LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 RIVERSIDE
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM BARTON ROGERS 
 
 II' 
 
 EDITED BY HIS WIFE 
 
 WITH THE ASSISTANCE 
 OF WILLIAM T. SEDGWICK 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOLUME I 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 1896
 
 Till 
 
 Copyright, 1896, 
 BT EMMA EOGEB8. 
 
 All rigUi reserved. 
 
 The Riverside Preu, Cambridge, Sfas*., U. S. A. 
 Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Hougtton & Co.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THESE volumes have been prepared in the hope 
 that Mr. Rogers's life, work and character as re- 
 vealed in his letters, may be of some service to the 
 cause of science and education, and especially to the 
 officers, graduates and students of the Massachusetts 
 Institute of Technology, to whom this Memoir is ded- 
 icated. Certain subjects, such as those dealing with 
 educational and scientific matters or with the early 
 history of the Institute, have accordingly been treated 
 in more detail than would otherwise have seemed 
 desirable. 
 
 No life of Mr. Rogers would be in any degree ade- 
 quate which did not include much of the lives of his 
 three brothers who, with similar tastes, and pursuits 
 almost identical with his own, occupied so large a 
 share of his thought and affection. 
 
 The materials at command have been voluminous, 
 and we have had difficulty in making the necessary 
 selections. Many of the letters given have been taken 
 not from those actually sent, but from a first draft 
 which was kept as a copy. Our aim has been to add 
 to the letters only so much of editorial comment as 
 should serve to make a connected history. The geo- 
 logical letters, as well as those on other scientific
 
 iv PREFACE. 
 
 subjects, axe given as showing the direction of Mr. 
 Rogers's researches rather than the more correct con- 
 clusions to which these may have led. 
 
 We are indebted to many friends for permission to 
 use letters; to others for aid in solving doubts and 
 removing difficulties ; and, for the careful preservation 
 of documents, to Professor S. W. Holman, who has 
 long had in contemplation the preparation of a history 
 of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 William Barton Rogers. His Brothers. Hia Father Patrick 
 Kerr Rogers. The Rogers Family in Ireland. Emigration 
 of Patrick Kerr Rogers to America. His Life in Philadel- 
 phia. His Marriage. Removal to Baltimore. Appoint- 
 ment to the Professorship of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry 
 in William and Mary College. His Death in 1828 1 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 YOUTH AND KAKLY MANHOOD. 
 1804-1828. 
 
 The Family Life in Baltimore. Education of the Brothers and 
 their Graduation from William and Mary. Their Early Cor- 
 respondence. William's Youthful Oration. He assists his 
 Father at the College. Removal of the Brothers to Balti- 
 more. William and Henry open a School. Their Lectures 
 before the Maryland Institute. Correspondence with their 
 Father. An Address by P. K. Rogers. First Railroads in 
 America. Reminiscences of the Father by a Student of Wil- 
 liam and Mary 14 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND CHEMISTRY AT WIL- 
 LIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. 
 
 1828-1835. 
 
 William succeeds his Father. His Introductory Address. 
 Correspondence of the Brothers. Life in Williamsburg. 
 Henry appointed Professor of Chemistry and Natural Philoso- 
 phy in Dickinson College. James Professor of Chemistry in a 
 Baltimore Medical College. His Marriage. Henry leaves 
 Dickinson College. With Robert, is engaged on Railroad Sur-
 
 vi CONTENTS. 
 
 veys in New England. The Cholera. William visits North 
 Carolina. Narrowly escapes Drowning. Henry visits Eng- 
 land. His Impressions of English Men of Science. He 
 returns to Philadelphia and lectures on Geology at the Frank- 
 lin Institute. Geological and Chemical Investigations of the 
 Brothers. Henry appointed Professor in the University of 
 Pennsylvania. Proposals for Geological Surveys. Appoint- 
 ment of William to a Professorship in the University of Vir- 
 in u in *** Oo 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY AND 
 DIRECTOR OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 1835-1842. 
 
 The University of Virginia. William appointed State Geolo- 
 gist. First Report. Lack of Assistants. Henry Geologist 
 of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Robert graduates in Med- 
 icine. Disturbances in the University of Virginia. James 
 Professor of Chemistry in Cincinnati. Formation of the As- 
 sociation of American Geologists and Naturalists. Student 
 Riots. Opposition to Geological Surveys. Chemical Analy- 
 sis. Ill-health. The National Association for the Promo- 
 tion of Science. Beginnings of the Smithsonian. Discovery 
 of Infusorial Earth. Chairman of the Faculty of the Uni- 
 versity killed by a Student. Vain Efforts to save the Survey 
 of Virginia. Henry presides at the Second Meeting of Geolo- 
 gists and Naturalists in Philadelphia. Removal of James to 
 Philadelphia. Lyell visits America. A Journey to New 
 England. Geological Discussions. William and Henry pre- 
 sent their Memoir on the Physical Structure of the Appala- 
 chian Chain, at the Third Meeting of Geologists and Naturalists 
 in Boston 121 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND FOR ONE YEAR CHAIR- 
 MAN OF THE FACULTY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 1842-1846. 
 
 Robert appointed Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica in 
 the University of Virginia. His Marriage. Henry presides 
 at Fourth Annual Meeting of Geologists and Naturalists in 
 Albany. He lectures on Geology in Boston. Fifth Meet- 
 ing of Geologists and Naturalists in Washington. William
 
 CONTENTS. vii 
 
 and Henry elected Foreign Members of the Geological Society 
 of London. Henry gives a Course of Lowell Lectures in 
 Boston. William Chairman of the Faculty of the University 
 of Virginia. Attack upon the University in the Legisla- 
 ture. His Defence of the University. An Educational Doc- 
 ument. Student Riots. Ill-health. A Visit to Lake Supe- 
 rior. Henry removes to Boston. Second Visit of Lyell to 
 America. James and Robert edit "Turner's Chemistry." 
 Plans of William and Henry for a Polytechnic School in 
 Boston. A Summer Journey in New England 213 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PBOFB880B OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND FOR ONE YEAR CHAIR- 
 MAN OF THB FACULTY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA (con- 
 tinued). 
 
