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 8U2VI
 
 MEMORIALS 
 
 JOHN PITKIN NORTON, 
 
 LATE PROFESSOR OF 
 
 ANALYTICAL AND AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY, 
 
 YALE COLLEGE, NEW HAVEN, CONN. 
 
 fov Ihnbatr distribution. 
 
 ALBANY : 
 
 ERASTUS H. PEASE & CO., 82 STATE STREET. 
 1853.
 
 J. MUNSEL.L, PIUNTKR. 
 ALBANY.
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 This collection of memorials has been published to meet the 
 requests, from many friends of the deceased, for copies of 
 Doct. PORTER'S Sermon, and other interesting notices called 
 forth by his death. 
 
 Several gratifying notices from various periodicals, are not 
 included, being similar, in tenor and general character, to those 
 selected.
 
 memorials, 
 
 From the New Haven Journal and Courier. 
 
 PROF. JOHN PITKIN NORTON.* 
 
 This much lamented man died of a rapid decline, 
 Sunday, Sept. 5th, at 1^ o'clock p. M., at the house of 
 his father, John T. Norton, Esq., in Farmington. Prof. 
 Norton was appointed, a few years since, by the corpo- 
 ration of Yale College, to a new professorship, that of 
 Chemistry applied to agriculture and the phenomena of 
 vegetable and animal life. 
 
 At two different periods, he passed nearly three years 
 in Europe, under eminent professors, and was diligently 
 engaged in preparing himself for the duties of his 
 appointment. 
 
 Returning in 1847, he began his courses of both theo- 
 retical and experimental instruction. A respectable 
 class of diligent and interested pupils was soon gathered 
 around him, and has been continued and increased in 
 all the successive years. 
 
 * From the pen of Prof. SILLIMAN, Sen.
 
 I 
 
 Prof. Norton has been also much before the public, 
 both as a lecturer and an author, on the subjects which 
 he had cultivated, and so high was the estimation in 
 which he was held on account both of his talents and 
 attainments, that his efforts were sought ibr in a distin- 
 guished city* of a neighboring state. In the desire to 
 meet that demand, and at the same time to fulfill his 
 duties in New Haven, he performed winter journeys 
 twice weekly, week by week, during the late severe sea- 
 son, giving a lecture daily until his health failed in 
 the spring. 
 
 A southern voyage and a residence in Florida, in March 
 and April, gave his friends strong hopes that his health 
 would be restored, and he commenced his journey home- 
 ward with fair prospects ; but at Washington the mea- 
 sles arrested him, and his health, although at times im- 
 proved, has fluctuated from that time, and for some 
 weeks the hopes of his friends had been almost extin- 
 guished. His decline, towards the last, was very rapid, 
 but his Christian hope sustained and cheered him in his 
 closing hours, as it had been his solace and guide in 
 health. 
 
 His character was every way most estimable and 
 lovely, his manners mild and refined, and his conversa- 
 tion animated and interesting. He was eminently 
 
 * ALBANY, his native city.
 
 happy in his social and domestic relations, and was sur- 
 rounded by every thing that could make life interesting 
 and valuable. By a mysterious providence he was cut 
 off at the age of 30, ere youth was gone, and in the 
 hour of decided success in his profession. 
 
 He had already made a strong and favorable impres- 
 sion on the public mind ; he had gained the confidence 
 of ALL, and promised a long career of usefulness. 
 
 Yale College, in the short period of five days, has been 
 deprived of two of its brightest ornaments one in the 
 full maturity of years, learning, and honorable fame - 
 the other, in the bright morning of hope. The excellent 
 Gov. Treadwell and the late reverend senator Timothy 
 Pitkin, were lineal ancestors of Prof. Norton. 
 
 His funeral was attended on Tuesday afternoon, from 
 his late residence in Temple avenue. 
 
 NEW HAVEN, Sept. 8, 1852.
 
 OCCASIONED BI THE 
 
 DEATH OF JOHN PITKIN NORTON, 
 
 Professor of Analytical and Agricultural Chemistry in Yale College. 
 PREACHED IN FARMINGTON, CONN., SEPTEMBER, 
 
 BY REV. NOAH PORTER, D. D.
 
 SERMON. 
 
 - "and l>y it he being dead yet xpcaketh." HEB. xi, 4. 
 
 Tliis is said of righteous Abel. Though cut oif by 
 murderous hands, he yet lived and spoke, in the faith, 
 the remembrance of which remained. By iaith, while 
 he lived, he obtained witness that he was righteous, 
 God testifying of his gifts; and by it, being dead, he 
 spoke to survivors, who remembered him ; and through 
 the Scriptures he speaks to us, also, and to all men, 
 wherever the record comes, testifying to the excellence 
 of his faith in the sight of God, its overcoming power as 
 a principle of obedience, arid its efficacy to justify and 
 save the soul. 
 
 In the same manner, other good men, by their remem- 
 bered or recorded examples speak, when their lips are 
 silent in death. The long list of worthies whose works 
 of faith are recorded for our imitation in the Old Testa- 
 ment, are spoken of by the apostle Paul as a great cloud 
 of witnesses compassing us about. They speak to us 
 through the Scriptures, testifying to the faithfulness of 
 God, and exhorting us, believing in hi* word, to l,i\
 
 12 
 
 aside every weight, and run with patience the race set 
 before us. So, also, our personal acquaintances who 
 have died in the faith, and whose virtues are embalmed 
 in our memories, though dead, yet speak, exhorting us 
 to follow their example. Though gone from us, never 
 to return, they live, and seem to be present with us in 
 their accustomed scenes. They seem to speak to us in 
 those scenes, renewing and confirming the lessons of 
 wisdom, which they gave us, in word or deed, when they 
 were here, and to do this with new impressiveness, in 
 consideration of their end. 
 
 We ought then to heed their voice ; to call up the 
 remembrance of their lives, and consider what there 
 may be, by which they, being dead, yet speak. To aid 
 you in this, I have ocasionally sketched before you cer- 
 tain characteristics of some of our deceased friends, as 
 I have had the time and opportunity. I have done it, 
 not to eulogise the dead, but to benefit the living; and 
 with this in view I would now remind you of some of the 
 more striking traits of character in our lately deceased 
 friend, Prof. Norton. He was yet in his youth the 
 character of his childhood and youth is fresh in the 
 remembrance of many of us he was loved by all of 
 us who knew him, and his death is greatly and very ex- 
 tensively lamented; and I wish to take advantage of 
 these circumstances of the event which we so deeply
 
 13 
 
 deplored, to commend his virtues to your regard, and, 
 particularly, to the attention and imitation of the young 
 men and lads who are coming up among us after him. 
 We can hardly realize that we are to meet him here no 
 more. It requires no stretch of the fancy, to imagine 
 his beaming countenance in his accustomed place in the 
 assembly, and his melodious voice joining in our songs 
 of praise. And though he is not here, and will no more 
 be, yet his footsteps are here, and it may be pleasant and 
 profitable fo^is to gather up those remembrances of him 
 by which he, being dead, yet speaketh. 
 
 1. His filial reverence. I mention this first, because 
 of all the amiable and hopeful virtues of youth this is 
 first developed, and contains the germ of every other. 
 " Honor thy father and thy mother (which is the first 
 commandment with promise), that it may be well with 
 thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth." 
 How eminently both the precept and the promise here 
 commended to us were exemplified in our departed 
 friend, you who new him can tell. Although, indeed, 
 in respect to the number of his years, we mourn his 
 early death, yet, in respect to his amount of usefulness, 
 he lived long upon the earth; and but for his filial 
 reverence, this had not been. Go back to his early child- 
 hood, and none of you remember a disrespectful word 
 concerning his father or mother to have passed his lips. 
 2
 
 14 
 
 They know not, and I presume that none of you know, 
 an instance, since his childish days, in which he attempt- 
 ed to deceive them. Not only their commands, hut their 
 wishes, were sacred in his regard ; and this, not only 
 when he was under their eye, hut in their ahsence. Far 
 off, in a foreign land, and in years of maturity, it was 
 enough to withdraw him from any fashionable amuse- 
 ment or youthful gratification, to know or believe that 
 his father, if present, would wish him to abstain. My 
 young friends, I can not too earnestly commend his ex- 
 ample, in this respect, to your regard. Such reverence, 
 in a son of his father, is a fore-shadowing of the Christ- 
 ian's reverence of his God. 
 
 2. His accustomed cheerfulness. Cheerfulness beamed 
 in his face, thrilled in his voice, and diffused itself from 
 his buoyant mind over the circle of susceptible minds 
 around him. It was not levity ; it was not frivolity ; 
 and much less was it jovial sensuality. It was good 
 humour, and often, on fitting occasions, it was playful- 
 ness. He had a quick sense of pleasure from those 
 things which God made to give pleasure, and he loved 
 to interchange with others the pleasure that he felt. 
 This, no doubt, was founded partly in constitution ; but 
 thousands are of the same constitutional temperament, 
 who yet are too selfish or too anxious, to be cheerful. 
 He was also a favored child of Providence ; but thou-
 
 15 
 
 sands on whom Providence lavishes its favors, yet, 
 through discontentment or distrust are unhappy. Cheer- 
 fulness is not, of course, a positive virtue ; but gloomi- 
 ness, amidst the multitude of God's mercies, is a positive 
 sin. Nor can you conceive how much you may add to 
 your own and others happiness, how much you may 
 lighten the burdens of life, and help them to bear theirs, 
 by cultivating the habit of mind which you can never fail 
 to associate with the memory of our departed friend, the 
 disposition to^enjoy whatever in your lot is to be inno- 
 cently enjoyed, and to regard as lightly as you innocently 
 may, the evils that must be endured ; the disposition to 
 make the best of the present, and to hope, as far as God 
 permits, for the future. 
 
 3. You will remember his flow of kindness. The 
 cheerfulness, of which I have spoken, consisted in no 
 small measure of good nature. No malign affections or 
 envious feelings shadowed his brow, or saddened his 
 heart. Kindness was planted in his nature, and over- 
 flowed in his words and deeds. The poor who were 
 around him enjoyed it. The servants who attended him 
 loved him for it. The early companions to whom he 
 rendered his little offices of friendship, attest it. Hard 
 drinkers whom he labored to save from ruin remember it. 
 He sought the happiness of all about him as he had oppor- 
 tunity, and in a pleasant way, in little things as well as 
 great, and in accommodation to their feelings, as well as
 
 16 
 
 their necessities. For this you loved him, and in this I 
 exhort you to be like him. We were not made, each for 
 himself alone. We are mutually dependent, and an- 
 swerable to our dependence are the sympathies dispos- 
 ing us to mutual kindness. Were these always followed, 
 under the guidance of enlightened reason, and the dic- 
 tates of our moral nature, how would they increase the 
 amount of human happiness, how would they conform us 
 to the image of Him, whose glory it is to exercise loving 
 kindness and judgment and righteousness jn the earth. 
 They are not holiness ; but under the light and power of 
 the gospel, through the Spirit, they lead to it, and with- 
 out them vain are all pretensions to it. " He that loveth 
 not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love 
 God, whom he hath not seen ? " 
 
 4. Sincerity, also, is a shining virtue in which he, 
 being dead,yet speaketh. I have already said, that one 
 who best knew him remembers no instance in which, 
 after he was old enough to act from principle, he inten- 
 tionally deceived him. We all, I presume, may say the 
 same. He made no false pretensions. He never said 
 what he did not mean. He would not equivocate to 
 hide a fault, or compass an end. He was thoroughly 
 honest. He was to be trusted in any concern. And 
 how much is this to be said of any one ! Society is 
 founded in confidence, and confidence in sincerity. Did 
 the young men before me know how much their success
 
 17 
 
 in life, to say nothing of their estimation in the sight 
 of God, must depend on their sincerity their incor- 
 ruptible integrity their so conducting themselves in 
 circumstances of trial, that those who know them shall 
 feel that they are implicitly to be trusted, they would be 
 less ambitous than most men are, of what they call the 
 gifts of fortune. Character is the main thing. It was 
 with Joseph. It ^ as with David. It was with Daniel. 
 "Come, ye children," the voice >of wisdom cries, "heark- 
 en unto me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 
 What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days, 
 that he may see good ? Keep thy tongue from evil, and 
 thy lips from speaking guile." 
 
