Following the passage of the Coast Survey appropriation, Hassler concerned himself with getting acquainted with the new Secretary of the Treasury, John C. Spencer. Although former President John Quincy Adams did not particularly like Hassler, Hassler asked him to introduce him to Spencer. In his diary for March 10, 1843, Adams wrote:
 

"In the unceasing mill-clapper talk of Mr. Hassler last evening, he asked me to introduce him to the new Secretary of the Treasury, John C. Spencer.... I introduced him, and almost immediately left them together; but not without perceiving the seeds of conflict already germinating between two proud spirits, which bodes not good to the progress of the Coast Survey. The recent Act places Hassler under the control of a board of officers, and the whole operation under the superintendency of the Secretary of the Treasury.⁽¹⁾ Hassler, already restive under the yoke fitting to his neck, said that the work, being scientific, must be conducted on scientific principles. The Potentate answered in a subdued tone of voice, but with the trenchant stubbornness of authority, the laws must be obeyed. The pride of science clashed with the pride of place, and I left them together."⁽²⁾
 

Hassler spent most of the summer and fall surveying in New Jersey and Delaware. He was back in Washington, D. C., from where he wrote a letter to his son-in-law, Edward S. Norris, for a short stay in October. Perhaps at this stage of his life, he was coming to understand some of the potential results of his blunt nature as he wrote of a visit to Secretary Spencer: "He was friendly ... I did treat the subjects that came up peaceably, giving him at last a copy of the Introduction to my Tables in five languages written by myself." He then went on to describe a short visit to President Tyler: "The President was like always very friendly, and much pleased with the polyglot Introduction; [he] began telling stories of the Committee of Congress that had examined me."⁽³⁾ After returning to the field he wrote his children from Saleur, New Jersey, on October 21: "... I wish to stay in the field as long as I can; after this station I move to Delaware near Dupont's and Young's, in a very friendly neighborhood; here I am dug in the trees like an hermit."⁽⁴⁾
 

In mid-November, Hassler proceeded to Philadelphia after being injured and becoming severely ill. He took a room in a hotel and sent for his daughter Rosalie who wrote of the circumstances leading to his illness:
 

"When we arrived at the Hotel we found him suffering from a very severe cold. He then described to us the effects of a very severe hail storm... In his anxiety to save his instruments from destruction when the wind took the tents off .... he had been thrown down; to save the instruments he had been thrown on a pointed rock which hurt the left side of the chest -- then being obliged to remain several hours in the cold wind and rain had given him the severe cold he had. They were just about moving to another station when the storm came ...."⁽⁵⁾⁽⁶⁾
 

Hassler then went to Philadelphia to write his report and attempt to nurse himself back to health. Rosalie wrote that he attempted to improve himself by going out in the cold air as he felt that he was not improving in a stuffy hotel room. However, "Upon his return I was horror struck at the change that had taken place in an hour -- he looked so ghastly...." Hassler then sat down and wrote his annual report to Congress and then continued writing in his journal up until twenty-four hours before his death. The last day he spent in bed, silent except for jumping up once and exclaiming, "My children! My papers!" He spoke no more and died on November 20, 1843.⁽⁷⁾
 

EULOGIES
 

As a measure of the respect that Ferdinand Hassler commanded, his body was taken from the hotel to the American Philosophical Society where he lay in state for final viewing by his many friends, colleagues, and, one might suspect, old adversaries who came to pay their final respects. His body was taken from the Philosophical Society to Laurel Hill Cemetery where he was buried. Officers of the Army and Navy who had served with him erected a Memorial Tablet at his grave site with the following inscription:
 
 

Lieutenant John Dahlgren was at sea when Hassler passed away and received word of his death on January 22, 1844. He wrote in his journal for that date: "... I was much distressed to hear of the death of my poor old friend, Mr. Hassler. The place for which so many have struggled is now empty, and it may occur to the appointing power that their greatest difficulty will be to fill it as ably as it has been done heretofore. When I look back to the ill-judged persecution that has beset this son of genius for so many years, and brought sorrow to his latter days, I cannot help feeling something akin to rejoicing that he is now far beyond the effort of his foes ... For years I experienced his confidence and his friendship, and I often look back with pleasure to the hours spent with him."⁽⁸⁾
 

Besides the men who worked with him and appreciated his worth as a scientist and teacher, there were few in America who understood his true worth to the nation. His successor, Alexander Dallas Bache, who ultimately proved himself a worthy successor to Hassler, wrote on the first page of his report for 1844 a polite acknowledgment of Hassler: "The coast survey owes its present form, and perhaps its existence, to the zeal and scientific ability of the late superintendent, F. R. Hassler, who devoted the energies of a life to it; and who, but for its interruption at a period when he was in the prime of manhood, and its suspension for nearly fifteen years, might have seen its completion. The difficult task of creating resources for practical science for carrying on such a work of such a suitable scale, required no common zeal and perseverance for its accomplishment, especially at a time (1807) when our country was far from having attained her present position in scientific acquirement, and when public opinion was hardly sufficiently enlightened to see the full advantages of thoroughness in executing the work. For his successful struggle against great difficulties, his adopted country will no doubt honor his memory, as the pioneer of a useful national undertaking." ⁽⁹⁾
 