 1846-1853. 
 
 Arrival of Agassiz in America. Foundation of Scientific Schools 
 in Harvard and Yale. Seventh Annual Meeting of Geologists 
 and Naturalists in Boston with Mr. Rogers Chairman. James 
 appointed Professor of Chemistry in the University of Penn- 
 sylvania. William proposes to resign his Professorship and 
 join Henry in Boston. Degree of LL. D. from Hampden- 
 Sidney College. Organization of the American Association 
 for the Advancement of Science. Henry again visits Eu- 
 rope. His Letters. He returns and lectures in the Lowell 
 Institute. Death of James Rogers the Uncle. William 
 invited to lecture at the Smithsonian. His Marriage. 
 Journey to Europe. Birmingham Meeting of the British 
 Association. Return to the University of Virginia. Dr. 
 Wayland of Brown Visits the University. Kossuth's Visit to 
 America. Illness and Death of James. Robert appointed 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. 
 
 1853-1859. 
 
 Removal to Boston. Final Effort and Failure to secure Pub- 
 lication of Geological Report. An Address at Williams 
 College. Henry's Marriage. William's Investigations on 
 Binocular Vision, Sonorous Flames, Ozone, etc. Ill-health. 
 Lectures in the Lowell Institute. Removal of Henry and his 
 Family to Scotland. William again visits Europe. Dublin
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 Meeting of the British Association. A Serious Accident. 
 Kind Friends in Norwich. Politics. Henry appointed Re- 
 gius Professor of Natural History and Geology in the Univer- 
 sity of Glasgow. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. 
 Illness of Theodore Parker 333 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. Report from the Committee of Schools and Colleges [of the 
 Legislature of Virginia] against the Expediency of Withdraw- 
 ing the Fifteen Thousand Dollars Annuity from the Univer- 
 sity [of Virginia]. (Prepared by William B. Rogers) ... 399 
 
 B. Student Riots in the University of Virginia. (A Circular 
 Letter prepared and issued by William B. Rogers, Chairman 
 
 of the Faculty) 413 
 
 C. A Plan for a Polytechnic School in Boston 420
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Portrait of William Barton Rogers. From a photograph taken 
 in 1882 . . . . . . . ' Frontispiece. 
 
 A Student's "Report of Standing" from William and Mary 
 
 College (facsimile) 18 
 
 View of William and Mary College . . . . . 64 
 
 Seal of William and Mary College . . . . . .120 
 
 The University of Virginia (Rotunda and Lawn) ... 122 
 The House at Sunny Hill (Lunenburg, Mass.) . . . .272 
 
 A View from Sunny Hill (looking southwest) .... 286 
 
 Portrait of James Blythe Rogers . . . . . .324 
 
 Seal of the University of Virginia 332
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 WILLIAM BARTON ROGERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCESTRY. 
 
 William Barton Rogers. His Brothers. His Father Patrick Kerr 
 Rogers. The Rogers Family in Ireland. Emigration of Patrick 
 Kerr Rogers to America. His Life in Philadelphia. His Mar- 
 riage. Removal to Baltimore. Appointment to the Professor- 
 ship of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in William and Mary 
 College. His Death in 1828. 
 
 WILLIAM BARTON ROGERS was born in Phila- 
 delphia on the 7th of December, 1804. His father 
 was Patrick Kerr Rogers, afterwards Professor of 
 Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in William and 
 Mary College at Williamsburg, Va. His mother was 
 Hannah Blythe, who died in Williamsburg in 1820 and 
 left four sons between the ages of seven and eighteen. 
 Of these the eldest was James Blythe, and the second 
 William Barton, the subject of this memoir. The third 
 son was Henry Darwin, who owed his middle name 
 to the esteem of his father for Erasmus Darwin, grand- 
 father of the famous author of "The Origin of Spe- 
 cies." The fourth son was Robert, who afterwards 
 assumed the middle name of Empie out of regard for 
 the Rev. Adam Empie, for several years President of 
 William and Mary College.
 
 2 ANCESTRY. 
 
 These four sons of Patrick Kerr Eogers and Han> 
 nah Blythe all achieved distinction in science. They 
 are often referred to as "the brothers Rogers." 
 They were all Americans by birth and education, 
 but their ancestry was a blending of Irish, Scotch 
 and English. Their father came from the North of 
 Ireland not far from Londonderry. He was born 
 in 1776, the eldest son of Robert Rogers of Edergole. 
 
 " Robert Rogers, the fourth of the name in lineal 
 descent, was born about the year 1753, and lived on the 
 Edergole or Knockbrack estate, which he owned in 
 fee, and held, on lease, acres of land adjoining. This 
 estate lies between Omagh and Fintano, in Tyrone 
 County, Ireland. Newtown Stewart, in the barony of 
 Strabane, then a good market for cloth and yarn, 1 ten 
 miles off, is the nearest town, and Londonderry, forty 
 miles distant, the nearest city. The number of his 
 tenants, or extent of acreage held by him, is not now 
 known. His social grade in the community is not in- 
 dicated by his estate alone. When the Presbyterian 
 Church which he attended was reconstructed, he re- 
 built and furnished anew the large central pew which 
 he had inherited. He was disposed to favour what was 
 then termed the New-Light doctrine, but tolerant 
 enough to listen to the religious and political opinions 
 ascribed to the French philosophers. 
 
 " In the small villages and rural districts of Ireland 
 at that period more than a hundred years ago 
 those whose wardrobe was limited to a single suit and 
 an extra shirt or two (and they were largely in the ma- 
 jority there, as well as everywhere) determined social 
 position in the community by the interval between the 
 family wash-days. In their estimation, those whose 
 wardrobe was extensive enough to have their washing 
 done once a year constituted the ' great families,' and 
 
 1 Statistical Survey of the County of Tyrone for 1801-1802. by John 
 McEvoy. Dublin, 1802.
 
 THE ROGERS FAMILY. 3 
 
 those who needed to have a family wash-day every six 
 months composed the second class in society. The 
 washing of the Rogers family was done but twice a 
 year by the house-women and tenants at the brook 
 which flows through the estate. 
 
