good many things together 
and have a thousand more to visit. I have tried to 
persuade him to go to the opera with me in the evening, 
but he will not.” 
How well he improved the opportunities which his 
extended plan of study offered, how his interests 
widened and extended from science to art and language 
and literature and politics, until they at length took in 
all the means of the most generous culture ; in a word, 
how broad and how deep he laid the foundations of that 
education which was to fit him for his place and work 
in life, is best shown by his letters while abroad, from 
which I give one or two more extracts. They will serve 14 
further to illustrate his nice observation and his dis- 
criminating taste as well as his power of seizing upon 
the most interesting aspects of objects and his unusual 
felicity in describing them. Under date of May IS, 1S43, 
he writes : “ 1 have now been three months in Rome, 
and could wish the months might be lengthened into 
years. It is the most interesting city in the world, for 
its history, its antiquities, its public ceremonies, and the 
tine arts. Nor has the society been less attractive this 
winter than the more legitimate objects of interest. 
Mr. Greene, our consul, gave parties every Wednesday 
evening, which were well attended and occasionally bril- 
liant The weather here has been lovely for three 
weeks past, warm without being hot, clear without 
being glaring. It is such weather that mere existence 
is a luxury, and is peculiarly tempting to that ‘ dolce far 
niente,’ which we read of as the characteristic of the 
climate of Italy. I have a fine horse and every day 
take long gallops over the desolate campagna, which is 
without fences, uncultivated, and scattered over with 
melancholy ruins. But whichever way I leave Rome 
I can rarely resist the desire to visit towards sunset the 
fountain of Egeria. It is a lovely spot and most fit for 
solitude and meditation; and more beautiful now in its 
ruins and desertion, than when surrounded by temples 
and palaces. Juvenal’s wish is accomplished: 
‘ quanto praestautius esset 
Numen aquae, viridi si raargine clauderet undas 
Herba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum.’ 
It is now a simple fountain with some ruined brick walls about it, and surrounded by tall grass and wild 
flowers. Not far off is the tomb of Cecilia Metella, 
equally lone and deserted. Indeed every spot in the 
vicinity of Rome is hallowed ground, and has been cele- 
brated by some deed of valor or some effusion of genius.” 
In a letter written from Florence, he says : “ I left 
Vienna a month since, having during my stay there, 
read the principal modern authors, and made a long step 
ahead in speaking the language — that indeed being 
the chief object of my stay. Three days after leaving 
Vienna I was in Venice—the most beautiful and fairy- 
like city I have ever seen. If I were asked to name the 
two most remarkable places that I have visited I should 
say Venice and Petra—one rising as by magic out of 
the sea, and the other carved from the rock I 
have been here some ten days, occupied constantly in 
the galleries and studios. What they are you know too 
well to need any description from me I have bought 
nothing as yet, and am in perfect despair as to what to 
buy. I am very desirous of getting something for Dr. 
Wayland that will suit him, and be suitable for him. 
lie takes greatly to statues, and has a fine and severe 
taste in that branch of the ‘ divine arts ’; but has at the 
same time a most inconsistent and undutiful antipathy to 
Venuses and the young gentlemen in a pair of wings, 
and ‘ nothing else,’ and seems to prefer good substantial 
drapery to the most captivating fig leaves. Now I know 
for certain only one statue which would in every way 
suit him, and I am ashamed of my own selfishness when 
I say it—I want that myself. It is Canova’s Magdalen 16 
—a statue not so much admired as many others ; but 
to my mind it is the most perfect ideal of beauty and 
penitence that the mind of man has ever conceived. I 
have persuaded myself, that although it would suit him, 
it would not suit all his visitors, because it is a female 
figure only partially draped. But as I said before, I fear 
a good deal of selfishness has led me to this conclusion. 