In a time of florid prose, this was a quite tepid acknowledgment of Hassler's contributions. Bache's continuation of this eulogy degenerates into self-serving as he went on to defend a lesser than expected accomplishment for 1844. He also missed acknowledging that Hassler was a leader in helping the United States attain "her present position in scientific acquirement" and that it was Hassler, more than any man, who enlightened public opinion "to see the full advantages of thoroughness in executing the work." In 1849, Bache, perhaps feeling more at ease with his own Superintendency and the role of foreign scientists working in their adopted land, spoke of Hassler at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science:
 

"Mr. Hassler, a gentleman from that nest of republics and republicans from which it seems we still love to draw for the science of our country -- Switzerland --, Mr. Hassler was placed in charge of the work. He was a man, like the work itself, in advance of the time; he was one of those far-reaching men who find nothing around them ripe for action, and who must be content to bide the slow progress of circumstances before they can be perfectly understood." In this statement, Bache captures the essence of Hassler's problems during his years in the United States. Hassler was not a quaint old-country patrician, but a man in advance of his time.
 

Hassler's old friend, J. H. Alexander of the state survey of Maryland, contributed a profile of Hassler to the American Journal of Science and Arts in 1853 that provided the following insights:
 

"The late Mr. Hassler enjoyed, during his lifetime, a high reputation: but one founded, it would appear, at least in this country, more upon the prestige of his manifest and presumed moral and intellectual faculties, than upon any just knowledge or estimate of his special achievements in Science or Art. It is true that these faculties were both large and well-defined; and they had a scope for their exhibition, sometimes more favorable to the interest of the spectator than the ease and comfort of the actor. He was undaunted, diligent, patient, self-reliant; no man feared an adversary less, or loved friends more .... He was essentially a man of truth; assumption of any kind disgusted him; while to assumption without a basis (or what is commonly called humbug) he was never merciful, but visited it with all the weight of logic and the sharpness of sarcasm. Those who knew him, knew that he could be both heavy and sharp."⁽¹⁰⁾
 

Rear Admiral Charles H. Davis, who served on the Survey during the 1840's, was an advisor to President Lincoln, helped form with Bache and Joseph Henry the National Academy of Sciences, and later became head of the Naval Observatory, spoke of Hassler thus in writing a short history of the Coast Survey:
 

"It would not be just, however, to leave its past history without a tribute of respect to the memory and services of the man by whose enlightened efforts a right direction was given to the views of the government in founding the survey, who was faithful to it through thirty-five years of checkered fortunes, and who literally died in the performance of its duties, having written the last few lines of his final report after he felt that he had been touched by the hand of death.... Professor Hassler always brought to the task before him that zeal and tenacity of purpose which give spirit to enterprises of great moment, and gain for them the name of action.... Those who knew him intimately praise the ardor of his friendship and the generosity of his disposition, while the labors of his life, and the manner in which they were performed, bear ample witness to his industry and character. That he had some defects of character it is hardly necessary to say, for this is the inevitable lot of humanity; but they were not such as it requires the exercise of magnanimity to forget, and time ... will endear his name and his virtues to the reverent and affectionate respect of all true lovers of American science."⁽¹¹⁾
 

Professor William Henry Burger, a former Assistant in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and in 1916 the head of the College of Engineering of Northwestern University said of Hassler:
 

"In the reorganization [of 1843] two very prominent features, from the geodetic point of view, are to be noted. The first is the man who was the dominant figure in the board of reorganization and the second is the principles he advocated. Probably no other man has had the influence upon the geodetic operations of the Survey as had Superintendent F. R. Hassler, and probably no one thing has been of such importance to these operations as the scientific methods proposed by him. To him belongs the credit that today the operations of the Survey are bound together by a trigonometric survey with long lines and executed by the most accurate instruments and the most refined methods, rather than being correlated by purely astronomical observations. Due to his farsightedness, the best of foundations was thus laid...."⁽¹²⁾
 

Doctor S. W. Stratton, first Director of the United States Bureau of Standards, after it became a separate institution from the Coast and Geodetic Survey, remarked at the Centennial Celebration of the Coast Survey: "Mr. Hassler was, indeed, a remarkable man. I consider that he was not only the first and foremost man in the scientific work of our country at that time but one of the leading, if not the leading, metrologists of his day. I doubt if there were more than half a dozen people in the world at that time who possessed the scientific knowledge and the deftness of the artisan necessary to undertake this work. He knew where to find the instruments; he knew where to find the artisans to construct the standards and apparatus that were necessary in the survey and in the weights and measures work...."⁽¹³⁾
 

Hassler's biographer, Florian Cajori wrote of him:
 

"... What looms highest is his moral quality and strength to resist compromise, to oppose suggestions of alterations, made by engineers and statesmen, to maintain this opposition against the adoption of 'cheaper' yet 'just as good' plans, and to persist in this opposition year after year, decade after decade, from young manhood to old age. The services of Hassler to the Nation loom up larger and larger with the lapse of time.
 