 5. His modesty was not less distinguished. You will 
 not mistake modesty for bashfulness, the timidity that 
 would unfit you to act as you feel, and utter what you 
 know. Our lamented friend was remarkably self- 
 possessed, and yet how very far he was from that im- 
 pudent boldness which can not blush, and from that 
 overweening self-estimation also which thrusts one into 
 positions unsuited to his condition or his years! His 
 powers early began to be developed some of them, at 
 least, shone eminently for his years and they shone 
 amidst his youthful modesty as a diamond set in pearls. 
 Some of you remember him, while yet in his minority, 
 addressing us in one of our Lyceum lectures, on the
 
 18 
 
 habits of birds. You can not have forgotten what care- 
 ful observation, what comprehensive knowledge, what 
 lively fancy, what amiable feeling, and what powers of 
 description, the lecture discovered, and how much it ex- 
 cited our admiration; and none the less because it was 
 read with down-cast eyes and a trembling hand. The 
 grace which thus adorned his earliest youth was not 
 tarnished in his subsequent life. As years advanced, he 
 could not be insensible that his condition was above the 
 common rank; but he affected no superiority on that 
 account. Returning from abroad, where he had been 
 conversant with people of rank, and received from them 
 nattering attentions, he was, no less than before, conde- 
 scending to men of low estate. In his professional 
 course, rising at once into eminence known, applauded 
 and sought for almost throughout the country he yet re- 
 tained his simplicity of character and manners to the last. 
 I need not dwell on these things. I mention them, only 
 to remind you of what you must have observed, and per- 
 suade you to copy what you must have admired. 
 
 6. Nor was he less remarkable for his choice of worthy 
 objects of pursuit. From his early years, he had no 
 relish for low gratifications. It required no pains to 
 keep him from the smoking, chewing, drinking habits 
 into which so many lads eagerly run ; nor from the vul- 
 gar profaneness which they are apt to indulge nor
 
 19 
 
 from the places of idle resort which many of them so 
 unhappily frequent ; he sought higher enjoyments, a 
 Christian home, useful books, and good society. He had 
 an early thirst for knowledge; he read easily, rapidly, 
 with discrimination and reflection, and so remembered 
 what he read. He studied the book of nature, admiring 
 it as the book of God, carefully observing the forms and 
 habits of beasts and birds and fishes and insects. He 
 treasured up his observations, and added to his stores 
 from books. It was his passion for natural history, that 
 seems to have led him to the choice of a farmer's life, 
 and to the studies that would best qualify him to pursue 
 it. His aim was not to be merely a farmer, but to carry 
 into the business of a farm, and the place in society 
 naturally connected with it, the varied and comprehen- 
 sive knowledge that would make both these pleasant, im- 
 proving and useful. For this purpose, he devoted his 
 winters to study, while his summers some of them, 
 at least were spent in the labors of a farm. Having 
 made a commendable proficiency in common learning 
 at home, he availed himself of some of the best advan- 
 tages abroad, in the study of the German and French 
 languages, of Chemistry and Natural and Moral philo- 
 sophy, of Astronomy, Law and Music, and this, while 
 he thought only of being a practical farmer; and with 
 this prospect, he spent his nineteenth summer in the
 
 20 
 
 independent management and personal culture of a part 
 of his father's farm. I mention these things, not because 
 it is to be expected, or desired, that the young men here 
 present should pursue exactly this course, but to shew 
 them the noble aim of one who was only a few steps 
 before them in the journey of life, and while he thought 
 of the same occupation with theirs, and to stimulate 
 them by his example though they may not have the 
 same advantages to make the best use of such as they 
 have. The result in his case, you know. His acquisitions 
 in this country encouraged him to seek higher and rarer 
 acquisitions abroad ; and in consequence of these, in his 
 twenty-fifth year, he led the way in this country in one of 
 the most interesting and useful applications of science to 
 practical purposes which the age affords. Providence may 
 not have the same honor in store for you all, but its gifts are 
 not exhausted. Worthy objects are not few, not far off. 
 Seek, and you shall find. It was not by a single, happy 
 choice alone that he whose example now calls you to 
 this, was what he became. The useful and the good 
 determined his general aims. I may mention, as an 
 instance, that when he began to be extensively known, 
 and tempting offers were made him to a more lucrative 
 application of his talents and acquirements than he had 
 proposed, he adhered to his original purpose, as being 
 the more improving and useful. So, also, when he was
 
 21 
 
 not dependent on his earnings for support, he chose to 
 eat his own bread ; and when a friend proposed to make 
 him an honorary member of one of our benevolent soci- 
 eties, he thought it more honorable to be a member 
 as he hoped soon to become by his personal contri- 
 bution. 
 
 7. His choice of worthy objects led him to untiring 
 industry in prosecuting them. There is nothing great 
 without labor. Those who suppose, if any such there 
 are, that Professor Norton attained his eminence adven- 
 titiously, know not his years of study nor his intense 
 application; his nights, as well as days, devoted to 
 study ; and, in connection with his regular studies, the 
 multitude of letters that he wrote, the daily journal 
 which for twelve or fourteen yeafs he kept, and the 
 stated contributions to periodicals that he made ; and 
 after his entrance on his profession, together with all 
 these, his courses of lectures, his private instructions, 
 his public addresses, and his printed works. He had his 
 recreations ; he enjoyed them. A favorite one we knew ; 
 but he adopted and continued it, merely as a recreation, 
 certainly, in his latter years, and had he indulged him- 
 self in it more freely, might not his invaluable life have 
 been prolonged ? In comparison of his industry with our 
 own, may not the greater part of us find ourselves re- 
 proved ? How much was accomplished by him in the 
 few fleeting years allotted him ! He seems, indeed, to
 
 22 
 
 have been quite clear, not only of the absolute indolence 
 but the sluggish action and dreamy thoughtfulness, in 
 which so much of life is ordinarily wasted. Earnest in 
 purpose, strong in conception, exact in discrimination, 
 and careful and settled in his conclusions, he acquired 
 rapidly, he was fully possessed of what he knew, he 
 wrote freely and much, and moved on his ardent course, 
 steadily, safely, joyfully. He lived, while he lived. 
 
 8. Exceedingly to be admired also was his moral cou- 
 rage. It was indeed no remarkable proof of this, that 
 in his boyhood he adopted the temperance pledge ; nor 
 that while he was in this country he adhered to it; but to 
 adhere to it in foreign countries, and in circles of fashion 
 and distinction, where it is scarcely known, or known 
 only to be lightly regarded, was a trial of firmness which 
 it is difficult for the greater part of us duly to estimate. 
 It is common for men pledged to temperance in this 
 country, on going abroad, to remove their names from 
 the pledge. This our youthful friend would not consent 
 to do. It would seem like dishonoring his early educa- 
 tion. He was not unaware of the trial, but he made up 
 his mind to meet it, and he fully sustained the resolution. 
 At agricultural gatherings and public dinners, with the 
 farmers of England and Scotland around the table 
 introduced to them by his honored teacher, as a young 
 American student and farmer, and called on to join them 
 in the customary glass he stood firm in his dissent,
 
 23 
 
 and yet so quietly and modestly firm as to shew that he 
 refused, not because he lightly esteemed them, but 
 because he could not be faithless to himself or jthe 
 cause to which he was pledged. In private circles as well 
 as on public occasions, and at the tables of the titled 
 and the great as well as at his proper home, the habit of 
 his life in this respect was too sacred to be broken ; and 
 though wondered at, and sometimes remonstrated with for 
 his singularity, his purpose was not changed. He would 
 not obtrude his opinions on others, nor censure them for 
 habits which he could not approve; and much less 
 would he take upon himself the office of a reprover of 
 those whose age and position in society demanded his 
 deference ; but neither would he forego his privilege or 
 deny his accountableness as a servant of God. The 
 same integrity marked his observation of the sabbath. 
 Whether at home or on a journey, he remembered the 
 day of sacred rest. In his journeys, he chose to stay 
 behind with strangers in a strange land, while his com- 
 pany passed on, rather than enjoy their society in viola- 
 tion of his own convictions ; and when others around 
 him freely gave and received visits of complaisance, on 
 the sabbath, as on other days, he could by no means 
 sacrifice his sense of duty to customs of civility. Such 
 firmness, however it may temporarily displease, it is 
 impossible to despise. There is, indeed, a self-willed
 
 24 
 
 pertinacity which assumes its name, and is as unlovely 
 as it is troublesome ; but to be firm on any point because 
 so is the will of God, and to unite that firmness with " the 
 meekness of wisdom," as did the Apostles, when forbid- 
 den to preach in the name of Jesus, is the highest 
 victory which man can achieve. And this brings me to 
 remark : 
 
 9. That it was chiefly the piety of this beloved young 
 man by which he, being dead, yet speaketh. This was 
 his crowning virtue, and gave to his other virtues their 
 highest excellence, the character of holiness. This raised 
 his filial reverence into godly fear; his constitutional 
 cheerfulness into spiritual joy ; his natural kindness into 
 Christian benevolence ; his honesty into godly sincerity; 
 his modesty into humility ; his elevation of purpose into 
 devotion to Christ; his habits of industry into diligence 
 in duty ; and his firmness into conscientious obedience. 
 This stamped his virtues with immortality, and made his 
 bright career on earth an opening into unfading glory in 
 heaven. " All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man 
 as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the 
 flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord 
 endureth for ever, and this is that word which by the 
 gospel is preached unto you." 
 
 The word of the Lord first took perceptible and per- 
 manent effect in his mind early in the year 1838, at the
 
 25 
 
 commencement of a revival of religion in this town, 
 when he was in his sixteenth year ; but it was not till 
 the summer of 1841, that, as he supposed, he truly and 
 heartily yielded himself to God, in the faith of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. The sudden death of a companion roused 
 him from his indecision to give his mind to eternal 
 things, and by the Holy Spirit, soon resulted in his con- 
 version, and the following autumn, in his public profes- 
 sion of religion, which ever since, at home and abroad, 
 in private and in public life, in his early and later rela- 
 tions, in the even tenor of a consistent, Christian life, for 
 these eleven years, he has maintained and adorned. Con- 
 versant as his studies led him to be with the laws 
 of nature, he did not overlook the God of nature, and in 
 his professional lectures, he was not forgetful of referring 
 his hearers to the manifestations of the Creator, in the 
 works of his hand, which he led them to examine ; and 
 their relations to him as the objects of his beneficence 
 and the accountable subjects of his government. 
 
 When he came to die, his religion did not fail him. 
 Just entering upon a profession to which he was enthusi- 
 astically devoted ; meeting in it with unlookcd for appro- 
 bation and success, and seeing a boundless field of 
 research and discovery opening before him, we do not 
 wonder that he desired to live ; nor that, when he could 
 not but know the dangerous nature of his disease, he
 
 26 
 
 was yet unwilling to believe that it would prove mortal. 
 Until a few days previous to his death, his hopes, and 
 probably the tenor of his thoughts, turned on living ; 
 still when told plainly that it was thought he would soon 
 die, he was not discomposed. " This is sudden," he said, 
 "and is it really so? does the physician think so?" 
 Being answered in the affirmative, he said, " then leave 
 me a little while to myself," and closing his eyes he 
 seemed to give himself to reflection and prayer, till some 
 half hour had passed when, turning himself to his wife 
 at his bedside, he exclaimed " glorious immortality !" 
 and from that moment he manifested no further care for 
 life, or any thing pertaining to it, but with the tenderest 
 affection to all about him, and ardent breathings after 
 heaven, he waited for his departure. 
 
 With two or three reflections I shall conclude. 
 