 " In the winter of 1774-75, when twenty-one years 
 old, Robert Rogers married Sarah Kerr, of about the 
 same age, who, tradition avers, was sprightly, conspic- 
 uous in conversation, and ever ready to discuss and 
 advocate the New-Light doctrines of the Presbyterian 
 Church, of which she was a member. This marriage 
 had been delayed a year by her father, a recognized 
 ' gentleman ' in the community, who insisted that 
 Robert Rogers must attain his majority before he 
 could lawfully make a marriage settlement of all his 
 lands upon the children of this union in equal shares, 
 and that without compliance with this stipulation his 
 assent would not be given. 
 
 " Robert Rogers was a well-to-do Irish gentleman, lib- 
 eral in his views, hospitable, convivial and duly appre- 
 ciative of education and learning." l 
 
 He was himself the youngest son of Robert Rogers 
 of Edergole, who died about 1772. The last will of 
 the latter, dated June 14, 1769, is still extant, and 
 from this it appears that his eldest son was James ; 
 his youngest, as already stated, Robert; and his 
 daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, Jean and Margaret. 
 His land fell to the two sons, Robert retaining one 
 portion, and James that part known as Knockbrack 
 and Sheep-hill. A document has been preserved 
 showing that on November 8, 1786, James leased 
 Knockbrack to his brother Robert for sixty-one years, 
 
 1 Memorial of the Brothers Bogers, read before the American Philo- 
 sophical Society of Philadelphia, November 6, 1885. By W. S. W. 
 Ruschenberger, M. D. Dr. Ruschenberger obtained these facts from 
 Mr. Alexander Rogers of Baltimore, a cousin of W. B. Rogers.
 
 4 ANCESTRY. 
 
 at an annual rental of .24 7s. Qd. Concerning the 
 Rogers family, it is further stated 
 
 "that, prior to the year 1641, they preserved the 
 Bowling Green of Strabane and four townlands on 
 the left bank of the Fin (their title was lodged in the 
 castle of Strabane when burned by the O'Neils about 
 1642) ; that, in the troubles which afterwards ensued, 
 they went to Lanarkshire, in Scotland ; that about 
 the year 1650 one brother, named William, returned 
 and settled at Edergole, near Ballinahatty. He is 
 known to have had four sons, namely, James, John, 
 William and Alexander. John had sons, John (who 
 got the family place at Edergole), William (who got 
 Scotch Drum and Lower Edergole) and Alexander." 1 
 
 The life of Patrick Kerr Rogers, father of William 
 Barton Rogers, is full of interest. 
 
 " He was the firstborn, in 1776, of the twelve chil- 
 dren of Robert Rogers and his wife Sarah Kerr. Four 
 of them died in infancy. The rudiments of Patrick's 
 education were received in a schoolhouse built upon 
 the estate. It is described as having had clay walls, 
 a thatched roof, clay seats covered with bits of carpet, 
 and as warmed by a turf fire. The teacher was a 
 lame rustic boy, whom his aunt, Margaret Rogers, a 
 lady of notable intelligence, had trained for the office. 
 His classical learning was acquired under the tuition 
 of an uncle, a clergyman. His mother died in 1790, 
 and his father married, in 1791, a second wife who 
 bore him three sons and two daughters. 
 
 " At the age when he should choose a profession he 
 found himself one of a numerous family of brothers 
 and sisters, and, though the eldest, without the right 
 of primogeniture in his father's estate. Entertaining 
 
 1 Letter of Andrew Rogers, at Glenfern, to John Rogers at Glen- 
 nock, Newtown Stewart, and by him forwarded to W. B. Rogers, at 
 Boston, September, 1858.
 
 PATRICK KERR ROGERS. 5 
 
 opinions not rigidly orthodox, he was unwilling to 
 enter the clerical profession, though he had the exam- 
 ple of two uncles. At the time, a commercial career 
 seemed best, and he therefore entered a counting- 
 house in Dublin. How long he lived there, or was 
 thus employed, has not been ascertained. But about 
 the time of the Irish Rebellion, which broke out in 
 May, 1798, he contributed to Dublin newspapers ar- 
 ticles hostile to the government which, his friends 
 believed, were likely to cause his arrest." * 
 
 A kinsman, Alexander Rogers of Hill-head, having 
 supplied the necessary means, he fled to Londonderry 
 and sailed for America, arriving in Philadelphia, after 
 a passage of eighty-four days, in August, 1798. At 
 that time there were many Irish refugees in Philadel- 
 phia. Mr. Rogers evidently made his way rapidly, 
 for only a few months afterwards we find him ap- 
 pointed as a tutor in the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 In the winter of 1799 he was admitted to the 
 Pennsylvania Hospital as a student of the eminent 
 Drs. Benjamin Smith Barton and Benjamin Rush, 
 and to certain medical lectures of the University of 
 Pennsylvania by Drs. Shippen and Wistar. He at- 
 tended also lectures on chemistry in 1799 and 1800 by 
 Dr. James Woodhouse. During these years a warm 
 friendship existed between him and his preceptor, Dr. 
 Barton, to whom he dedicated his graduating thesis, 
 and after whom he named his second sou William 
 Barton Rogers. While still in the medical school he 
 was married, January 2, 1801, to Hannah Blythe, " an 
 intelligent woman, a year older than himself, endowed 
 with a cheerful and affectionate disposition." 
 
 " Patrick K. Rogers is described as a tall, erect 
 
 1 Ruschenberger.
 
 6 ANCESTRY. 
 
 man, of grave deportment, having dark hair well 
 sprinkled with gray, and soft, sleepy eyes. He played 
 the violin and sang well, but never in company, or in 
 the presence of strangers, because such performance 
 or display seemed to him inconsistent with the dignity 
 of a gentleman. 
 