"Hassler was a champion of thorough-going science versus makeshift applications of science, of the dignity of the scientific worker.... He scorned pretensions and shams. He endeavored to impress upon the public the truth that delicate scientific measurements require time for their execution, that scientific success is largely dependent upon patience, that 'rush orders' of scientific output are impossible.... He stood out for the truth that science is not sectional, provincial, but international; that science can and should serve as an international tie that binds; that there is a most fascinating world to live in that is above and beyond gross materialism; that no nation can permanently shun science, yet maintain itself above barbarism; that the interchange of science and of science workers is a mutual benefit, while national isolation is harmful to scientific progress." ⁽¹⁴⁾
 

Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes, who fought with, argued with, and learned from Ferdinand Hassler, remembered him mainly as "an excentric, but a kind friend. There are few persons from whom I have derived So Much instructions or with whom I have passed So Many pleasant hours."⁽¹⁵⁾ Dr. Eliphalet Nott of Union College summed up the value of Hassler best when commenting upon his death: "We have not such another man to die."⁽¹⁶⁾
 

Hassler helped a young nation develop its scientific infrastructure; and, perhaps more importantly, he helped shape the concepts of both the general citizens and the leaders of the United States concerning the benefits and requirements of science. Although an immigrant whom bigots attacked throughout his lifetime as a foreigner, he transcended such small-minded attitudes. By virtue of his integrity and his perseverance in pursuing the scientific and moral truth, he became a great American as well as a great Swiss. His work endures today in the National Institute of Standards and Technology and in many elements of today's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Indeed, any American scientist who has devoted his life to scientific accuracy, precision, and truth is following a path first trod in America long ago by Ferdinand Hassler.

1. This interpretation was probably correct at the time Adams wrote. However, the Board was chaired by Hassler and comprised of individuals primarily sympathetic to him. The Board's influence over Hassler ended with President Tyler directing that Hassler proceed according to the Board's plan.

2. Adams, John Quincy. 1876. Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Volume XI. p. 335,336. Philadelphia. In: Cajori, p. 230.

3. Cajori, F. 1929. p.233. Cajori does not give the source for this quotation, but it is probably contained within the Translation.... of Rosalie Laetitia Hassler Norris.

4. Cajori, F. 1929. p. 233.

5. Cajori, F. 1929. p. 234.

6. This description of the cause of Hassler's death as written by Rosalie Laetitia Hassler Norris differs slightly from Cajori's own interpretation of Hassler's death (Cajori, p. 233.) He wrote: "On one occasion a severe storm of snow and rain burst over the tents. Nevertheless he continued working in camp each day until late in the night. At last fever and inflammation of the lungs forced him to leave for Philadelphia, to receive medical aid." Rosalie's recollection of this event is very similar to Hassler's account of the effects of the storm of July 24, 1833. Cajori did not comment upon the reason for his own version differing from that told by Norris.

7. Norris, R. 1882. In: Cajori, F. 1929. p. 235.

8. Dahlgren, M. V. 1891. Memoir of John A. Dahlgren. p. 92.

9. Bache, A. D. 1844. Report of the Superintendent of the Survey of the Coast, showing the progress of the work during the year ending November, 1844. In: Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, Senate Document No. 16, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, December 23, 1844. p. 1-2.

10. Alexander, J. H. 1853. American Journal of Science and Arts, 2 Series, Vol. 16. p. 170-171. New Haven. Quoted in Hilgard, J. E. 1877. Memoir of John H. Alexander. In: Biographical Memoirs, Volume I, National Academy of Sciences. p. 219-220. Published by the Home Secretary, Washington City.

11. Davis, C. H. 1849. The Coast Survey of the United States. p. 13-14. Cambridge, Metcalf and Company.

12. In: Jones, E. Lester. 1916. Centennial Celebration of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. p. 81-82. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

13. In: Jones, E. Lester. 1916. Centennial Celebration of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. p. 26. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

14. Cajori, F. 1929. p.236.

15. Wilkes, C. 1978. p. 224.

16. Smith, Edward S.C. 1958. Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler. p. 9. In: Union Worthies Number Thirteen Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler. Union College, Schenectady, New York.

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