 1. The Providence of God was remarkably manifested 
 in leading on our departed friend in his distinguished 
 course. Though more than most young men addicted to 
 forethought and system and perseverance his final 
 course was altogether aside from any original plan or de- 
 sign of his own, or any of his friends. The first design 
 concerning him was his education at college ; when this 
 was abandoned, it was, that he should become a farmer ; 
 and when first he went abroad to qualify himself as a 
 teacher, little did he, or others, suppose that while yet in
 
 27 
 
 his youth, he would be so widely known and esteemed 
 both as a teacher and an author. And yet, now we see 
 that all the steps in his path, from his earliest years, tend- 
 ed to this, as though they were planned with reference 
 to it, and prosecuted with the exactest care. Well did 
 the prophet say: "O Lord, I know that the way of man 
 is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct 
 his steps." Well, too, does the voice of wisdom cry: 
 " Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to 
 thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge 
 him and he shall direct thy paths." There is a Provi- 
 dence in the affairs of men, which we must be blind not 
 to see, and sottish to refuse devoutly to acknowledge. 
 
 2. The same Providence that conducted him in his 
 course of life, must be acknowledged in its termination 
 by death. The one of these involves the other. There 
 could be no divine hand in overruling the changes of his 
 life, that did not equally decide the last great change in 
 his death. We admire the goodness of the one. Let us 
 bow to the sovereignty of the other. " The Lord reigneth, 
 let the earth rejoice. Clouds and darkness are around 
 about him : righteousness and judgment are the habita- 
 tion of his throne." "He giveth not account of any of 
 his matters, and who will say unto him, what doest thou?" 
 It is for himself to explain the mysteries of his govern- 
 ment, and for us to wait, in submissive silence, the ap-
 
 29 
 
 pointed hour, knowing that his ways are right, and his 
 counsels wise ; that light is sown for the righteous, and 
 gladness for the upright in heart ; that whatever dark- 
 ness may for the present veil his designs, the cloud will 
 be removed ; it will be seen and confessed that he hath 
 done all things well. 
 
 Finally, this affecting death renews to us the admoni- 
 tion so often repeated of the vanity of man as mortal. 
 Only a few months since, there was scarcely a young 
 man in our country, whose condition the deceased would 
 have preferred to his own. Now, how changed, and but 
 for that which is above what flesh is heir to, how vain to 
 him now were the advantages, the acquirements, the 
 fame, and the virtues themselves, by which he was dis- 
 tinguished ! Blessed be God, there is a life, " unmeasured 
 by the flight of years. There is an inheritance incor- 
 ruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." There 
 is a glorious conqueror, standing on the ruins of two 
 hundred generations, and proclaiming, "I am the re- 
 surrection and the life : he that believeth on me, though 
 he were dead yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and 
 believeth on me shall never die." May you all aspire to 
 that nobler life. May you all believe in him who holds 
 out to you the heavenly gift. Suffer no delay; for on 
 your immortal being hangs the dread alternative of eter- 
 nal life or eternal death. Trust not to youth, to health,
 
 29 
 
 to a course of prosperity unbroken in the past, or to pros- 
 pects yet brightening in the future. Think of him who 
 had all these to lean upon and who now lies silent in the 
 grave. No, not silent ; for " being dead he yet speaketh ;" 
 and the accents are, "my days are past, my purposes 
 are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart." "Cease 
 ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein 
 is he to be accounted of? " " Trust ye in the Lord for- 
 ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." 
 Amen.
 
 or 
 
 JOHN PITKIN NORTON. 
 
 BY 
 
 PROF. WILLIAM A. LARNED, 
 
 OF YALE COLLEGE.
 
 JOHN P1TKIN NORTON. 
 
 From the Now EnKlmuler for NOT., 1852. 
 
 Since the publication of our last number, Yale College 
 has been called to suffer a severe loss in the death of 
 Prof. Kingsley and of Prof. Norton. Our readers will 
 expect from us, we presume, some account of these 
 gentlemen, the one of whom was so well known from 
 his labors of fifty years in the cause of sound learning, 
 and the other from the promising commencement of 
 labors, which bid fair to be long protracted and extensively 
 useful. 
 
 The death of John Pitkin Norton is one of those events 
 of Divine Providence, which are designed as " trials of 
 faith," and tests of the infinite value of eternal hopes. 
 In the case of those who are removed from life, not un- 
 til they have completed their appropriate work, we mourn, 
 but not because we see plans unfinished, aims frustrated, 
 and the unity of life marred and broken. AVe miss the 
 friendly greeting, the trust of well-tried affection, the com- 
 munication of knowledge and counsel ; the habitual asso- 
 ciations of our lives are sundered, and we are saddened at 
 the natural suspension, only a suspension we may hope of
 
 32 
 
 the offices of love and friendship. Bat when those are 
 taken away who have made faithful preparation for the re- 
 sponsibilities of manhood, and have just commenced the 
 serious business of life, with the fairest prospects of suc- 
 cess, we mourn besides for plans broken off, labors un- 
 finished, hopes disappointed, affections crushed in the 
 bloom, and, in this reversal of the ordinary course of na- 
 ture, we can only bow with reverence before the mystery 
 of Divine Providence. 
 
 We attempt a memorial of our friend, not alone from 
 personal considerations, but on account of his pure moral 
 and Christian character, and also of the service, which, 
 in his short course, he rendered to his country, in the 
 earliest establishment, in our land, of a Collegiate School 
 of -Agricultural Chemistry. 
 
 John Pitkin Norton was born at Albany, N. Y., July 19, 
 1822. In 1835, the family returned to its ancient seat in 
 Farmington, Conn., and he there received his early 
 education in the well-known school of Simeon Hart. 
 From an early period, young Norton was a student of na- 
 ture. For his was one of those minds, which have in 
 their original structure, a decisive impulse towards a de- 
 finite course of action an inclination towards a parti- 
 cular form of development. This aptitude, however, 
 was not for the mere enjoyment of nature, a poetic im- 
 pulse simply ; it was rather a philosophical turn of mind,
 
 33 
 
 which led him to the observation of the material world, 
 and of the phenomena of animal and vegetable life. He 
 studied as well as enjoyed he reflected as well as saw. 
 This d isposition is sometimes misunderstood . An inten se 
 hut quiet interest, such as youth of a particular bent of 
 genius possess, often produces an indifference to studies out 
 of a certain range. There is activity of mind enough and 
 power enough, but it is not manifested in the usual way. It 
 has been said of several men of great genius, that they were 
 dull in youth. This we apprehend is a mistake. Such are 
 merely inactive where others are active ; the stream flows, 
 only not in the usual channels, and all the deeper for 
 flowing by itself. That boy is not inactive, a mere idler, 
 who lies upon the ground by the hour, watching the spider 
 spin its web, or the insect wing its flight, or even the 
 worm trail its way on the slime. He is not an idler who 
 follows the bee in its industrious toils, and the birds in 
 their busy pleasures, to learn their ways of life. He is 
 not an idler, who gathers the pebbles and the crystal 
 stones, not as playthings to be admired, but as objects to 
 be arranged, and somehow put into classes. Mr. Norton 
 belonged to this order of minds. He had an original 
 genius for natural science ; he took an absorbing pleasure 
 in the observation of natural objects. We were much 
 interested in an account of his first scientific study, 
 which we received from Theodore Dwight, Esq., of New
 
 34 
 
 York, who had the direction of his studies the first winter 
 he was sent from home to school. Mr. Dwight says : 
 " In my first interview with John, I found he had a de- 
 cided aversion to every branch of study, especially Latin 
 and Greek. I sought ibr some pursuit in which he might 
 feel some interest, but went through the whole range of 
 sciences and literature without success, when at last I 
 mentioned mineralogy. There I found him alive, and 
 willing to answer questions, and I soon learned that he, 
 for two years or more, had appropriated his money to the 
 purchase of minerals, and had a large collection. I in- 
 quired anxiously how he had arranged them ; and he re- 
 plied that he had made three attempts to arrange them, 
 according to their colors and names, and had found that 
 they could not be classified by anybody. I assured him of 
 the contrary, and told him that the proper principle was 
 that of their composition. He immediately inquired how 
 any person could know what stones are made of. I ex- 
 plained, in a simple manner, analysis and synthesis, and 
 promised him that he should begin the next day to de- 
 compose minerals, and (what pleased him more, although 
 he did not half believe it possible) compound and form 
 some himself." Henceforth, there is no want of interest 
 in his studies ; and from the hour of this conversation, 
 he became one of the most hard-working scholars of his 
 time. A certain modesty of disposition, and a diffidence
 
 35 
 
 of himself, which was increased by his inaptitude to the 
 ordinary studies of the schools, had hitherto hindered the 
 free, natural development of his powers; and he did not 
 get upon the right track, till the sagacity of Mr. Dwight 
 pointed it out, and set him forth upon it. 
 
 It had been determined he should be a farmer. It 
 was his own choice, and his father had readily acquiesced 
 in it, although very wisely making it a condition of his 
 assent, that he should be educated for that business. It 
 may seem strange that we give prominence to this cir- 
 cumstance. But a specific education for the pursuits of 
 the agriculturist, on a broad scale, was a thing almost 
 unknown at that time in this country, and if it is more 
 common now, it is in great part owing to this very ex- 
 ample. This education was to be no superficial one ; it 
 was to be both practical and theoretical. The summers 
 were to be spent in work, and the winters in study. We 
 will draw out the course of his education a little in de- 
 tail, as we think it a very good one, and it may suggest 
 valuable hints to others. The farming season of 1838 
 was spent with E. C. Delavan, at Ballston Centre, N. Y., 
 who had an extensive farm, worked by intelligent Scotch 
 laborers, with whom he was employed almost constantly. 
 The fall and winter of 1838-39 was passed in Albany, 
 studying French, mathematics, music and drawing. 
 The working season of 1839 was spent on his father's
 
 36 
 
 farm in Farmington, and the following winter in Brook- 
 lyn, N. Y., under the direction of Mr. Dwight, to which 
 we have already referred. The next summer (1840) was 
 spent in Farmington, in work on the farm, and the fol- 
 lowing winter (1840-41) in New Haven, attending lec- 
 tures upon chemistry, mineralogy, and natural philoso- 
 phy. We must not omit to mention also, that he attended 
 the lectures of Dr. Taylor, on theology, for, though it 
 is a part of an agricultural education which might be 
 omitted, it seems like going back to a better age, to be- 
 hold the science of theology brought within the range 
 of the studies of a well educated man. Mr. Norton 
 made this year his first public effort. He delivered a 
 well written and interesting lecture before a Lyceum, in 
 the place of his residence, upon the subject of birds, and 
 defended their cause so well, as to secure the passage of 
 a, law, at the next town-meeting, for their protection. 
 The summer of 1841 was spent as usual on the farm, and 
 the winter (1841-42) at New Haven, in the laboratory 
 of the Professors Silliman. The next summer (1842) was 
 passed at home, and the following winter (1842-43) in 
 Boston, where he attended courses of lectures on chem- 
 istry and anatomy, and also the lectures of Doct. Harris, 
 on entomology, and of Prof. Greenleaf, on law. The 
 summer of 1843 was spent in Farmington, and this sea- 
 son he took the entire charge of a portion of his father's
 
 37 
 
 farm, trying the experiment of farming on his own ac- 
 count. The winter of 1843-4 was spent in New Haven, 
 again in the Yale College laboratory, under the instruc- 
 tion of the same distinguished teachers. 
 
 The extensive course of study which Mr. Norton had 
 been pursuing for the past six years, had opened before 
 him a new and wide field of usefulness. He felt the ne- 
 cessity of a more specific course of agricultural educa- 
 tion than could be obtained in this country, and he de- 
 termined to prepare himself to become an instructor in 
 Agricultural Chemistry. This was done with no ambi- 
 tious views of attaining to any higher distinction, but 
 solely with the purpose of making himself more useful 
 to the agricultural community, whose interests he had 
 identified with his own. Agriculture was the first pur- 
 suit that strongly awakened his feelings, and the promo- 
 tion of its interests was the ruling purpose of his life. 
 Rarely have the powers of any individual been more ex- 
 clusively devoted to one great end, than were those of 
 Mr. Norton to agriculture. 
 