 "Hannah Blythe was the youngest daughter of 
 James Blythe, a native of Glasgow but a resident 
 of Londonderry, and his wife Bessie, a daughter of 
 James Bell, a mathematical-instrument maker and 
 an English citizen of Londonderry. James Blythe 
 was a publisher and stationer. He founded, in 1772, 
 the ' Londonderry Journal,' the first tri-weekly paper 
 printed in the North of Ireland. It became a daily, 
 and is still published. . . . The paper was printed 
 and issued from the house in which he lived. His 
 daughter, Mrs. Ramsay, who died in Baltimore at the 
 advanced age of ninety-two years, often mentioned, 
 among the reminiscences of her early childhood, the 
 gathering of a crowd reading a placard on the front 
 of their house, headed * BLOODY NEWS FROM AMER- 
 ICA,' announcing the battle of Lexington, April, 1775. 
 She also stated that many Protestant citizens rejoiced 
 over this resistance of Americans to the British rule. 
 
 " James Blythe died in 1787, leaving a widow and 
 three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary Ann and Hannah. 
 The widow, Bessie Bell, who was an intelligent and 
 energetic woman, removed to Strabane, about fifteen 
 miles southward from Londonderry, took into part- 
 nership a foreman from the old establishment, and set 
 up and conducted a newspaper till she died in 1794. 
 The business was unprofitable. The daughters were 
 left without support. They promptly determined to 
 emigrate, embarked in a ship belonging to their 
 cousin, Adam Crampton, of Londonderry, and, after 
 a voyage of three months, arrived in Philadelphia. 
 They were received by their cousin, wife of Thomas 
 Moore, merchant, who had left Coleraine some time 
 before on account of his affiliation with the ' United
 
 ARRIVAL IN AMERICA. 7 
 
 Irishmen.' These daughters are described as active, 
 intelligent women, and being, like most ladies of that 
 period, proficient in the use of the needle, with it 
 supported themselves respectably and independently. 
 "In May, 1802, Mr. P. K. Rogers received the 
 degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of 
 Pennsylvania. His thesis on Liriodendron tulipi- 
 fera (the tulip-tree), in which he records the results 
 of experimental observations of its chemical and ther- 
 apeutic properties, was printed and is extant. A 
 son, James Blythe, the eldest of the brothers Rog- 
 ers, was born in Philadelphia, February 11, 1802. 
 The city directory for 1802 states that P. K. Rogers, 
 M. D., lived at No. 55 Lombard Street, implying that 
 he had established a home for himself very soon after 
 his marriage." * 
 
 In 1803 Robert Rogers, the father of Patrick and 
 grandfather of William Barton Rogers, died, and Dr. 
 P. K. Rogers, being the eldest son, returned in the 
 same year to Ireland to adjust the family affairs. This 
 duty occupied nearly a year, after which he returned 
 to Philadelphia, bringing with him two of his younger 
 brothers. Among his papers is a ticket to a medical 
 course in the University of Pennsylvania, dated 1805, 
 and bearing the name of Mr. Frederick Rogers. This 
 may have been one of these brothers. Meanwhile his 
 second son, William Barton Rogers, was born. At 
 this time the family was living at 262 North Second 
 Street, probably between Vine and Callow Hill streets, 
 and the family fortunes were at a low ebb. Among 
 Dr. P. K. Rogers's papers is a brief autobiographical 
 statement which, unfortunately, is limited to this period 
 of his life and the trying years which followed. The 
 paper, which bears no date, and begins and ends 
 
 1 Ruschenberger.
 
 8 ANCESTRY. 
 
 abruptly, was apparently written in Baltimore about 
 1817. It is as follows : - 
 
 " In the year 1803 I was engaged in full business 
 in Philadelphia as a physician, and the products of 
 my practice were more than equal to my current ex- 
 penses. But I was encumbered with small debts to a 
 considerable aggregate amount, perhaps three thou- 
 sand dollars, gradually contracted during the first 
 years of my professional and family establishment. 
 My father dying in 1803, I thought it important to 
 go to Ireland to adjust family affairs, and to obtain 
 that share of property to which I was entitled. I was 
 barely able to bring to Philadelphia, after an absence 
 of almost a year, as much money as paid my debt. 
 This agreeable business I performed promptly, and 
 when done I had neither money nor an establishment. 
 
 "It being difficult in the medical profession to 
 make a second beginning in the same place (and I 
 was wedded to the place by a thousand attachments), 
 I was never able afterwards to procure a share of 
 business equal to the expenses of my family, however 
 moderated. Other aids were sought to make good the 
 deficiency, but they only served to involve me more 
 rapidly in debt. 
 
 " A medical library appeared to be a thing wanted 
 at the seat of medical learning. Some respectable 
 booksellers advised me to undertake the enterprise as 
 one not calculated to interrupt my professional exer- 
 tions in any great degree. They were sanguine and 
 liberal in aiding this establishment, and several thou- 
 sand volumes were speedily arranged. The library 
 was not supported, and in less than two years I 
 begged to return the books as the only measure that 
 would enable me to do them any degree of justice. 
 Many of the works were more valuable than salable ; 
 all were said to be somewhat injured. Except about 
 two hundred volumes, all were returned, and I allowed 
 the booksellers damages. The library room, fixtures,
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 9 
 
 damages and contingent expenses left me in debt at 
 least four thousand dollars. 
 
 " Previous to and during these transactions, I was 
 engaged in giving lectures on the practice of medi- 
 cine, in the winter season, yearly. On the death of 
 Dr. Woodhouse, I applied for the chemical chair in 
 the University of Pennsylvania, but I had not a suffi- 
 cient number of patrons in the board of trustees. My 
 scientific friends thought I had a claim more just and 
 reasonable than that which is founded on family con- 
 nections, and accordingly they urged me to relinquish 
 the practical lectures, and prepare a full course on 
 chemistry for a popular audience. 1 I complied. Ap- 
 paratus, and the appropriation of much time to experi- 
 ments for demonstration, involved me in more debt 
 and undermined my practice. For some years I expe- 
 rienced the most pungent anxiety on account of my 
 circumstances. Sensibility to reputation, and the dread 
 of a species of disgrace attached to insolvent persons, 
 prevented me from seeking relief in the humane and 
 benevolent institutes of our country. 
 
