observatory at three o'clock, where an important photograph was secured. In the evening he went to the ship for dinner, but was only able to lie on one side, and took some chlorodyne. He then persisted in going ashore and to his own quarters to sleep, in a violent rain. He passed a bad night, and was very ill on the following morning, the time of the eclipse, and permitted himself to be assisted over the half mile to the observatory, but would not be carried in a stretcher. Though very much exhausted when he reached the observatory, "as the important moment approached he seemed to rally, and during the minutes of the eclipse seemed to be himself again, and showed no signs of illness or exhaustion. There were two photographic instruments in use—one, an old one, which had often been in use before; the other was the special corona graphic instrument prepared for the occasion, of which Father Perry himself took charge. He was so alert and self-possessed during the eclipse that his friends about him hoped he was not so ill, but he gave way immediately after, and with much difficulty reached his quarters in the hospital." On Sunday night the critical nature of his disease, dysentery, became evident. On Wednesday he was better, and the ship set sail for Demerara. Friday afternoon his mind began to wander, and in an hour and twenty minutes afterward he died. Before he quite lost consciousness "he thought himself again engaged in 'the supreme moment of the scientific mission which had so long filled his thoughts,' and 'began to give his orders as during the short moments of the eclipse.' "
Steps were taken a few months after Father Perry's death to establish a memorial of him, to consist of a new fifteen-inch telescope, which, with the house in which it stood, should be called the Father Perry Memorial, the works done with which should be published under his name.