 Having determined to prepare himself to give instruc- 
 tion in agriculture, he resolved .to make that preparation 
 as complete as possible. All his plans in this respect 
 were fully approved by his father, who from the first had 
 taken the most enlarged views on this subject. After 
 due inquiries, he decided to go to Edinburgh, and an ar-
 
 38 
 
 rangement was made by Prof. Silliman with Prof. Johns- 
 ton, the distinguished professor of chemistry, in the la- 
 boratory of the Agricultural Chemical Association in 
 Edinburgh, to receive him as a pupil. He left this coun- 
 try in the spring of 1844, and remained in Edinburgh 
 till the spring of 1846. 
 
 Mr. Norton was well prepared to take advantage of the 
 valuable instructions now within his reach. He had 
 been a diligent student for six years a period sufficiently 
 long to have carried him through a collegiate and almost 
 a professional course of study ; for the interruption by 
 the labors of the summer, would not amount to much 
 more than the usual vacations in college and professional 
 schools. He was quite well acquainted with the French 
 language, and could read German with ease. He had 
 enjoyed the best instruction in chemistry which the 
 country afforded, and was, indeed, already a good prac- 
 tical chemist. He felt too that he was now entering upon 
 an extensive field of usefulness that he was laboring in 
 the service of his country and that on his return, he 
 would possess a power for good within his sphere which 
 would perhaps belong to jno other one of his countrymen. 
 He entered upon his studies, therefore, with the greatest 
 enthusiasm. He spent all the working hours of the day- 
 light from nine o'clock in the morning till six in the 
 afternoon without interruption, in the laboratory, while
 
 39 
 
 the evening till midnight uniformly, arid often later, was 
 devoted to reading in French, to chemical studies, writ- 
 ing for agricultural journals at home, in addition to the 
 journal which he kept for many years, and the long 
 family letter which was weekly forwarded to his home. 
 And we hesitate not to say that this correspondence and 
 journal, if they were to be published, would make as 
 interesting and instructive a volume of foreign resi- 
 dence, as any one that has been published by our coun- 
 trymen. Such was the ardor with which he prosecuted 
 his chemical researches, and so closely did he confine 
 himself to his single pursuit, that even the romantic 
 scenery around Edinburgh and the neighboring places, 
 famous in song and story, could not draw him from the 
 laboratory. It was not till the arrival of a friend from 
 America, that he visited the objects of interest in Edin- 
 burgh and its environs. Nor did this devotion to his 
 studies arise solely or mainly from the ambition of dis- 
 tinction. It sprang from a higher principle, a principle 
 of duty, which ever controlled him. " It seems to me a 
 duty," he said, in writing to a friend, " to keep one ob- 
 ject in view diligently to improve the extraordinary ad- 
 vantages of my situation. This can only be done by 
 withdrawing my attention from other objects, and devot- 
 ing every faculty to this alone. I feel sure that I am fast 
 laying up a store of knowledge, that under the pro-
 
 40 
 
 violence of God, will make me to be of much use in my 
 own country. The field opens wider and wider as I ad- 
 vance, and I often feel discouraged at the mountain of 
 labors which rises before me." These were not idle 
 words. They meant all that they express. We have 
 never known the man whose conduct was more governed 
 by a sense of duty. 
 
 These unremitted labors were not without their results. 
 Mr. Norton soon attained to great accuracy in his expe- 
 riments, and his analyses could be entirely relied on as 
 faithfully made. He shunned no toil, he concealed no 
 mistakes. If any analysis did not come out as it should 
 have done, he kneu not the art of conjecturing what the 
 figures should have been, but went over with the work 
 again. His progress was such, that Professor Johnston 
 advised him to prepare papers for the British Association, 
 which he did. Two papers of his were read at the meeting 
 of that body in Cambridge, and were well received. 
 By the advice of the same judicious instructor and friend, 
 he entered into a very minute analysis of the oat. 
 These investigations cost him the labor of almost eighteen 
 months, and when they were completed, the memoir 
 was presented to the Highland Agricultural Society, and 
 received the prize of fifty sovereigns, which it had offered 
 for the best essay on the subject. We can not give to the 
 uninitiated anything like an adequate conception of the 
 labor expended upon these researches. We may say in
 
 41 
 
 general, using the language of the Journal of Science, in 
 which the memoir was republished, that " commencing 
 with the young plant, he followed it through its success- 
 ive stages of growth and development to its maturity. 
 The results are presented in thirty-nine tables, containing 
 hundreds of accurate and minute analyses, giving the 
 composition of the oat from the different parts of the 
 plant, separately, viz : the leaf above and below, the 
 stalk, the knots, the grain, &c., besides the organic con- 
 stitution of the grain " This is by far the most thorough 
 examination of the oat which has ever been made and 
 his labors possess the advantage that subsequent inquirers 
 may implicitly rely upon them, and begin where Mr. 
 Norton left off. 
 
 But beside the scientific labors of the laboratory, Mr. 
 Norton made many agricultural excursions in company 
 with Prof. Johnston, into different parts of Scotland and 
 England, in which they examined the best cultivated 
 farms in the kingdom. Mr. Norton's personal experience 
 in farming, enabled him to turn these visits to the great- 
 est advantage. He also attended agricultural festivals, 
 and was called up for speeches at the festive boards. 
 Full accounts of these expeditions were published in the 
 Albany Cultivator, of which he was a regular correspond- 
 ent during his residence abroad. His opportunities in 
 this respect were unsurpassed, and the practical know-
 
 42 
 
 ledge which he thus gained of Scotch and English farming, 
 he applied with great judgment to the different circum- 
 stances of agriculture in this land. For the great 
 advantage accruing to him from these expeditions, he 
 was indebted to Prof. Johnston, by whose means he was 
 introduced into the society of agriculturists, which 
 would not usually be accessible to young students from 
 abroad. Indeed, we can not leave this part of our subject, 
 without expressing the gratitude which the friends of 
 Mr. Norton feel, and which we know he always felt, to 
 Prof. Johnston, for the fidelity with which he directed 
 and watched over his studies, for the kindness which he 
 manifested towards him in the social relations of life, and 
 for the interest which he took in his reputation and suc- 
 cess as a man of science. 
 
 While in Scotland, Nr. Norton worshipped in the Free 
 Church, and rejoiced in the enthusiasm and martyr-like 
 spirit, which accomplished that wonderful movement. 
 He heard most of the distinguished preachers of that 
 church. Sunday was ever to him a day of enjoyment, 
 and though a stranger to his fellow- worshippers, he was 
 always present at church, joining his voice with the 
 congregation in their praises of God. Mr. Norton returned 
 with a very high estimation of the Scotch people. In 
 one respect, however, he found himself not a little at 
 variance with them. He had grown up in the most un-
 
 43 
 
 qualified observance of the strictest temperance pledge, 
 and it is not known that he ever, except as a child, tasted 
 any alcoholic liquors. He also had been trained to the 
 early New England strictness, in keeping holy the sabbath 
 day. In his various excursions and visits, his principles 
 on each of these points were severely tried, but in no 
 single instance did he in the least degree deviate from 
 them. Nor was this with him a matter of singularity or 
 a proud defiance of public sentiment. It cost him, on the 
 contrary, as appears from frequent reference to it in his 
 letters, a very great sacrifice of feeling. But it was a 
 question of duty, and he firmly did what he thought to be 
 right. And this was not without its reward, for he after- 
 wards had the satisfaction of knowing that his example 
 h^l a beneficial influence in two or three particular cases. 
 But, universally, Mr. Norton was a strictly conscientious 
 man, and the severity of his daily studies was never 
 permitted to interfere with his religious duties. 
 
 Mr. Norton returned to this country in the spring of 
 1846, having first made a flying visit to the continent 
 with reference to pursuing his studies in some one of the 
 celebrated laboratories there. 
 
 On Mr. Norton's return to this country, it was thought 
 important to secure the services of so able and valuable 
 a man to Yale College. Professor Silliman, Sen., with 
 his usual promptness in the cause of science, took the
 
 44 
 
 matter in hand, and appearing before the corporation, at 
 their annual meeting, at commencement, in 1846, 
 presented the importance of having such a professorship 
 in some way connected with the college. This proposal 
 was made at a most fortunate time. It had long been 
 the wish of the college officers to have a department, in 
 which some of the collegiate studies, such as philosophy, 
 philology, pure mathematics, and the like, might be 
 prosecuted by graduates under systematic instruction, 
 and in which also, not only graduates, but others not 
 graduates, who should be properly qualified, might be 
 trained to fulfill in a manner creditable to the country, 
 the office of the civil engineer, of the scientific mirier and 
 geologist, of the scientific agriculturist, and the like ; 
 thus furnishing society with a body of highly educated 
 men, in its various departments, and introducing in fact, 
 new liberal professions among the learned professions. 
 This movement in behalf of the physical department, fell 
 in with this long cherished desire ; the matter was dis- 
 cussed on general principles ; and from this discussion 
 arose what has since been called, The Philosophical 
 Department of Yale College. As we regard this movement 
 one of great importance to the college, and to the country, 
 and as Mr. Norton was the founder and architect of one 
 of the most important branches in this department, we 
 have thought it best to put on record all the documents 
 relating to this subject.
 
 45 
 
 The first document is the resolution of the corporation, 
 establishing two new professorships, passed August 19, 
 1846: 
 
 WHEREAS, it has been represented to this corporation, that a benefactor 
 of the college proposes to give five thousand dollars for the endowment 
 of a Professorship of Agricultural Chemistry, and of Vegetable and 
 Animal Physiology, provided that twenty thousand dollars be raised for 
 that purpose: 
 
 Resolved, That there be established in this college, a Professorship of 
 Agricultural Chemistry and of Vegetable and Animal Physiology, for the 
 purpose of giving instruction to graduates and others not members of the 
 undergraduate classes: and that the corporation will now proceed to 
 elect a professor of those branches of science, that while efforts to 
 complete the endowment are in progress, he may devote himself to studies 
 preparatory to his entering on the duties of that office it being under- 
 stood and provided that the support of this professor is in no case to be 
 chargWible to the existing funds or resources of the college. 
 
 Resolved, That there be also established a Professorship of Practical 
 Chemistry, 1'or the purpose of giving instruction to others than members 
 oitfie undergraduate classes, in respect to the application of chemistry, 
 and the kindred sciences, to the manufacturing arts, to the exploration of 
 the resources of the "country, and to other practical uses; and that a 
 professor be now appointed to that office, whose compensation, till other 
 provision can be made, shall be derived exclusively from fees for instruc- 
 tion, and for other services. 
 
 Resolved, That President Day and Professors Silliman, Kingsley, 
 Olmsted, Woolsey and Salisbury, be a committee to report at the next 
 annual meeting of the corporation, or at any intervening meeting which 
 may be convenient, their opinion of the expediency of arranging under a 
 distinct department of the university, those courses of instruction which 
 are or may be given to others than members of the undergraduate classes, 
 and which are not included in the departments of theology, law and 
 medicine, and that if in their opinion such a department is expedient, 
 they report such arrangements and regulations as may be requisite for 
 the full organization of the department.
 
 46 
 
 I 
 
 These two professorships were filled hy the appoint- 
 ment of Mr. Norton to the former, and of Mr. Benjamin 
 Silliman, Jr., to the latter. Instruction in these profess- 
 orships was postponed till the year following. We may 
 remark that Mr. Norton did not accept a professorship in 
 Vegetable and Animal Physiology, although his name 
 appears as professor of those branches in the college 
 catalogue of that year. 
 
 We give next the report of the committee, whose ap- 
 pointment is recorded in the preceding resolution. It 
 was presented to the corporation, August 19th, 1847, and 
 accepted : 
 
 " The committee appointed by the corporation of Yale College, to 
 consider whether it is expedient to form a fourth department in this col- 
 lege, for the instruction of other than undergraduate students, beg^rave 
 to report: 
 
 That in their judgment it is expedient to form such a department, and 
 that for several reasons. Some of these reasons are : 
 
 1. That there is a demand on the part of our graduates and others, 
 for instruction in particular lines beyond what is wanted, or can be given 
 in the college course. 
 
 2. We have several endowed scholarships for graduates, and are 
 likely to have more; and the advantages arising from these endowments, 
 will be greatly increased by having instructions provided for the scholars 
 upon them, and not leaving them to themselves. 
 
 3. From time to time new branches of study are called for by the 
 public; which if introduced into our undergraduate course, would greatly 
 crowd it and interfere with its object as a course of training for the mind. 
 