 " Several of my creditors, interested for my happi- 
 ness and the welfare of my family, advised me to 
 remove to Baltimore or New York and resume the 
 exercise of my profession, believing I would not 
 be harassed, as the more importunate had already 
 stripped me of effects. I was left without even the 
 necessary accommodations for a house and family, as 
 furniture and kitchen utensils. 
 
 " In Baltimore I have sought repose of mind and 
 subsistence for my family. The latter I have found ; 
 the former has, during more than four years' residence 
 in this city, been interrupted only by the importuni- 
 ties and suits of my Philadelphia creditors. I again 
 feel the terrible condition of a debtor destitute of 
 
 1 Perhaps the first series of popular lectures on chemistry given 
 in this country, certainly the first, or one of the first, to which 
 ladies were admitted.
 
 10 ANCESTRY. 
 
 resources, while looked to by a numerous family for 
 support. 
 
 " A considerable part of my debt was contracted 
 with friends, real friends, who never intended to 
 coerce, much less distress me. Some of them are no 
 more, and their descendants are not at liberty to act 
 as the deceased would have done. Others have failed 
 in trade, and their claims have passed into the hands 
 of trustees for the benefit of their creditors. From 
 either class of original creditors or their successors it 
 is now impossible to obtain assent to a general re- 
 
 During these years three children were born, a 
 third son, Henry Darwin, August 1, 1808, and two 
 daughters, both of whom died in infancy. 
 
 In 1808 the family lived at 205 Mulberry (now 
 Arch) Street, Philadelphia. From 1809 to 1812 they 
 lived at 13 South Ninth Street, where they remained 
 until their removal to Baltimore. The fourth son, 
 Robert, was born in Baltimore, March 29, 1813. A 
 fifth son, Alexander, born May 4, 1815, died a few 
 years later. 
 
 In 1810 Dr. Rogers published an outline of a 
 course of lectures entitled " A Syllabus of a Course of 
 Lectures on Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, with 
 the Application of the Latter to Several of the Arts." 
 
 " It may not be improper for me to mention that 
 between the years 1808 and 1811 I delivered several 
 courses of lectures on chemistry and natural philo- 
 sophy in Philadelphia, some of which were attended 
 throughout (no doubt for amusement, or from cour- 
 teous or friendly motives) by the director of the mint, 
 Robert Patterson, and several of the professors of 
 the University of Pennsylvania." 1 
 
 1 Letter of P. K. Rogers to Thomas Jefferson, May 21, 1819.
 
 LETTER FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON. 11 
 
 Dr. Rogers removed to Baltimore about the end of 
 1812. 
 
 "At first lie lived at 15 Market Street, Fell's 
 Point, where he had an apothecary's shop, and subse- 
 quently at 68 South Charles Street. He was elected 
 physician of the Hibernian Society in 1816. The 
 same year it was charged that ' Dr. P. K. Rogers, at 
 Fell's Point, persists in the use of variolous matter in 
 preference to vaccine, against the public remonstrance 
 of Dr. James Smith.' l The controversy on this ques- 
 tion carried on in the newspapers was detrimental to 
 his professional business." 2 
 
 It does not appear, however, that his opinions on 
 vaccination did him lasting injury, for on June 7, 
 1819, he was elected by the Maryland Medico-Chi- 
 rurgical Society their "orator" for the next year, 
 1820. 
 
 In the letter of May 21, 1819, to which reference 
 has already been made, Dr. P. K. Rogers applied to 
 Thomas Jefferson for a professorship in the newly 
 established University of Virginia. He received from 
 Mr. Jefferson the following reply : 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON TO PATRICK KERR ROGERS. 
 
 MONTICELLO, June 23, 1819. 
 
 SIR, Your favour of May 21 was received in due 
 time. The Visitors of the University of Virginia had 
 determined at their meeting in March that it was not 
 expedient to divert any of its funds from building 
 during the present year, but that propositions should 
 be made, and an engagement entered into with Dr. 
 Cooper, to undertake the Professorship of Natural Phi- 
 losophy, Chemistry, and Mineralogy, as also that of 
 
 1 Medical Annals of Baltimore, by John K. Quinan, M. D., Svo, pp. 
 274, Baltimore, 1884. 
 
 2 Ruschenberger.
 
 12 ANCESTRY. 
 
 Law, and to open these schools in April next. The 
 probable impracticability of providing buildings this 
 season for the other professorships induced them to 
 expect that another year would be necessary for that 
 object, and that a general opening of the University 
 would have to be postponed till 1821. It is now 
 visible that the slow progress of building will produce 
 the delay they apprehended. I am sorry, therefore, 
 that this state of things, and the anticipation of the 
 appointment of a professor to the school you desired, 
 leave no room for availing the University of the offer 
 of services you have been pleased to tender. Accept, 
 pray, the assurance of my great respect. 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 "In 1819 his qualifications and capacity to teach 
 were recognized, and he was elected Professor of Natu- 
 ral Philosophy and Chemistry in the ancient College 
 of William and Mary (founded at Williamsburg, Va., 
 in 1692), in place of Dr. Robert Hare, resigned. Dr. 
 Rogers left Baltimore in October, 1819, and was soon 
 settled with his wife and boys in the Brafferton House, 
 on the college campus. He was earnest in his work. 
 He made all the apparatus required to illustrate his 
 lectures. In this making and mending he was ha- 
 bitually aided by his sons, who thus acquired unusual 
 facility in the use of tools for working wood and 
 metals." l 
 
 During the summer of 1820, after the close of the 
 session of the college on July 4, Mrs. Rogers was at- 
 tacked with malarial fever and died. To avoid this 
 fever, which always prevailed in that locality during 
 the summer, Dr. Rogers usually left Williamsburg 
 as soon after the close of the term as practicable. 
 Eight years after the death of his wife, having come 
 northward for the college vacation, he was seized with 
 1 Ruschenberger.
 