There is one other statue which I think he has never 
seen, and therefore am in doubt whether it would please 
him. It is a child praying, a boy of some two or four 
years — the very poetry of devotion — a statue that I 
should buy for myself next after the Magdalen. It has 
been made only a few years, but copies of it are all over 
Europe. It is the statue of the day. It is not draped, 
but any man’s mind must be thoroughly debased, who 
could see anything indelicate in it. Will you tell him 
I have described this statue to you, and see what he 
thinks of it ? ” 
His residence abroad in different countries and under 
different governments, afforded him a favorable oppor- 
tunity for comparing the institutions and customs of his 
own land with those of Europe, which he did not fail 
to improve. Although his pride of country suffered 
some abatement and he became more sensible of our 
faults as a people, he did not come back denationalized 
or less a republican. In a letter written soon after the 
suffrage troubles in our State, and containing some very 
just comments upon them, he adverts to a more general 
source of danger to our government and to the rights 
and liberties of citizens — the tyranny of public opinion 17 
and its ascendancy over law. “ Where is one freest,” 
he asks, “ in his actions and in the expression of his 
opinions, in New York or Boston, or in Paris or Berlin, 
or even in Vienna? Will not every American who has 
resided abroad be compelled to reply, in the latter cities ? 
What was the fate of Garrison in Boston for publishing 
some insulting expressions on the inconsistency of slave- 
holding republicans? lie was nearly torn in pieces by 
a mob in broadcloth. What was the fate of the Ursu- 
line Convent? What would be the fate of nine out of 
ten of all the respectable gentlemen in New England, 
if they should dare to express openly in South Carolina 
their abhorrence of slavery? Have not the Mormons 
been persecuted, pillaged and murdered, because they 
were Mormons? Have not Bible agents been publicly 
whipped because they had copies of the Liberator in their 
possession? And have not slaves been roasted alive, 
without trial or form of law? We have lots of public 
liberty in America. Any demagogue may slander and 
abuse, in the public prints, the highest officers 'of the 
State, or those whom he is most bound to respect. 
Life and property are safe to those who do not violate 
too far public opinion. But is the most precious liberty 
of all — the liberty of thought equally secure ? But all 
this I fear you will consider political heresy. I should 
be very sorry if you should suppose from the tone of it, 
that 1 am any the less a republican, or any the less an 
American than ever — on the contrary if I have judged 
rightly of myself, I am more of both than before coming 
to Europe. With all our faults I really believe that an 18 
elevated destiny is before us, and I am sincerely desirous 
to take my place at home, and add my little aid to work 
out its accomplishment.” 
He had now accomplished the objects which he pro- 
posed in going abroad. lie had further become a per- 
fect master of the French language and had acquired 
enough of the German to unlock its treasures of science 
and literature. He also read and spoke Italian with 
ease. He was at length ready to turn his face home- 
ward. He arrived in Boston in the summer of 1844. 
After a few days spent in seeing and in visiting friends, 
he began to make preparations for carrying out a pro- 
ject which he had already conceived — the establishment 
of a laboratory on a large scale, for making chemical 
reagents, which at that time were largely imported from 
England. His first question was, where should the 
works be erected ? His thoughts naturally turned 
towards Providence where he had many friends, and 
which was already the centre of a large manufacturing 
district. Having decided upon the location of the 
works, his next question was, what chemical reagents 
should he make? What were most largely consumed 
in the neighborhood? This question could be satisfac- 
torily answered only by free access to the different 
manufactories in and around the city. For a stranger 
to obtain such access was at that time by no means 
easy. Nearly all of them had processes which the 
owners deemed it for their interest to keep secret. In a 
letter dated Salem, October 16, 1844, he writes: 44 It 
will be necessary for me this winter and before long to 19 
spend some time in one of the large print works, in 
order to see exactly what substances they use, and the 
state and manner and amount in which they employ 
them. I have no desire to learn the secrets of the color- 
mixers ; for they would not be of the least benefit to me. 