 4. It is believed that students resident here for the purpose of pursu- 
 ing a specific branch will be industrious, and will have a good effect in 
 promoting the spirit of study among the undergraduates.
 
 47 
 
 | 
 
 5. We have at present the materials of such a department here on the 
 ground. It is believed by your committee, that some system introduced 
 into them, will greatly add to their usefulness. 
 
 Your committee being also charged with the duty of reporting regula- 
 tions for the organization of said department, should it be judged ex- 
 pedient to form one, beg leave to report the following : 
 
 1. There shall be a fourth department of instruction for other than 
 undergraduate students, who are not in the departments of theology, 
 medicine, and law, to be called the Department of Philosophy and 
 the Arts. The department is intended to embrace philosophy, 
 literature, history, the moral sciences other than law and theology, 
 the natural sciences excepting medicine, and their application to the arts. 
 
 2. Instruction in this department may be given by professors not 
 belonging to the others, by professors in the academical departments, 
 and by such others as the president and fellows may approve. But no 
 second course of lectures on the same branch may be given, without the 
 consent of the previous lecturer. 
 
 3. All graduates of this or other colleges, and all other young men 
 of fair moral character, may be allowed to pursue such studies included 
 in this department as they may desire. But dismissed students of this 
 or other colleges, and undergraduate students, without express leave of 
 the academical faculty, shall not enjoy the privileges of this department. 
 
 4. The instructors in this department may make such arrangements 
 as it respects remuneration for their instructions, as they may think 
 proper. 
 
 5. The faculty of the department shall consist of the president, and 
 such professors as are actually engaged in the instruction of the depart- 
 ment ; and regulations passed by the faculty, and approved by the cor- 
 poration, may be the regulations of the department." 
 
 It will be noted that there was no provision made for 
 conferring degrees in this department, as is done in the 
 departments of law and medicine. This was postponed 
 for farther consideration. We will here anticipate the 
 course of events, and present the doings of the corpora-
 
 48 
 
 "41 
 
 tion in establishing the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, 
 in this department. Through the influence and exertions 
 of Professor Norton, a petition was presented to the 
 corporation for the establishment of such a degree, at 
 their meeting in July, 1851. A committee, consisting of 
 President Woolsey, Dr. Day, Professor Kingsley, and 
 Professor Norton, was appointed to confer upon this 
 subject, and to report at the next annual meeting. The 
 following is the report : 
 
 The committee appointed last year to prepare rules for giving degrees 
 in this department, if they should deem the giving of such degrees 
 expedient, report the following rules : 
 
 1. Students in this department of the age of twenty one years, who 
 have resided at the college two years, and have pursued their studies 
 for nine months in each year, may receive on examination the degree 
 of Bachelor of Philosophy. 
 
 2. The examination shall embrace, at least, three branches of study, 
 and a certificate of the examiners must be produced to the effect, that 
 the examination in each branch has been satisfactory. 
 
 3. This examination in the case of students in the physical sciences, 
 shall embrace two departments of physicz.1 or mathematical science, and 
 either the French or German language. 
 
 The fee for graduation shall be the same as for Bachelors of Arts, or 
 Bachelors of Laws, whereupon, voted to adopt the foregoing as rules, 
 under which degrees in this department shall be given. 
 
 In the consideration of this subject, the committee had 
 the advantage, it is proper to remark, of the experience 
 of Harvard and Brown, where degrees of this kind had 
 already been established. The degrees were conferred
 
 49 
 
 at Yale, for the first time, at the commencement, in 
 July, of the present year. 
 
 We would call the attention of our readers to two or 
 three points in the establishment of this new department 
 in the college. 
 
 In the first place, it was put upon the same basis as the 
 professional schools of theology, law, and medicine, 
 and is to be regarded as a fourth jrrofessional school. It 
 was intentionally separated from the college proper, or 
 the academical course of instruction. The principle, 
 laid down in the reports to the corporation, written by 
 President Day and Professor Kingsley, on the subject of 
 the study of the classics, that a collegiate education is 
 merely a preparation for a professional education, a 
 general course of study fitting the student for any specific 
 course which his chosen pursuit of life may require, and 
 that the two should not be intermingled, was strictly 
 observed. Pains were taken not to introduce any partial 
 or half-way system of education into the four years 
 collegiate course. It was hoped, on the one hand, that 
 there would be some, as there have been, who would 
 become professional scholars in the departments of 
 philology, philosophy, mathematics and the like ; and, 
 on the other, that there would be a large number of 
 graduates, who would prepare themselves, by a strictly 
 professional course of instruction, for those pursuits of
 
 50 
 
 life, other than theology, law, and medicine, which 
 require a peculiar education. This has been the case to 
 some extent, and the tendency in that direction is 
 increasing. It is beginning to be felt that college 
 education, in the discipline of the powers and the 
 balancing of the faculties of the mind which it gives, 
 not only does not disqualify, but lays, in general, the 
 best foundation, for the after education of the scientific 
 farmer, of the enlightened merchant, and of men in the 
 various departments of active life, which manufactures, 
 rail roads, mining, and the like, open to the educated. 
 
 In the second place, the establishment of this new 
 department recognized the fact, that there are very 
 many in the community, who for various reasons, can 
 not go through with the preparatory studies in a 
 collegiate course, and was intended to give such the best 
 opportunities possible for their professional education. 
 The age (twenty one) which the degree of Bachelor of 
 Philosophy requires, shows that it was regarded by the 
 corporation as a testimonial of a completed preparation 
 for the active duties of life as in the case with the 
 degrees in law and medicine. 
 
 Finally, in the institution of this new department, the 
 corporation of the college proceeded with cautious steps, 
 and with a wise foresight of the necessities of education 
 in our land. Schools of physical science might be dis-
 
 51 
 
 sociated from the university, as is sometimes done. We 
 think, however, that in connecting the departments of 
 agricultural chemistry, of chemical analysis, and of 
 civil engineering, with the general department of 
 philosophy, and making the whole one of the pro- 
 fessional schools connected with the college, the 
 corporation have acted with the wisdom which has 
 uniformly characterized their proceedings. It places 
 the interests of the higher education of our land in the 
 hands of those who will give to it an elevated and liberal 
 character. In all these views of the corporation Prof. 
 Norton fully acquiesced. Indeed, his own education, 
 (of which the corporation had expressed their estimate, 
 by conferring upon him the honorary degree of Master 
 of Arts,) had been of too liberal a kind in point of time 
 equal to the full academical and professional course, and 
 in point of acquisition and discipline not inferior to that 
 of our first scholars to permit him to wish for a low 
 standard. It was entirely accordant with his wishes, 
 that the requisitions for the degree in this department 
 were made high. 
 
 Mr. Norton returned to Europe in the fall of 1846, and 
 entered the laboratory of Mulder, at Utrecht. His 
 progress here was rapid and satisfactory. He went 
 forward in his analyses with somewhat of the confidence 
 of a master, and he frequently speaks in his letters, with
 
 52 
 
 enthusiasm, of his " beautiful results." He pursued his 
 researches here with the same laborious diligence as at 
 Edinburgh, often being in the laboratory twelve or 
 fourteen hours a day, and reserving the hours of the 
 night, till after midnight, for the study of German and 
 Dutch, for writing for the Cultivator, and for his 
 extensive correspondence with his family and friends. 
 He was again very fortunate in his teacher. Mulder 
 took a great interest in his success, and devised and 
 forwarded useful plans of study for him. During his 
 residence there, he made an agricultural excursion 
 through North Holland, to become acquainted with the 
 practice of farming in that region. He returned in July, 
 1847, having been with Mulder nine months. 
 
 Mr. Norton had now completed his education, and 
 was prepared to enter upon the serious business of life. 
 He commenced his duties as professor in the fall of 
 1847. He was married to Miss Elizabeth P. Marvin, of 
 Albany, N. Y., in December of the same year, and 
 having the means of living in a liberal and elegant 
 manner, soon became a householder, and took his part 
 in all the duties of social life. Universally esteemed in 
 society, beloved by all who knew him, and uncommonly 
 happy in his own home, he began life with the fairest 
 prospects. 
 
 The philosophical department, as we have already
 
 53 
 
 remarked, embraces several branches of study. Most of 
 these had for some years previous, been more or less 
 pursued by a few of the graduates of the college, and by 
 others. Some had studied philology, philosophy, and 
 mathematics; there had been several scholars in the 
 laboratory. The only effect of the establishment of the 
 new department as to these, was, to give more system 
 to the instruction. There were no new professorships in 
 them. The professorship of practical chemistry was a 
 new one, and would have become an important depart- 
 ment, had not Prof. Silliman, Jr., been early called away 
 to a wider field, in the Medical College, at Louisville, 
 Ky. We shall, therefore, limit our subsequent remarks 
 to the single professorship of agricultural chemistry. 
 Indeed, the philosophical department, so far as it was 
 new, rested entirely upon that professorship. 
 
 We are to speak now of the work which he 
 accomplished, in the few years of manhood a little 
 less than five years which were allotted to him. The 
 department of Agricultural Chemistry was to be created. 
 Tt was new in the country. It was doubtful whether 
 the public sentiment was strong enough to support it. 
 The external resources for such an undertaking were 
 sufficiently humble. The professorship was without a 
 salary, and no better laboratory could be furnished than 
 the wooden house on the college grounds, formerly
 
 54 
 
 occupied by President Dwight, and afterwards by 
 President Day. But Professor Norton was well fitted 
 for the work he had undertaken. His acquaintance with 
 the operations of the farm, gained by personal experience, 
 his good sense and sound judgment, and his simple and 
 gentlemanly bearing, won the regard of the farming 
 community ; and he took unwearied pains, through 
 addresses, lectures, more formal treatises, and numerous 
 publications in agricultural journals, to disseminate 
 elevated views of the necessity of scientific knowledge 
 to the farmer. His influence was extensively felt, and 
 was becoming stronger every year. Within the school, 
 the more immediate sphere of his labors, his influence 
 was equally great. He was a most admirable instructor. 
 His hopeful, joyous, sympathetic disposition, his great 
 equanimity, his pleasant, familiar manner, his quiet 
 humor, rendered his presence in the laboratory always 
 agreeable to the scholars, while his interest in their 
 studies and welfare awakened a strong personal attach- 
 ment. Although discouraged at his first attempts, he 
 was fast becoming one of our best lecturers. He had 
 firm possession of the knowledge he had acquired, and 
 was thus able to give precise and definite information. 
 His natural opposition to vain show kept him from the 
 folly of professedly fine speaking and rhetorical decla- 
 mation, while the deep interest he felt in his subject,
 
 55 
 
 led him to communicate all the knowledge possible in 
 the hour, and by perspicuity of style and skill of arrange- 
 ment to make it the most available to the student. We 
 have the testimony of the best scholars that they 
 attended no lectures where they got more information. 
 The number of scholars the first year was small, but it 
 each year increased, till at last the experiment of the 
 school was decided, a new department of professional 
 study in the university was created, and a liberal and 
 scientific pursuit opened to the young men of our 
 country. And it is due to his memory to say, that 
 during these five years of incessant toil, he received no 
 salary whatever, and that the remuneration from tuition, 
 after paying necessary expenses, would not amount to 
 the wages of a day laborer. At the same time he 
 had been offered a foundation of twenty thousand 
 dollars, in one of the large colleges of the country, with 
 a salary of three thousand dollars, if he would devote 
 himself to chemistry in its application to the arts ; and 
 from time to time other lucrative places were pressed 
 upon him. He however regarded the interests of 
 agriculture as paramount to all others, and was not to 
 be diverted from his devotion to them. He had chosen 
 Yale College as the best place for the establishment of 
 such a school as he was desirous of founding ; he had 
 there principally received his education, and he was
 
 56 
 
 deeply interested in its welfare. Indeed, when we 
 consider how much he gave up in rejecting the large 
 salaries which were offered elsewhere, and how much 
 he expended from his own resources in the five years of 
 his unpaid labors in the institution, amounting of course 
 to many thousand dollars ; and his generous bequest, 
 made within a few hours of his death, of all the 
 apparatus of the laboratory, together with the books 
 and other articles (valued at more than $2000), we 
 place him prominently among those benefactors who, 
 besides their services, their scientific and literary reputa- 
 tion, and their lives, have given most generous donations 
 to the college. 
 