 DEATH OF THE PARENTS. 13 
 
 malarial fever and died, at Ellicott Mills, Md., Au- 
 gust 1, 1828, in the fifty-second year of his age. 
 The reverence and affection with which the brothers 
 regarded their father and the influence of his some- 
 what remarkable and unique character are more 
 fully illustrated by incidents dwelt upon in the next 
 chapter. Of the life and character of their mother, 
 who died before the sons had attained maturity, pleas- 
 ant traditions alone remain.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 
 
 1804-1828. 
 
 The Family Life in Baltimore. Education of the Brothers and their 
 Graduation from William and Mary. Their Early Correspondence. 
 William's Youthful Oration. He assists his Father at the 
 College. Removal of the Brothers to Baltimore. William and 
 Henry open a School. Their Lectures hef ore the Maryland Insti- 
 tute. Correspondence with their Father. An Address by P. K. 
 Rogers. First Railroads in America. Reminiscences of the Fa- 
 ther by a Student of William and Mary. 
 
 LITTLE is known of the childhood or boyhood of 
 William Barton Rogers or of his brothers. When Dr. 
 P. K. Rogers left Philadelphia and removed to Balti- 
 more in 1812, James, the eldest, was eleven, and the 
 second son, William, only eight years old. The family 
 life appears to have been a hard struggle with poverty 
 and debt, and the boys had few luxuries. They en- 
 joyed, however, the inestimable advantage of educated 
 parents devoted to their welfare. The seven years of 
 Baltimore life, as far as we know, passed without spe- 
 cial incident. On some stray sheets of paper torn 
 from an old ledger, William has given a glimpse of 
 the family life of this period : 
 
 "These pages formed part of an account book of 
 my revered father, used by him while a practicing 
 physician, and when his chief and favorite employ- 
 ment in the intervals of business was the instruction 
 of James, Henry and myself. Henry was then too
 
 M-r. 15.] THE HOME LIFE. 15 
 
 young to be sent to school, at least so my father 
 thought. On this subject his views were peculiar, and 
 I have ever regarded them not only as benevolent but 
 wise. 
 
 " The same anxiety that led him to postpone mere 
 book instruction to the natural development of the 
 physical and intellectual powers in Henry's case 
 caused him to restrict our attendance on school, at a 
 later period, to half days. So that, with the exception 
 of a short period during which James and myself 
 walked about two miles to Baltimore College 1 to re- 
 ceive instruction in Latin, we never spent any of our 
 afternoon hours in school. Henry, I am sure, was 
 exempt during the whole of his schoolboy life from 
 attendance in the afternoon. 
 
 " It thus happened that our education was conducted 
 in great part at home, and by the daily personal at- 
 tention of our kind and judicious father ; and to this 
 cause I may justly ascribe the thoroughness of our 
 knowledge on all the subjects which we studied, though 
 in the apparent extent of our attainments we were by 
 no means in advance of our playmates trained in the 
 ordinary system of school drudgery, and confined to 
 their books for the greater part of the day." 
 
 It is related that music formed an entertainment 
 in the household, Dr. Rogers and his son Henry 
 playing the violin and William the flute. The sons 
 also recalled in after years the intense boyish delight 
 of certain walks with their father into the suburbs 
 of Baltimore on Sunday afternoons, with the glass of 
 fresh milk drunk at some farm-house on the way. 
 
 While the family lived in Baltimore William was 
 for a time employed in the china warehouse of Mr. M. 
 F. Keyser. Here it was that he acquired a skill and 
 
 1 Probably Baltimore City College, the Public High School of 
 Baltimore.
 
 16 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1819. 
 
 dexterity in packing china, which he never lost. In 
 later years this accomplishment for such, in his 
 case, it really was proved very useful in the packing 
 of fragile fossils or other specimens. In after years 
 he once excited the admiration of his family by pack- 
 ing a thin glass tumbler side by side with a heavy 
 iron implement so skillfully that the glass arrived at 
 the end of a long journey uninjured. 
 
 The appointment of Dr. P. K. Kogers to a pro- 
 fessorship in the College of William and Mary in 
 1819 was in many respects fortunate. It formed an 
 epoch in the family history, and promised to the anx- 
 ious parent a relief from financial distress. It 
 offered to him also the welcome opportunity of edu- 
 cating his boys, who were now rapidly approaching 
 manhood. 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. Eogers with their children removed from 
 Baltimore to Williamsburg in October, 1819. James, 
 the eldest son, appears to have returned for a time to 
 Baltimore, and to him William addressed the follow- 
 ing letter which we give, unchanged, as it is the first 
 of his letters which has been preserved. It was 
 written at the age of fifteen : 
 
 WILLIAM TO JAMES. 
 
 WILLIAMSBUBG, December 22, 1819. 
 
 DEAE JAMES, I received your letter three days 
 ago, and was glad to find that my second letter had 
 met with a better fate than my first. Along with 
 yours I received one from our very eccentric friend 
 S. S. ; he is at Rocky Mount in Franklin County, and, 
 as he states, at the foot of the elevated Blue Kidge. 
 The stile is such as might be expected from one who, 
 with a few atoms of self-importance, possesses a world 
 of good nature and affection. It is forcible, warm,
 
 ^Ex. 15.] A BOY'S LETTER. 17 
 
 and now and then too florid, but his letter is replete 
 with good sense, and displays an active mind as well 
 as a benevolent heart. He is to have the superin- 
 tendence of a farm, the property of one of his rela- 
 tions, and expects that his situation will be extremely 
 pleasant and quite independent. He seems very desir- 
 ous of establishing a correspondence with me, and fre- 
 quently mentions you, always with the most friendly 
 regard. The classes remain stationary and decorous ; 
 there has not been the least misbehaviour since the 
 opening of the session, but the courses progress in 
 the most orderly and agreeable manner. It were for- 
 tunate if the students were as remarkable for their 
 talents as good nature, but it is not so ; with the 
 exception of about eight, there was perhaps never an 
 assemblage of young men so totally destitute of genius 
 and so miserably deficient in understanding. Yes- 
 terday (as Mr. Hawes tells me) Dr. Smith l inquired 
 of a student what was the nature of a material sub- 
 stance, the answer was, " One which affects our senses 
 and exerts reason ! " Father asked the same person 
 for a definition of a solid ; after much hesitation, a 
 good deal of muttering, and abundance of broken 
 sentences, the gentleman answered with great philo- 
 sophical gravity that it was "A a a body which 
 was solid." The chemical class, however, advance as 
 well as could be expected, and will no doubt bear a 
 good examination ; there are a few members in par- 
 ticular who answer extremely well, among these stands 
 Robert Saunders. 
 