I would willingly pledge my word not to observe beyond 
the limits I have mentioned, and also not to communi- 
cate or make use of any information which might acci- 
dentally reach me, and which they might desire to keep 
secret. What do you think of the matter \ To whom 
had I better apply, simply for permission to spend a 
sufficient length of time in their establishment to make 
myself acquainted with their objects of consumption, in 
order that I may furnish them better and cheaper.” 
He finally decided to open an office in Providence and 
offer his services as a professional chemist, in order that 
in this capacity he might gain admission to the manu- 
factories where chemical processes were conducted and 
chemical reagents employed. From the information 
thus gained he soon became satisfied that sulphuric acid 
must be his chief product. It was consumed in large 
quantities by the calico printers, and he himself would 
require it in the preparation of other reagents employed 
by them. He accordingly, the following spring, com- 
menced the erection of works for making it. A similar 
project had been started several years before; but 
whether for want of the requisite knowledge, or from 
insufficiency of capital, or from lack of practical ability, 
or from all of these causes, the undertaking had mis- 
carried. He was therefore the more careful to make himself master of all the details of the manufacture 
upon which he was about to enter, and to embody in 
his constructions and processes every improvement at 
that time known on either side of the Atlantic. And so 
skilfully and with such admirable judgment did he con- 
trive and arrange every part of his works, that this newT, 
and as new and untried, hazardous enterprise, was from 
the very beginning a success. I have been more par- 
ticular in giving these details, because they illustrate the 
thoroughness of our friend’s habits — the honest and 
conscientious work which he put into every thing that 
he did, and bec ause of the importance of the example. 
Were it generally followed, how much of failure and 
disaster to individuals, and of loss to the community, 
would be prevented. 
In 1848 he formed a partnership with his friend 
Edward Douglas Pearce, a rising member of the Bar, 
who, in addition to his legal knowledge, possessed a 
high order of business talent. From that time onwards 
the manufacture was carried on by the firm, under the 
style of “ T. P. Shepard & Co.” This association 
proved a most fortunate one. Barely, if ever, have two 
men of so marked and decided characters, worked 
together more harmoniously, or with advantages greater 
or more equally distributed. Notwithstanding the differ- 
ences of opinion which must necessarily arise in con- 
ducting an important business through almost thirty 
years, during this whole period not an incident occurred 
to weaken their friendship or diminish their mutual 
confidence and respect. In his will Dr. Shepard named Mr. Pearce as one of his executors and also provided 
for the continuance of his interest in the business under 
his management. 
As the demand for sulphuric acid increased, the works 
were from time to time enlarged until at length the 
establishment became, and has for many years continued 
to be, one of the most important as well as most 
successful of the lesser manufactories of the city and its 
neighborhood. With every enlargement of the works 
new improvements were introduced, and they were kept, 
in respect to both mechanical arrangements and chemi- 
cal processes, abreast of the most advanced knowledge 
of the day. 
In 1859, William WTheaton Pearce, brother of 
Edward Douglas, a man of most amiable character, with 
gifts of both mind and heart, which only his intimate 
friends knew, was admitted to the firm. By his exten- 
sive study of chemistry at home and abroad, and by his 
rare mechanical ingenuity and resource, he was specially 
fitted to take the supervision of the works. It was 
accordingly given to him, and Dr. Shepard was relieved 
for a time from a labor which had become burdensome, 
and in some degree distasteful to him. He now had 
more leisure for his own private pursuits, and for the 
services which the public demanded of him. This con- 
tinued till the death of Mr. Pearce, which took place 
suddenly on the first of September, 1867. 
In June, 1874, Edward Douglas Pearce, junior, who 
had specially prepared himself for the situation, and 
upon whom the mantle of the senior member and 22 
founder of the firm would seem to have fallen, took 
charge of the works. Under his active and vigilant 
supervision their high condition has been maintained, 
and some minor perfections have been added to them. 
It is probable that there is no establishment in this 
country, and perhaps none in Europe, where sulphuric 
acid is manufactured more skilfully or with larger appli- 
ances of science. 