 But his instruction in the laboratory was only a small 
 part of his labors. His publications were numerous, 
 and of permanent value. He was a frequent writer for 
 agricultural journals. He had been a more or less fre- 
 quent writer for the Albany Cultivator from 1844, but in 
 1850 he commenced a new series of letters, which, the 
 editor says, constitutes " one of the chief attractions of 
 the Cultivator." He also delivered numerous addresses 
 before agricultural societies, in different parts of the 
 country. Eight or nine of these have been published. 
 His last public effort was the introductory to the course 
 of lectures," at the opening of the University of Albany, 
 N. Y., in 1851. All these are written with perspicuity,
 
 57 
 
 and contain much valuable information. But his most 
 important work is, his Elements of Scientific Agriculture. 
 This essay was written for the prize offered by the New 
 York State Agricultural Society, and was successful. It 
 is a most admirable treatise. We said, when it was first 
 published, that it deserved to be placed in the hands of 
 every farmer in the land, and we think still it is the best 
 treatise, for the object it had in view, which has ever 
 been written. The more it is examined, the more its 
 value will appear. His last work was his edition of Ste- 
 phens's Farmer's Guide, to which, by the particular 
 desire of the Edinburgh publishers, the Messrs. Black- 
 wood, he added notes and an appendix, which would of 
 themselves make a small volume, and which much in- 
 creased the value of the original work. We most fully 
 agree with the editor of the Cultivator, that Professor 
 Norton was, " the most practical agricultural writer and 
 thinker of the present time, and that his efforts promised 
 more permanently beneficial results than those of any 
 other man." Nor was his more strictly scientific studies 
 neglected, though, judging it important, first of all, to 
 awaken an interest in such studies by the dissemination 
 of agricultural views, founded on science, he had not 
 devoted so much time to this branch of his department 
 as he would afterwards have done. What he did pub- 
 lish, however, was valuable. We mention, Researches
 
 and Observations on the Potato Disease, published in 
 the Journal of Science, vol. ii, 291; iv, 70; On the 
 Proteine Bodies of Peas and Almonds, published in 
 the same Journal, vol. v, 22 ; On the Value of Soil 
 Analysis, and the points to which special attention 
 should be directed, read before the American Association 
 at Albany, August, 1851, and published in their proceed- 
 ings. In this paper, he was aided by William J. Craw, 
 first assistant in his laboratory. This was his last con- 
 tribution to science, and the elevated views which it 
 contains of the high office of the scientific man, in 
 relation to agriculture, only make more manifest the loss 
 science has suffered in his death. 
 
 But we draw nigh the closing scene. The session of 
 1851 was the most prosperous one his school had en- 
 joyed, and it was now made certain that a large 
 chemical school would grow up under his auspices. At 
 the sjame time, he took a deep interest in the projected 
 University of Albany, in which agricultural chemistry 
 was to have a prominent place, and agreed to deliver a 
 course of lectures in that city, on that subject. Every 
 thing was now prosperous with him. Useful, honored 
 and beloved, he enjoyed the present, and saw before him 
 an equally honorable and useful future. But, alas! his 
 days were numbered, and he was approaching the grave. 
 On his first journey to Albany, he spit a little blood in
 
 59 
 
 the cars. Thinking little of it, he gave his lecture as if 
 nothing had happened. He raised a little blood several 
 times afterwards; at last, the hemorrhage became so 
 great, as to cause anxiety. A council of physicians was 
 called, who pronounced the case alarming, though not 
 hopeless, and advised a sojourn in a warmer climate. 
 He went with his brother to Florida, and there some- 
 what recovered. But on his way home he took the mea- 
 sles in the city of Washington, and was much worn by 
 the attack. On his return to New Haven, he looked 
 better. He continued improving somewhat through the 
 summer. He himself, as usual, was hopeful, though 
 friends were fearful. He was able to do a little. His last 
 public labor was conducting an examination of several 
 of his scholars who were candidates for the degree of 
 Bachelor of Philosophy. It was, perhaps, too much for 
 him, but he felt a deep interest in the matter, as it was 
 the first time of conferring degrees in that department. 
 His last act in the service of his school, was indeed all 
 that remained to its complete establishment, as an 
 institution giving both the reality and the recognized 
 title of a professional education. About commence- 
 ment, he was seized with a violent hemorrhage 
 recovered somewhat went to his father's in Farming- 
 ton and there died, in the bosom of his own family. 
 But how did he die ? How endured he to relinquish
 
 60 
 
 his promising plans of future usefulness, and quench 
 these hopes in death ? How endured he to leave the 
 home of affection, filled with every earthly hliss ? He 
 resigned them all cheerfully, even exultingly. When 
 informed at Albany, in the latter part of the day, that 
 his case might terminate fatally, he slept that night as 
 soundly as if he had been told he would soon be well 
 again ; and when his wife, thinking he must have mis- 
 understood the decision of the physicians, asked him if 
 he knew what the physicians had said, he replied that 
 he did it was the will of God, and he would do what 
 was best. When again, twenty-four hours before his 
 death, the same faithful friend broke to him the message 
 from his physician, that he had but few hours to live, he 
 said, this is sudden, and begged, as his head felt con- 
 fused, to be left to himself a little while. He closed his 
 eyes, and continued in prayer and meditation for perhaps 
 half an hour, and then opened them, exclaiming, " O 
 glorious immortality: all is peace; " and, from this mo- 
 ment, spake of his departure with all the cheerfulness of 
 one who was about to set out on a pleasant journey. 
 On Sunday morning, the day of his death, contrary to 
 the expectation of the family, who supposed they had 
 taken their last earthly leave of him, he opened his eyes, 
 which beamed with their wonted animation and cheer- 
 fulness, and he spoke to them all again with a kind of
 
 fil 
 
 heavenly composure, and then fell "on sleep." lie died 
 on the 5th of September, 1852, aged 30 years. 
 
 Although in the account of his life, we have indicated 
 the principal traits in the character of Professor Norton, 
 we wish, for the sake of the example, to dwell upon 
 them a little longer. 
 
 His mind was characterized by strong powers of per- 
 ception and observation, by the capacity of long con- 
 tinued attention, and by sound practical judgment. He 
 possessed in combination many of the qualities which 
 belonged to his distinguished progenitors, Governor John 
 Trcadwell and Senator Timothy Pitkin. He took liberal 
 and comprehensive views. His opinions on all subjects 
 were judicious. There was an uprightness of mind 
 which kept him from being misled by prejudice or fanci- 
 ful speculations. For the same reason, whatever he 
 undertook turned out well. He had no useless know- 
 ledge ; he wasted no time in chance wanderings over the 
 field of science ; he studied with definite and well 
 matured aims. There was also a certain joyous activity 
 of mind, which made hard study in his favorite pursuits 
 a positive delight. Nor was he deficient in fancy and 
 imagination. He took a deep interest in the fine arts, 
 especially in music, of which he was no mean proficient. 
 And over all this there was thrown the charm of a quiet 
 
 6
 
 62 
 
 humor, mellowing the firmer and more serious parts of 
 his character. 
 
 Professor Norton was a thorough student. He was a 
 model in this respect. His time was systematically 
 divided, and each portion scrupulously spent in its 
 allotted work. There were no idle moments; no waste 
 time. Whatever was to be done, was done at once. He 
 carried the prompt habits of a business man into his 
 study. It is a peculiarity which distinguishes student 
 life from a life of business, that it is possible much more 
 frequently to postpone the labors of the day to a future 
 opportunity. Every student forms plans of study, but 
 there are few who do not suffer them to be broken in 
 upon or frustrated. But we should as soon have thought 
 of the merchant postponing the payment of a note till 
 after banking hours, as of Professor Norton postponing 
 the allowed work of the hour to another time. Professor 
 Norton studied with the pen in his hand. No German 
 student could excel him in the diligence with which he 
 took notes of the lectures he attended, or recorded his 
 own observations on what he was studying. He com- 
 posed with great facility and in a good style, and was 
 fond of writing. He has left behind many volumes of 
 manuscripts. He was in every respect a scholar, tho- 
 rough, exact, and profound.
 
 63 
 
 As a man, as a member of society, he was every thing 
 that could be desired. The frankness and ingenuous- 
 ness of his disposition, his genial good humor, and 
 gentlemanly manners, made him a favorite in the social 
 circle. He was always interested in the details of social 
 liie, took part in all innocent amusements, and having 
 worked hard enough and long enough, in his study, he 
 left his toils behind him. He enjoyed life himself, and 
 helped others to enjoy it. What he was in the dearer 
 and more intimate relations of life, we will not attempt 
 to describe ; there are joys, there are sorrows, which 
 even near friends may not enter into. 
 
 But, after all, it was as a man of Christian principle, 
 that Professor Norton was most conspicuous. He early 
 united himself with the Christian church, and Christian 
 principles controlled the actions of his life. His lirmness 
 under trying circumstances has already been mentioned. 
 But the same firmness was seen in every thing. He was 
 always on the right side ; no one ever doubted on any 
 moral or religious subject, where he would be found. He 
 made the Bible the man of his counsel, and the guide of 
 his feet, and he governed his household according to its 
 precepts. His life had been an uncommonly happy one. 
 Prosperity smiled upon him. We have never known the 
 individual who was so uniformly blessed of Providence, 
 in all his undertakings. And yet, at the unexpected
 
 64 
 
 summons, in the morning of life, and with every thing to 
 live for, he was ready he was cheerful. If he had a 
 care, it was for those he was to leave for the aged and 
 venerable grandmother, who leaned upon him for the 
 father who had done so much for him for the family 
 circle which surrounded him for the wife of his tender- 
 est affections. He knew, he did not strive to conceal 
 from himself the pangs that would pierce them ; and 
 the thoughts that were diverted from Heaven, were for 
 them, to comfort and console them. 
 
 His affections clung around his laboratory to the last 
 moment. He spoke of it with the deepest interest. After 
 executing a brief will, he made many verbal bequests, 
 among them the one to the college. " My apparatus and 
 books in the laboratory," he said, " I wish given to the 
 college, if the department shall be continued. I hope it 
 will be kept up ; it has cost me a great deal of labor." 
 
 The public loss in this death is great indeed. With 
 that intense devotion to one great end in life, in which 
 he stood alone in this country in his department, and we 
 suppose the number of such men is not large abroad ; 
 with those habits of diligence which made him master of 
 the vast amount of knowledge, necessary in his profes- 
 sion, and that soundness of judgment which kept him 
 from all speculative schemes : with that confidence which 
 he had already inspired into the agricultural communi-
 
 65 
 
 ty : with the state of agriculture in the land, just in a 
 condition to need and profit by the labors of such a man 
 with all this in view we were authorized to antici- 
 pate, and we now take pleasure in expressing the antici- 
 pation, that he would have risen to the highest distinction 
 in his profession, that he would have reflected high honor 
 upon the college with which he was connected, and 
 that he would have been of the most important service 
 to his country. 
 
 But our friend did not live in vain. He accomplished 
 a good work. He left a name without a blot. He be- 
 queathed an example which others may be satisfied to 
 equal. He founded a school, which, in accordance with 
 his dying wish, we trust, the community will not suffer 
 to languish, but will rear up to be his perpetual monu- 
 ment; and in after years, when it shall have risen to wide- 
 spread renown, and multitudes on multitudes shall have 
 enjoyed its blessings, honored will be the name of John 
 Pitkin Norton, its founder.
 
 From the Presbyterian Magazine. 
 
 HOUSEHOLD THOUGHTS. 
 
 "GLORIOUS IMMORTALITY!" "ALL is PEACE." 
 
 "He does well who does his best: 
 Is he weary? Let him rest. 
 Brothers ! I have done my best ; 
 I am weary let me rest!" 
 
 In a retired village in New England, amidst beautiful 
 scenery of nature, stands a mansion with all the arrange- 
 ments for comfort and happiness. But death is within 
 the doors! 
 
