rience did not furnish. He investigated every new question as
it arose. He listened earnestly to the arguments of counsel, and ever
seemed resolved, before they concluded, to understand the points on
which the case must finally turn. Often he descended from the bench when
complicated machinery, or specimens illustrative of science, or models
of vessels intended to develop the relations of colliding ships, were
before him, and by their close and repeated study strove to understand
the real points in controversy.

Thus Judge Nelson built up a sound knowledge of the principles and
practice of every branch of law which he was called upon to administer.
An appeal or writ of error from his decisions was seldom taken. So
familiar did he become with the jurisprudence involved in the
administration of the Patent laws of this country, so thoroughly did he
investigate questions of science and mechanics, and so sound a judgment
was he known to form on these subjects, that his opinions concerning
them were by courts and counsel accepted as of greater authority than
those of any other judge. For many years before the close of his labors
at the Circuit, patentees felt that when he had judicially passed upon
their rights they were substantially settled, and hence there came
before him repeatedly from distant points cases involving the validity
of the most valuable patents in the country, and to his decision the
parties generally submitted without appeal. On questions of admiralty
and maritime law also he came to be considered a great authority. In his
later years he was so adept in reaching the essential points of
complicated cases that he was generally credited with a marvellous
faculty of intuition. He was not guided by any intuition, however, but
by the results of his careful study and legal experience.

In 1857 the Supreme Court of the United States rendered the famous Dred
Scott decision, which became one of the contributory causes of the Civil
War. Only two members of the court dissented. Justice Nelson concurred
in the conclusion of Chief Justice Taney, who delivered the decision,
dissenting on one point only, and adding that, in his opinion, the power
of Congress could not be one-sided; if it existed to destroy slavery, it
could also establish slavery.

Judge Nelson had gained some acquaintance with slavery in his own home
town, for, when first he took up his residence in Cooperstown, in 1824,
there were a number of slaves in