After Dr. Shepard had brought his works to a state 
requiring less constant attention, and shared the care of 
the business with a partner, he turned his thoughts to 
another important enterprise — the manufacture of 
illuminating gas, and its distribution over the city. 
That he might be able to form a more reliable judgment 
of the feasibility of the project, he caused a canvass of 
the different wards to be -made, to ascertain, as far as 
practicable, the amount that would be taken. The 
result of such canvass proving satisfactory, an associa- 
tion of citizens was formed and chartered under the 
name of “ The Providence Gas Company.” At the 
meeting of the company for organization Dr. Shepard 
was chosen secretary, and was also placed on the board 
of direction. At an early meeting of the board of 
directors, of which he was also secretary, he was 
appointed one of a committee of three to select and 
purchase a suitable site for the works, to contract with 
some reliable and competent party for putting them up, 
and to superintend their erection. How well this diffi- 
cult and onerous task was performed is known to our 
citizens. I shall be doing no injustice to the other members of the committee, whose well known forms 
and faces, alas, we no longer see on the streets and in 
their accustomed places of business, if I add that the 
heaviest part of the work fell upon Dr. Shepard. 
As the character of Dr. Shepard became more gen- 
erally known and his rare ability appreciated, demands 
were made upon him for service in various public capaci- 
ties In 1848 he was elected a member of the Common 
Council of the city of Providence, and in 1850 he was 
chosen its President In 1853 he was elected from Prov- 
idence to the Senate of the State. “ In both of these 
bodies he served with conspicuous ability. In the Senate 
he made a thorough examination of the ‘ old State debt,’ 
which had been for many years before the General 
Assembly, and came to the conclusion that it had been 
paid, and was not valid against the State. Another 
example of his thorough research was afforded in the 
investigation of an over-payment into the State Treasury 
by Stephen Cahoone, the late State Treasurer. Mr. 
Cahoone had found himself in possession of the sum of 
five thousand dollars which he could not account for. 
It did not belong to the bank of which he was cashier; 
it did not belong to himself; and he paid it into the 
treasury, with a frank admission that he did not know 
how it came to belong to the State, but he was sure that 
it did. Dr. Shepard overhauled the accounts, and found 
where honest old Mr. Cahoone had made an error in 
book-keeping, although he had made none in fact.” 
The above is from a tribute to Dr. Shepard, as beautiful 
as it is appreciative, from his friend Senator Anthony. 24 
It was while he was in the City Council, and largely 
through his exertions, that the Providence Reform 
School was established. He was Chairman of the com- 
mittee appointed in July, 1848, “ to select a proper 
location for such an institution, to procure plans for 
suitable buildings, with an estimate of their probable 
cost, and to report the same to the city council.” In the 
following September the committee were further 
instructed “ to enquire upon what system the institution 
should be established, and also what regulations and 
laws would be necessary for its successful working.” 
The committee were occupied more than a year in col- 
lecting documents and obtaining information upon the 
several subjects referred to them. After their final 
report in December, 1849, Dr. Shepard and three 
others were instructed to apply to the General Assembly 
for the passage of an act to authorize the city of Provi- 
dence to establish a reform school. He was from the 
beginning a warm advocate of the institution, but was 
opposed to placing boys and girls in the same building 
and under the same government; in which I think it 
will now be generally conceded that he was right. 