 Not now for the first time does the conqueror come. 
 Once before had he entered that Christian home. Then, 
 an aged mother in Israel sunk into her last sleep before 
 the touch of his sceptre. Venerable saint, with thy 
 quiet brow, meek eye, comely bearing, and loving spirit, 
 the house received a glory in being the birth place of 
 thy departure into another world ! 
 
 It is the sabbath. In one of the upper chambers is a 
 beloved young man, soon to be numbered the second of 
 the dead in that abode of love and peace. The rest of 
 the Lord's day is hushed to deeper tranquility by the 
 premonitions of a fearful providence. A son, the pride
 
 17 
 
 and joy as well might he be of his father's heart, is 
 nigh unto death. The faint breathings of a tired frame 
 announce that the last sleep is drawing near. With 
 kind looks to all, and with a firm faith in Christ, the 
 youthful pilgrim closes his eyes on the world. 
 
 Household grief at such a time may not be inter- 
 meddled with ; but theirs is grief which loses not the 
 joy of Christian hope, and which looks away from earth 
 to Christ, resurrection, and glory. As the church bell, 
 which for two centuries has knelled the work of death 
 in that retired Puritan village,* struck on that sabbath 
 its thirty notes, all knew the meaning. Fathers, 
 mothers, young men, maidens, mingled their sympathies 
 and ejaculations ; not a few their tears. The venerable 
 pastor's heart thrilled with peculiar tenderness, for a very 
 dear one of his flock had panted away life by the side 
 of the spring blessed be God, of the living spring ! 
 
 The young man, pale in death, was the eldest son. God 
 knows the swelling tides in the human heart. He im- 
 planted natural affection, sropy^v, the vehement indwellings 
 and outgoings of a father's soul. Parents of a mortal race, 
 ye receive your children for death ! The joy which wel- 
 comes them into the world has a kindred keenness of 
 
 * The custom is still kept up, in many towns of New England, of 
 tolling the bell when a person dies. The number of strokes indicate 
 the age of the deceased.
 
 68 
 
 sorrow in mourning them out of it. We rejoice and we 
 sorrow over them. It is a privilege to have a heart, an 
 overflowing heart, of human tender love. Father, that 
 son deserves well the tears you weep. Over you how 
 youthfully would he have wept your eldest, darling 
 child ! But the sacred gift is yours to weep for him. 
 May God sanctify that unexpected, inexperienced sorrow. 
 The youth is a Christian youth. On his form of manly 
 beauty lies the death-betokening stillness; for he is not 
 there. He is with Christ ! At the time of death was he 
 with him in Paradise. Oh, how great the mercy which 
 brings our young men to the cross ; which brought him 
 there. In the morning of life he renounced all for 
 his Saviour. Trained in the good old way, he walked in 
 it during the opening years of active manhood, pursued 
 religion as the chief end, and was thus prepared to enter 
 upon its everlasting rewards when God closed his earthly 
 course. Few meditations are more welcome to survivors 
 than those which are linked with efforts and prayers to 
 bring departed ones to Christ. The writer gratefully re- 
 members a solemn interview with this dear youth in a 
 retired corner of the beautiful garden out of sight except 
 from the All seeing. His mind was at that time, un- 
 known to me till then, concerned on religious subjects. 
 God afterwards brought him to a full knowledge of the 
 truth. He became a zealous Christian. He was in the
 
 69 
 
 Bible class; his rich, uncommon voice mingled in the 
 choir ; he was known as a friend of religion, of temper- 
 ance, of active benevolence, of social improvement; a 
 promoter of every good work. Happiest now in the work 
 of heaven ! 
 
 In a brief record of a gifted young man, it is not out of 
 place to say that his mental endowments and acquirements 
 were great and beyond his years. His mind was quick, 
 regular, and trustworthy in its operations. It saw and 
 did with consummate precision. The two qualities, 
 however, which enabled him to accomplish so much in 
 his short career were system and perseverance. At the age 
 of twenty-four he was appointed a Professor in Yale 
 College, and in a new department organized with some 
 reference to his own adaptations to fill it with honor.* 
 He was rapidry acquiring a reputation as a scholar, a phi- 
 losopher, and a writer.f But what is knowledge ? It 
 shall "vanish away !" The young philosopher's chair is 
 unoccupied in his library ; the laboratory misses his quick 
 
 * The professorship was that of Analytical and Agricultural Chemis- 
 try. 
 
 t Professor John Pitkin Norton was undoubtedly the first in his depart- 
 ment in the United States. He was a fine lecturer, and had the art of 
 impelling his own enthusiasm into the minds of others. He was much 
 sought after to deliver Addresses at agricultural conventions. Several 
 of his addresses have been published, and are admirable specimens of 
 science brought home to the people. He also published several valuable 
 scientific works.
 
 70 
 
 eye and steady hand, and friendly zeal. Human learning 
 is valuable in its place ; but tbere is a wisdom of a better 
 kind, and more enduring. This and that were both his. 
 Social traits of a superior character were his ornament 
 among his fellows. His glance was upon life's sunny 
 side. He was of generous temperament, buoyant in good 
 nature, companionable, courteous, modest, kind. In ad- 
 dition to his personal elements of popularity, his ancestral 
 ties bound him to the community. His great-grandfather 
 was good old Governor Treadwell, and his grandfather 
 the Honorable Timothy Pitkin, both of Farmington, the 
 residence of rBs own honored father, and where he 
 himself had come to die. A large circle of friends, espe- 
 cially in Farmington, Albany, and New Haven, will love 
 to cherish his memory in mourning his loss. 
 
 The ways of Providence are mysterious, mit not the less 
 
 "f 
 
 wise ; often, rather be it said, therefore the more wise. 
 " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his 
 saints." There is no better time to die than the appoint- 
 ed time. God had been preparing his young servant for 
 heaven by afflictions in the death of a child and his own 
 failing health. The soul learns rapidly the lessons of re- 
 ligious experience, when Providence and the Spirit are its 
 associate teachers. Being ready to go why should any 
 wish him to stay ? and having gone why wish him back 
 again? The 5th of September, 1852, is as good a time
 
 71 
 
 to die as any time in any year a hall' century hence. The 
 first sabbath of autumn was his last earth-day. On be- 
 ing rather unexpectedly told a few days before that he 
 could not long survive, he requested to be left alone lor 
 a season. Not alone ! For the family took knowledge 
 of him that he had been with Jesus. His joyful tidings 
 to them from another world were "Glorious immortal- 
 ity !" " All is peace !" 
 
 He was buried at New Haven, from the place of his 
 late residence, in that beautiful city. " Great lamenta- 
 tion was made over him ;" and he was carried to his last 
 resting-place with the ingenuous grief of alarge concourse 
 of friends. 
 
 " He does well who does his best ; 
 Is he weary ? Let him rest. 
 Brothers ! I have done my best ; 
 I am weary let me rest ?" 
 
 " If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so 
 them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 
 
 The following is a meagre outline of the remarks of 
 President Woolsey, of Yale College, at the grave : 
 
 President Woolsey began with referring to Professor Kingsley's late 
 decease ; that the college had just lost one, nearly the oldest of its offi- 
 cers, and now it was called to mourn for Professor Norton the youngest. 
 
 Mr. Norton was the founder in this country of the science to which he 
 addicted himself, and had attained in his short course to a point where he 
 commanded the respect of men of science. He bade fair to become em- 
 inent in his department. He had qualified himself for it by study inEu-
 
 72 
 
 rope under the most eminent chemists ; and had received, even when a 
 student, most flattering testimonials to his skill in chemical analysis. 
 
 In speaking of his character, President "VVoolsey said that he was a 
 man of uncommonly sweet and gentle temper, characterised by placidity 
 and equanimity, to which were united great patience and perseverance in 
 the pursuit of whatever he had undertaken. 
 
 He was also a man of great simplicity, very far from love of show, and 
 from pretension. His lecturing was a proof of this, in which he thought 
 nothing of himself, and was entirely engrossed with his subject. He 
 seemed in this simplicity more like a little child than almost any man 
 whom I have known. 
 
 He was also a man of great probity. He had a natural straightfor- 
 wardness, which well became the descendant of some of the worthiest 
 Puritans of Connecticut. He seemed to love truth for its own sake. He 
 was inflexible in doing right, and whenever a point of duty was involved 
 steadily adhered to true principles. This was manifested in his con- 
 stantly refusing when abroad, and after his return whenMhrown among 
 worldly men, to do any act looking like desecration of the sabbath, and 
 by his strict temperance principles in all companies, and on all occasions. 
 
 But the crowning glory of his character was his religion, ^hich brought 
 out and gave strength to his natural good qualities. In his youth he felt the 
 power of divine grace, united himself with the church in Farmington, and 
 had ever since led a life consistent with his profession. Hence, when the 
 summons to die came, he was not unprepared or thrown off his guard. He 
 was told that there was no prospect of his living, then calmly shut his eyes 
 without a murmur, and on opening them again, turning to his wife who 
 was sitting by his side, said as if he was giving utterance to the closing 
 thoughts of a sweet train, "Glorious immortality !" adding shortly after, 
 "All is peace!' 
 
 Rarely do we see a character more respected by the world, or more tru- 
 ly lovely, than of the young man whose body we have now laid in the 
 grave.
 
 From the Culliyator. 
 
 OBITUARY OF PROF, NORTON* 
 
 Misfortunes never come singly. We had scarcely laid 
 down our saddened pen, and cast an earnest look into the 
 already darkened future, when another in the bloom of 
 his maturity, was called hence. Calmly, peacefully, 
 trustingly, he has passed to the land of v his faith, to the 
 home of the blest, leaving regret to border the pathway he 
 had trod, and tears to water in vain the hopes which his 
 usefulness had awakened. Prof. Norton is dead, aged only 
 thirty. 
 
 " Those the gods love, die young, 
 
 But they whose hearts are dry 
 
 As summers' dust, burn to the socket." 
 
 The lives of the truly great are always instructive, and 
 could we read them rightly, would teach us useful les- 
 sons, both in the sublime results which attend their labors 
 and in the mode by which their greatness has been at- 
 tained. While one whose talents and accomplishments 
 have distinguished him among the wise men and schol- 
 ars of his day lives, we admire only the proofs of his ge-
 
 74 
 
 nius and ability ; but when such an one is removed from 
 our midst, we naturally inquire into the elements of his 
 power. It is in this way that, when one is dead, he 
 yet speaketh speaks not only in word and in deed, but 
 in the more silent operations of the mind, which are 
 marked in the successive grades of culture by which one 
 rises to eminence. 
 
 Deeply as we deplore the loss of the most practical 
 agricultural writer and thinker of the present time one 
 from whence the farming community expected much, arid 
 whose efforts promised more permanently beneficial re- 
 sults than those of any other man, we shall find that his 
 life, though short, is full of instruction and replete with 
 interest. 
 
 From his youth, Mr. Norton had been more or less con- 
 versant with the practice of agriculture, and as is natur- 
 ally the case with an inquiring mind, the apparent lack 
 of system, and ruinous waste often seen, led to thought 
 and investigation. After having pursued the study of 
 chemistry with the ablest professors in this country, he 
 visited Europe, in the summer of 1844, for the purpose 
 of pursuing his studies farther than could be done here, 
 and also to extend his observations. Mr. Norton accom- 
 panied Prof. Johnston on a tour through Scotland, the re- 
 sults of which appeared in his letters published in this 
 journal. These letters, which were continued regularly
 
 75 
 
 during his absence, were his first introduction to the pub- 
 lic as a writer, and established his reputation as a careful 
 observer, a close reasoner, and a sound thinker. During 
 his stay in Scotland he enjoyed the closest intimacy with 
 Prof. Johnston, and pursued his studies under his direction 
 at the Laboratory of the Agricultural Chemical Associa- 
 tion. The analyses furnished by him from time to time, 
 show the accuracy of his mind and his superior industry, 
 and his Notes on Prof. Johnston's Lectures are valuable 
 abstracts, forming almost a complete text book of agricul- 
 tural science. All his communications to the Cultivator 
 are of permanent value, and show the condition of ag- 
 ricultural science in Scotland at that time. 
 