 Christmas is now fast approaching, when I suppose 
 the inhabitants will enter upon the same routine of 
 dissipation as is usual at this season. For my part, I 
 intend to visit as little as decency will admit, and Mr. 
 Hawes has joined me in this determination. Neither 
 of us have yet been to Dr. Coles's or Captain Tra- 
 vers's ; we took tea at Mr. Campbell's shortly after 
 
 1 President of William and Mary College.
 
 18 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1819. 
 
 Mr. H. arrived, but have not been there since. We 
 generally sit up until between eleven and twelve o'clock 
 without inconvenience, and find the stillness of the 
 hour to favour studies in astronomy. It is the most 
 sublime as well as the most difficult of all the sciences ; 
 it requires intense study and great application, but by 
 the joint force of these its difficulties are soon over- 
 come, and its utility and beauty become more strik- 
 ingly manifest. 
 
 We are all extremely well, but anxiously antici- 
 pating your return, in hopes of which and of your 
 health and happiness I am, 
 
 Your very affectionate Brother, 
 
 WILLIAM B. ROGERS. 
 
 P. S. Robert Saunders intends writing to you 
 shortly, his father wishing such a correspondence for 
 his improvement. If he writes, Father says you must 
 not neglect to return him a friendly answer, and, 
 should you have leisure you had better not wait for a 
 letter from him. 
 
 Father and the children all send their most affec- 
 tionate love to you, as well as to our relations in Bal- 
 timore. I must now bid you good-night as it is near 
 my bed-time. Answer this speedily. 
 
 W. B. E. 
 
 The following " Report of Standing " addressed to 
 Dr. Rogers shows that James and William were in 
 attendance at William and Mary during the session 
 1819-20. It has been reproduced as a contri- 
 bution to the educational history of the period ; 
 and it need only be remarked that the term " Society " 
 was used as a synonym for " Faculty." Ferdinand 
 Campbell, whose signature appears upon this fac- 
 simile, was the Professor of Mathematics and a great 
 favorite with the students of the college, who char- 
 acterized him in the following rhyme :
 
 ^T. 15.] CLIMATE. 19 
 
 " Here comes old Ferdy, 
 With rectilinear walk, 
 His head full of diagrams, 
 His pockets full of chalk." 
 
 In the summer following the removal of the family 
 to Williamsburg, Mrs. Rogers was attacked by the 
 fever which prevailed in the malarial climate of Lower 
 Virginia and from which she died. The death of 
 their mother was a heavy blow to the boys, but it 
 seems to have drawn their father into relations with 
 them closer, if possible, than before. 
 
 On the invitation of Colonel Robert Saunders, Dr. 
 Rogers and his boys left Williamsburg after the death 
 of Mrs. Rogers, and spent the rest of their vacation 
 in the house of their host at Short Pump, Va. That 
 this was a wise step appears from the following passage 
 in a letter from Professor Campbell to Dr. Rogers : 
 
 WILLIAMSBURG, October 7, 1820. 
 
 MY DEAR DOCTOR, . . . Although at the time 
 of your departure I supposed that your family would 
 have incurred no risk by remaining in Williamsburg, 
 I rejoice now that I did not advise you to stay, and 
 that you concluded on seeking the benefit of a change 
 of air. For such has been the unhealthiness of this 
 place that scarcely any of the old inhabitants have 
 escaped from severe illness ; and, to add to this misfor- 
 tune, the physician on whom all are disposed to rely 
 most (Dr. Gait) has likewise had a bilious attack, 
 which has deprived them of his services for three 
 weeks, and still continues to do so. ... 
 
 I saw old Kitt l the other day ; the only thing he 
 wanted was a little corn for the fowls, which I believe 
 he got. We are mindful of you all every afternoon 
 when we view your abode, or see Henry's ducks, who 
 visit us every day. 
 
 1 A family servant.
 
 20 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1821. 
 
 In the autumn of 1821 James left William and 
 Mary College to study medicine at the University 
 of Maryland, in Baltimore. A correspondence now 
 began between the brothers, which was continued 
 as long as they lived. The following is important as 
 showing their early interest in science, and also as 
 an estimate by his eldest son of the father's attain- 
 ments : 
 
 JAMES (19) TO WILLIAM (17). 
 
 BALTIMOKE, November 9, 1821. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER, In compliance with my promise 
 of soon writing to you, I now sit down to write you a 
 short letter, in which you may not calculate on any- 
 thing new, except a new and in my opinion a rather 
 singular opinion advanced by Dr. De Butts, which he 
 delivered this evening, one which I think is wholly 
 unsupported by any evidence. It is this, that no two 
 bodies of heterogeneous character are presented to each 
 other without thereby chemical union being produced ; 
 for instance, a drop of water applied to a plate of 
 glass adheres to it by virtue of chemical attraction, or 
 affinity ; and that the different forces of this attraction 
 are to be observed in all degrees, from the simple case 
 I have mentioned to those in which the most powerful 
 chemical attraction exerts its influence. In a word, 
 what Father denominates "heterogeneous adhesion" 
 is with him really a chemical union. I believe this 
 opinion to be erroneous, inasmuch as there is in this 
 case to be observed none of those changes which are 
 said to be characteristic of chemical affinity. When 
 you write me (which do soon) give me your opinion 
 on this point. Dr. De Butts seems to have considera- 
 bly improved as a lecturer since I last heard him, but 
 yet he falls far short of Father. However, I think 
 his lectures are sufficiently full for his class, for very
 
 JET. 17.] EARLY CORRESPONDENCE. 21 
 
 few of the members of it that I know are capable of 
 comprehending one half of what he says. I have 
 often, while listening to the Doctor, wished the stu- 
 dents could hear one of Father's lectures on the sub- 
 ject, for they as far surpass the Doctor's in point of 
 correctness, science and elegance, as the meridian sun 
 does the evening star in brilliancy. . . . 
 