That he was regularly in his place, and attended 
faithfully to his duties while a member of the Senate 
may be inferred from the constancy with which his 
name appears in the recorded votes of that body. The 
troubles in Kansas had already commenced, and the 
question whether her territory should be added to the 
area of slavery or to that of freedom was exciting the 
whole country. On the '24th of January, 1854, as we learn from the senate journal, I)r. Shepard introduced 
resolutions “ recommending our Senators and Represen- 
tatives in Congress to use their best efforts to prevent 
the passage of any law whereby slavery or involuntary 
servitude, except for crime, can, under any circum- 
stances, be ever introduced or established north of the 
parallel of 36° 30/ N. L.; and requesting the Governor 
to transmit copies of said resolutions to our Senators and 
Representatives in Congress, to be by them presented 
to their respective Houses.” These resolutions were 
referred to a special committee, on which we find, 
besides his name, the names of Charles S. Bradley, 
Isaac P. Hazard, Henry II. Luther, and John Brown 
Francis. On the 26th, the resolutions were favorably 
reported, and passed unanimously by the Senate and 
afterwards by the House. So early did he take ground, 
and the State with him, on a great moral and political 
question, whose agitation was still feared and deprecated 
by more timid statesmen. 
In 1851 he was elected a member of the Board of 
Trustees of Brown University, then under the presi- 
dency of Dr. Wayland. His executive ability and his 
strong practical sense as well as his generous culture, 
eminently fitted him for service in that body. In 1859 
he was chosen a member of the Executive Board, so 
called, a sort of standing committee having charge of 
the interests of the University in the intervals of the 
sessions of its corporation. This position he held for 
six years. He also served on other important commit- 
tees, especially those having charge of the construction 26 
of buildings. The admirable arrangements of the new 
laboratory, towards which he was a liberal contributor, 
bear witness to the excellence of his judgment, as well 
as to his fidelity and devotion to whatever interests 
were entrusted to him. He was on the committee for 
procuring and presenting to the corporation plans for 
the new library building; as he was also one of the 
commissioners appointed by the Governor to build the 
new Court House. It is understood that the College 
and the State are indebted in no small degree to his 
judgment and his taste for the appropriateness and 
beauty of these structures. 
From 1860 to 1864 he was a member of the Board 
of Prison Inspectors, and for two years its chairman. 
During much of the time he was associated with 
President Wayland and Mr. Zachariah Allen — names 
ever venerable — and aided in effecting the important 
changes brought about mainly through their efforts. I 
have heard the strongest testimony to the wisdom and 
ability which he showed in the management of the 
affairs of the prison. 
But the institution with which he was most inti- 
mately connected, and which lay nearest his heart, was 
the llhode Island Hospital. “When it was hrst pro- 
posed,” I quote from a just and discriminating notice of 
him which appeared at the last Commencement, among 
the obituaries of deceased graduates, written by Profes- 
sor William Gammell, “ When it was first proposed in 
1863, he became one of its most active promoters. His 
medical education and hospital experience, united with 27 
his interest in the enterprise, made his services exceed- 
ingly valuable. He contributed to its funds, and 
obtained contributions from others; he indicated vvliat 
the nature and extent of the institution ought to be, he 
superintended the erection of the building, was one of 
its trustees from its organization to the end of his life, 
and after the death of the late Dr. Caswell, was the 
president of its corporation. During all this period he 
has been among the foremost of those whose constant 
care and guardianship have made this institution so great 
a blessing to the community.” That all this — and more 
than all this—is true, you will bear witness. You 
knowr of how great value his thorough medical training 
and his large hospital experience has been to us, how 
we instinctively turned to him for light and guidance on 
questions of management. You know, too, with what 
ability and devotion he served the institution; how 
alive he was to every thing that affected its welfare and 
the welfare of its inmates; what care and thought he 
bestowed upon all its arrangements ; and how constant 
a supervision he exercised over it. Only a few days 
before his decease he told the superintendent that it 
was his purpose not to let a single week pass without 
visiting it. 
Of no one could it more truly be said that positions 
of honor and trust sought him, and were not sought by 
him. When placed in them by his fellow-citizens he 
did not regard them as mere dignities to be enjoyed, 
but as situations imposing additional obligations and 
making new demands upon him for faithful, self-deny- mg and self-sacrificing labors. They were opportuni- 
ties for a wider influence and for a larger and more 
abundant usefulness. He was not content with being a 
mere member of any board or body of men, however 
honorable such membership might be. Neither was he 
satisfied with simply embodying the sentiments of those 
with whom he was associated and becoming their repre- 
sentative and leader. He had definite views and opin- 
ions of his own, which he believed to be right and 
which he wished to see carried out as conducive to the 
welfare of the community. Failing of this, he did not 
care for office, but willingly left it to others who valued 
more highly the distinction conferred by it. 