 In the fall of 1845, he made a tour on the continent, 
 for the purpose of visiting some of the most celebrated 
 laboratories, and his letters were for a time discontinued. 
 Shortly after, he returned to this country, when he re- 
 ceived an appointment to a professorship of chemistry, 
 as applied to agriculture, which had been created at Yale 
 College. Mr. Norton wished to perfect himself in chem- 
 istry before entering upon his duties as professor, and 
 with this in view he sailed again for Europe in the fall 
 of 1846. Here we notice a prominent characteristic of 
 Prof. Norton. There was nothing of pretension in his 
 nature he was unwilling to assume a responsibility till 
 he felt himself fully equal to it. Instead of being vain
 
 76 
 
 of the honor thus early bestowed on him, he goes man- 
 fully and earnestly to work to lay, deep and strong, the 
 foundations of a science, of which the first rudiments 
 were scarcely known. 
 
 In the year 1846, a premium of fifty sovereigns ($250) 
 was offered by the Highland and Agricultural Society of 
 Scotland, for the best analysis of the oat. The chemical 
 constituents and the physiology of the growth of this 
 plant, were little known, and a scientific analysis had 
 never been attempted. Mr. Norton, still a student in the 
 laboratory, and in competition with several learned chem- 
 ists, obtained this premium. This is more remarkable 
 from the fact that he was an American, and unknown to 
 the scientific world. The article contains thirty-nine 
 tables, showing the composition of the different parts of 
 the oat, and at several stages of its growth, and displays 
 a vast amount of research and an untiring industry. In 
 the conclusion of the article, Mr. Norton remarks " I 
 may be permitted to say, that the extent of this investiga- 
 tion, and the many points which I have been compelled 
 to leave undetermined or doubtful, after eighteen months 
 of constant labor, must convince those who entertain false 
 ideas of the time and patience necessary for chemical re- 
 searches of this kind, that they have erred in supposing 
 the chemist able to do in a few days or weeks what can 
 only be effected by the labor and study of many success- 
 ive years."
 
 77 
 
 How strangely does this language of a successful scho- 
 lar contrast with the assertions of later, not to say riper 
 chemists, who arrive at the most profound conclusions 
 with an astonishing facility, and, in advance of public 
 opinion, award to themselves the highest eulogiums. 
 
 During his stay in Europe Mr. Norton studied with 
 Prof. Mulder at Utrecht, Holland, one of the greatest 
 physiologists and chemists of his day. His letters from 
 Holland are admirable pictures of the rural aspect of the 
 country. Upon his return to this country in the fall of 
 1847, he entered upon his duties at Yale. Though at- 
 tendance on the lectures in his department was volunta- 
 ry, and comparatively little attention had been paid to 
 agricultural chemistry by the young men in our colleges, 
 he soon gathered a class of students, which was gradually 
 increasing to the time of his death. His laboratory was in 
 fact the only place in this country where the principles of 
 science, as applied to agriculture, were thoroughly taught. 
 
 The cares of his professorship were not his exclusive 
 occupation. A Treatise on Scientific Agriculture, which 
 was written as a prize essay, and took a premium of one 
 hundred dollars, offered by the New York State Agricul- 
 tural Society, and was subsequently published as a text 
 book for schools, was prepared by him in 1850. This 
 little work embodies all the fundamental principles of 
 agricultural science, so far as well established, and has 
 been widely circulated.
 
 78 
 
 Prof. Norton also wrote .an appendix to Stephcns's 
 Book of the Farm, together with notes, such as to adapt 
 it to this country. In the Cultivator for January, 1850, 
 Professor Norton commenced a series of letters, which 
 were continued without interruption till his sickness. 
 Those communications were of such a practical nature, 
 and so well adapted to the wants of farmers, that they 
 constituted one of the chief attractions of the Cultivator. 
 His views of scientific farming were not of that ultra, 
 radical sort that empyrics love so well to dwell upon, but 
 rather the more rational and common sense ideas, which 
 a knowledge of the real condition of our farmers and 
 their interests, combined with sound discipline of mind, 
 would naturally form. If his style lacked ornament, it 
 was because the frame work he had to build was too 
 vast a structure to admit of decoration ; if he rarely 
 called imagination to his aid, it was because he was too 
 intent upon the stern realities of things ; if he seldom 
 manifested any great enthusiasm, it was because he was 
 conscious of having only entered on a work whose tri- 
 umphs still lay in the unexplored future. Thoughtfully, 
 carefully, steadily, he was laying the foundation on 
 which, in after years, he might rear as proud a monu- 
 ment as science ever wrote her name upon. Agriculture 
 in this country had much to hope for in his efforts : for 
 he bent the undivided energies of his mind to its
 
 advancement. His "whole soul was in the work; he 
 had the confidence of every one, and with no other per- 
 son could the interests of our rural population be so 
 safely entrusted as with Professor Norton. Upon whom 
 will his mantle fall ? Who will arise to guide through 
 the shoals and quick sands of reckless imposture, the 
 noble ship of American industry ? 
 
 We have not space enough to speak of particular 
 articles of Prof. Norton's, nor to notice the many address- 
 es which he delivered at intervals before agricultural 
 societies and the community generally. Suffice it to 
 say, that every thing he wrote, and every thing he said, 
 was marked by the same uniform prudence, the same 
 careful judgment, which characterizes the man. He 
 was never led into error never ran headlong into chi- 
 meras and fanaticism and so was never obliged to 
 retract what he had said, or retire from positions he had 
 taken. 
 
 When the project of the University of Albany was 
 broached in 1851, Professor Norton entered warmly into 
 the plan. He had felt deeply the need of such an insti- 
 tution, and knew the obstacles which lay in the way of 
 the students of agriculture and the natural sciences. 
 He advocated it as the best means of securing a perma- 
 nent basis to our agricultural interests, and forming a 
 nucleus for science in this country. The lectures which
 
 80 
 
 he delivered in the winter of 1851-2, before a class 
 which was gathered in Albany, were popular and 
 instructive. lie had a rare faculty of expressing in 
 plain language his thoughts on the most abstruse sub- 
 jects, and also of holding the attention of an audience 
 to his theme. The severe labor, attendant on delivering 
 courses of lectures at New Haven and at the University 
 of Albany, materially impaired his health, and before 
 the close of his lectures, he was obliged to leave for a 
 warmer climate. Strong hopes were entertained, at 
 first, of his recovery, but Providence had otherwise 
 ordered. After his return to the north, he sank slowly 
 to his end. Though conscious that he must leave a 
 world which was just opening to his ambition, and a 
 circle of friends who fully appreciated his worth, he was 
 cheered on by that Christian hope which had been his 
 guide and solace during life. The exchange of worlds 
 is for him a happy one, but his loss will cast a shadow 
 on many a heart. 
 
 His character was in the highest degree estimable, 
 and his virtues were of that quiet, unobtrusive nature, 
 which steal so readily into the affections of every one. 
 He was eminently fitted to grace the social circle, and 
 his pleasing, artless manner, winning address, and 
 animated style of conversation, made his society pecu- 
 liarly desirable.
 
 81 
 
 The personal friends of Prof. Norton mourn one who 
 was endeared to them by the closest intimacy, the 
 scientific world, one of their brightest lights, and the 
 readers of the Cultivator, a most valuable correspondent. 
 Thus in the space of five short weeks, have we been 
 called to write the obituaries of the two most prominent 
 horticultural and agricultural writers of the day, men 
 whose places can not well be filled, and whose memories 
 will long be cherished by every lover of his country.
 
 From the Bostjn Cultivator. 
 
 '',';". JOHN PITKIN NORTON. 
 
 In common with all true friends of improvement, we 
 mourn the death of this talented and estimable man. 
 We express no feigned regret we feel that the whole 
 country has suffered loss. This is not the occasion for 
 his eulogy, were we able to do justice to his character : 
 but we can not refrain from some tribute, however 
 feeble, to the memory of one, whose brief career has 
 been so useful, and whose prospects, viewed in reference 
 to the benefits he might have conferred on his fellow 
 men, were so full of hope. 
 
 Professor Norton was no ordinary man ; he was one 
 in whom the " elements seemed so blended," that he 
 commanded universal respect. Though he had only 
 reached the age of thirty years, he had wrought for 
 himself a position and reputation among the distin- 
 guished men of the age. His labors were principally 
 directed to the applications of science to agriculture, 
 and without any invidious motive, we may safely say 
 that to no man is this country more deeply indebted 
 than to him, for the valuable truths which have been
 
 83 
 
 elicited on this subject. His whole aim was truth. He 
 sought no temporary eclat by the announcement of 
 novel ideas, or ill founded statements. With a strength 
 of judgment and power of discrimination beyond his 
 years, he carefully weighed and examined every thing, 
 and held last the good. 
 
 His advantages of education, which were liberal, were 
 well improved. He spent nearly three years in Europe, 
 under eminent professors in Britain and on the con- 
 tinent, returning to this country in 1847. To aptitude 
 in acquiring knowledge, he united the happy faculty of 
 practically applying it a faculty which was doubtless 
 greatly strengthened by his labors and observations on 
 his father's farm. 
 
 For a few years Prof. Norton has been at the head of 
 the department of Chemistry applied to Agriculture and 
 the Phenomena of Vegetable and Animal Life in Yale 
 College ; in which capacity many young men have had 
 the benefit of his instructions. He has also been a 
 frequent contributor to the agricultural and scientific 
 journals, and has lectured with great acceptance on 
 agricultural subjects. 
 
 His death was caused by disease of the lungs, com- 
 bined with the effect of measles. His health has been 
 considerably impaired for some months, but hopes were 
 entertained of his recovery until within a short time.
 
 ON THE DEATH OF PROF. JOHN PITKIN NORTON. 
 
 Called early! Gone, while yet his years were few : 
 
 So counts the world upon her calendar ; 
 
 But those there are who wear the snows of time 
 
 Upon their furrowed temples, and yet die 
 
 Younger than he, the great intent of life 
 
 All unachieved. 
 
 Yet hath he made his mark 
 On his own clime, and on the Mother Land 
 Beyond the flood, even in his youthful prime. 
 Yes, he hath made his mark. 
 
 Yale's classic halls, 
 
 In all their ancient pride, remember him ; 
 While, neath their dome, a thoughtful student band 
 Who duly listened to his treasured lore, 
 Lament their Teacher. 
 
 Yes, it seems that earth 
 Herself remembereth him ; so well he knew 
 Her hidden elements and sequences, 
 And how to wake her full benevolence, 
 Making her children happier through her wealth, 
 Methinks even trees and plants remember him, 
 And pour, on heavy winds, a solemn wail ; 
 Their harp-like branches mingling with the sigh 
 Of sorrow from his desolated home. 
 Life spread in strong array her charms for him : 
 Young wife, and infant boy to lisp his name, 
 Father and mother, and the stricken hearts 
 Of truthful brothers, clinging round his own.
 
 85 
 
 Saw ye beside his grave two honored forms, 
 Fond guardians of his parents' infancy, 
 Who now, in holy sanctity of age, 
 Wept for their loved one, as the flower of grass 
 Fading beside them ? 
 
 The same hallowed guide* 
 Who blessed his hoary grandsire, when he took 
 His pilgrim staff, to tread the darkened vale, 
 Did gird him, as he suddenly went forth 
 On his returnless journey. 
 
 List his words ! 
 
 When with a brandished dart the pale king rose, 
 Like basilisk amid a violet bank : 
 " Peace and a steadfast hope" 
 
 Serene, he closed 
 
 His eyes in solemn thought, a little space, 
 Communing with his God. 
 
 And then there burst 
 From their unfolding lids, a light of joy, 
 And from his icy lips the blessed sound 
 Of " Glorious immortality. " 
 
 And so 
 He passed away. 
 
 And those who saw that scene, 
 Though griefs dire pang was wrestling at their heart, 
 Touched by that strong sublimity of faith 
 That conquereth death, mingled God's praise with tears. 
 
 L. H. S. 
 
 * The Rev. Dr. Porter, of Farmington, who was greatly beloved and 
 respected by the late venerable Gov. Treadwell, of Connecticut.
 
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