In June, 1856, Hr. Shepard married Elizabeth Anne, 
daughter of the late Professor William G. Goddard, with 
whom he passed a most happy life. Immediately after 
their marriage they went abroad and spent a year, chiefly 
in travelling. In 1867 he went to Europe a third time, 
Mrs. Shepard accompanying him. This time he made 
a journey through Spain, which he had not previously 
visited. 
Hr. Shepard’s interest in the physical sciences con- 
tinued through life. Notwithstanding his numerous 
and absorbing occupations he kept himself constantly 
informed of their state and progress. He even found 
time to prosecute original inquiry in one or two of 
them. In photography, especially, he made discoveries 
of considerable importance, which his modesty prevented 
being generally known. Several of them, at the earnest 
solicitation of a friend, and through his agency, were sent to the British Journal of Photography, where they 
appeared in successive numbers during the years 1865 
and 1866. 
In 1872 he published a small volume of receipts for 
calico printing, “ particularly with reference to the 
employment of extracts of madder and artificial aliza- 
rine.” It is a compilation, as he informs us in the 
preface, made principally from foreign sources. It rep- 
resents the present state of the art in France and Ger- 
many, where many important improvements have been 
made within a few years not widely known among 
American printers, as they have been published for the 
most part in a foreign tongue. The volume has been 
much sought by the class of manufacturers for whom it 
was especially intended, and is understood to have ren- 
dered an important service to them. 
The same year that the volume of receipts was pub- 
lished a large meeting of manufacturing chemists was 
held at Philadelphia, which Dr. Shepard attended. At 
this meeting it was decided to form a society under the 
name of the “ Manufacturing Chemists’ Association of 
the United States.” On the organization of the society 
Dr. Shepard was elected Corresponding Secretary. This 
office he held till 1875, when he was made President of 
the Association. During his connection with it he pre- 
pared two important papers, one of which, “ What is 
Sulphuric Acid V\ was read before the society. The 
other, “ Brimstone,” was written to show what forms of 
the import, under the enactments of Congress, were 
dutiable and what were exempt from duty. The paper 30 
made out its points so clearly that the rulings of the 
custom house officials, which it was intended to affect, 
were reversed by the Secretary of the Treasury. 
Ur. Shepard’s fondness for literature was hardly less 
marked than his interest in science ; or his reading in it 
less extensive. The English classics were to him a 
source of perpetual delight. Shakespeare he almost 
knew by heart. Had his efforts been turned in that 
direction he might have been a successful writer. He 
possessed all the natural qualifications for it — intellect, 
imagination and taste. He had also many of the 
acquired requisites — insight, knowledge, power of 
expression, and a nice perception of the congruities of 
thought and language. I have known few men who 
wrote better letters. Had those which his friends 
received from him while he was abroad been collected 
at the time and published, they would have made a vol- 
ume of more than common interest. The work of 
revising them, and of preparing them for the press, so 
carefully were they written, would have been inconsid- 
erable. 
After his return from Europe, as we have seen, he 
laid aside his professional aspirations and turned his 
thoughts to business. This opened to him the prospect 
of ampler means and of a life more in accordance with 
that to which he had from childhood been accustomed. 
He thought wealth a reasonable object of ambition, and 
its pursuit by legitimate means an honorable one. It 
was to be desired for the consideration which it gave, 
and for its many and important uses. That eagerness to grasp it, no matter in what way or by what instru- 
mentalities, by which so many are blinded and their 
judgment destroyed, so that they become the victims of 
their own insane cupidity, was wholly unknown to him. 
To be worth striving for, it must be honestly won,— by 
the actual creation of value. The path to it which he 
chose was a plain and direct one. At every step along 
it he scattered benefits ; and when he had at length 
gained what he regarded perhaps as little more than a 
competence, he used it so generously that it was of 
scarcely less service to others than to himself. I have 
spoken of his liberal gifts to the University and to the 
Rhode Island Hospital. To the latter institution he left 
by will eight thousand dollars; and to the Children’s 
Friends’ Society, which had for many years been accus- 
tomed to remembrances from him, he gave two thousand 
dollars. Of his private charities I cannot speak from 
personal knowledge. I have reason to believe that in 
proportion to his means, they were large. In one or 
two instances, of which I have chanced to learn, the 
assistance was generous, and it was rendered with a 
thoughtful regard for the sensibility and self-respect of 
the recipient. 
Like all men who have accomplished much in the 
world, l)r. Shepard had clear perceptions, earnest pur- 
poses, and a strong will; hut the true secret of his 
success, if I mistake not, was the habit of thoroughness 
in whatever he did. He never thought a work finished 
while anything remained that could be done. He never 
left in doubt what he had the means of determining, or trusted to chance what it was in his power to control. 
He was remarkable for the happy union of the reflective 
writh the active powers. He had equal facility in appre- 
hending truths and in applying them. He was as clear 
in his theories as he was sound in his practice. Indeed 
theory was to him of little worth except as a guide to 
practice. Nor was practice ever satisfactory if unen- 
lightened by theory. The opposition which so many 
imagine between the two, for him had no existence; 
true theory and right practice must always be in har- 
mony. 
In the intercourse of society Dr. Shepard was digni- 
fied and courteous, but with no studied care to please. 
He did not seek to win popularity by blandness of 
manner and the expression of interest which he did not 
feel. He was too upright and sincere to practice the 
arts of the flatterer. Even in business relations, where 
some concession of manner is perhaps allowable, he was 
independent and out-spoken. He never disguised or 
even withheld his opinions from motives of interest or 
policy. He did not seek to gain by indirect means what 
he could not secure by fair and open proceeding. You 
never left him in doubt of his position on any important 
subject, or uncertain where you would next find him. 
He scorned pretense, subterfuge and dishonesty, and 
hated cant and hypocrisy with a perfect hatred. He 
made warm friends, whom he bound to him by offices 
of kindness and affection. The circle, however, was 
not large. It might, perhaps, have been larger if he 
had been broader and freer in his sympathies, and more 33 
tolerant of the weaknesses, insincerities and vanities 
which constitute to so large an extent the cohesive ele- 
ments of ordinary society. 
Dr. Shepard held definite opinions on a wide range 
of subjects, opinions not the mere reflections of society, 
or gathered simply from intercourse with others, but to 
an extent far greater than is usual the product of his 
own mental processes In the expression and mainte- 
nance of opinions he did not always do himself justice. 
He was fond of paradox, and his ready command of 
language and the fertility of his resources in argument, 
tempted too frequently, perhaps, to indulge in it. He 
had a keen relish of wit, and a quick perception of the 
ludicrous, but was not, I think, remarkable for either 
humor or pathos. In his more thoughtful moods he 
was grave almost to sadness, like all men in whom the 
ideal so far outruns the possibilities of attainment. 
Although the best society was always open to him, he 
did not go frequently into it. He was of too earnest a 
nature to take pleasure in its gayeties and frivolities. 
His time was divided between hard work, very largely 
for others, and the rest and solace of a beautiful home, 
where, surrounded by everything that could gratify a 
cultivated and refined taste, he passed the evening hours 
in reading, or in conversation with a few intimate 
friends, or in reciting poetry with which his memory was 
well stored, or in listening to music for which he had a 
fine ear, and in certain departments of which he was 
no mean proficient, or in playing a quiet game, and 
leaving his thoughts to take whatever direction interest 
or chance might give them.