 Two months later James writes again to William, 
 who appears to have been ill, and gravely records 
 his impressions of his brother Henry, impressions 
 which, especially in view of the eminence which the 
 latter achieved, are interesting : 
 
 JAMES TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BALTIMORE, January 10, 1822. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER, . . . You will please inform Henry 
 that, as he has arrived at that age in which he might 
 write a letter, nothing would give me more pleasure 
 than to receive a letter from him, in which I shall 
 expect him to tell me what he is studying, and how he 
 comes on in his studies. I have, I think, perceived 
 in Henry that constitution of mind which is admira- 
 bly fitted for success in this world, and which, if prop- 
 erly cultivated, would manifest genius of no ordinary 
 cast. . . . 
 
 James, having been graduated in medicine in 1822, 
 immediately opened an office and formed a partnership 
 for medical practice with a friend. But he was not suc- 
 cessful. His letters contain repeated and urgent ap- 
 peals to his father for money for his bare necessities. 
 The following illustrates not only the struggles of a 
 young physician, but also the prospects and the lines 
 of medical practice at that period :
 
 22 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1822. 
 
 JAMES TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BALTIMORE, May 7, 1822. 
 
 DEAE BROTHER, . . . My partner and myself have 
 had an office open now for more than two weeks, and 
 in all that time have had only three patients, and 
 those not promising profit, prospects which certainly 
 are not very flattering ; but we are told the city at 
 present is very healthy, unusually so. We have pa- 
 tience, however, if we have not patients, and are on 
 the lookout, and endeavouring to do the best we can. 
 
 The weather is becoming very warm, and a fair 
 prospect presents itself for bilious fevers. Indeed, I 
 am oppressed in my winter clothes, and have no light 
 ones to change. I '11 thank you if you will tell Father 
 this, that he may afford me, if possible, means of pro- 
 curing some, at least, by the first of June. There has 
 been a good deal of sickness of late in uncle's 1 family. 
 I bled no less than three of them within the last week, 
 but they are all now nearly well. . . . 
 
 In May, 1822, an interesting event occurred in the 
 delivery by William Barton Rogers, then only seven- 
 teen and a half years of age, of an oration at the 
 celebration of the third " Virginiad," at Jamestown, 
 Va. His friend, Robert Saunders, Jr., also made an 
 oration, as appears from the following : 
 
 JAMES TO WILLIAM. 
 
 May 30, 1822. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER, Looking over one of the papers 
 of yesterday, I observed a description of the celebra- 
 tion of the Virginiad at Jamestown, in a letter ad- 
 dressed by a gentleman who was present to one of the 
 Norfolk editors. He mentioned that two orations 
 
 1 The uncle here referred to was Mr. Alexander Rogers, a resident 
 of Baltimore.
 
 Mi. 17.] ORATION AT JAMESTOWN. 23 
 
 were delivered, by two very young men of the name of 
 Rogers and Saunders, which he complimented very 
 highly, but particularly the first, which he said was 
 delivered by Mr. Rogers. The thought immediately 
 struck me that it was you, as you evinced some talent 
 for oratory, and the subject opened a wide field for 
 the display of it. It made me feel a momentary degree 
 of pride, until reading farther I saw that William 
 and Mary did not participate in the festival. This 
 made me doubt whether you were the person, or some 
 other of the same name. My principal object in now 
 writing to you is to ascertain the fact. The writer 
 says he hopes to be able to procure the first oration. 
 If it be yours, I hope it may be published, that I may 
 get a look at it. ... 
 
 The following extract illustrates the character of 
 this youthful oration, which may be found in full in 
 the " Richmond (Va.) Enquirer " of June 4, 1822 : 
 
 . . . "The first Virginian colonists bade a final 
 adieu to the thronged land of their nativity. Having 
 taken an affectionate farewell of their friends and 
 dearest relations, they steered toward the ample shores 
 of America. . . . 
 
 " As they sailed into the Chesapeake, they viewed 
 this spacious bay with admiration and delight, and 
 found themselves enclosed in a vast amphitheatre 
 formed by the distant forests which skirted its blue 
 waters. The jutting points of land opened, as they 
 advanced, into broad extended shores, or retired as if 
 by enchantment. While the eye surveyed the rich 
 exuberance of vegetation, and the diversified tints of 
 the foliage which painted the varied landscape on 
 every side, the heart dilated with the exulting anti- 
 cipation of unequalled felicity, and the enraptured 
 imagination dwelt only on dreams of delight. Beauty 
 and grandeur appeared everywhere around ; and in 
 the ardent glow of enthusiasm, the now joyous ad-
 
 24 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1822. 
 
 venturers represented the country as an earthly 
 paradise. 
 
 " In exploring this interesting scene, they entered 
 the spacious opening through which the Chesapeake 
 receives the tributary waters of the majestic Powha- 
 tan. A permanent resting-place, favorable for the 
 establishment of a plantation, was now sought ; and 
 the peninsula on which we are this day assembled 
 was the spot distinguished by their choice; James- 
 town, consecrated by their toils and sufferings, became 
 the seat of the first colony within the present limits 
 of Virginia." 
 
 The young orators of Jamestown were always firm 
 friends. The following letter is given to show their 
 boyish assumption of knowledge of life and men : 
 
 TO ROBERT SAUNDERS, JR. 
 
 RICHMOND, October 13, 1822. 
 
 DEAR ROBERT, I have not for a long time been 
 more out of humour than I am at this moment. Fully 
 an hour ago I came upstairs determined to write 
 you a very amusing letter. It occurred to me that an 
 occasional departure from my usual dull style of writing 
 might prevent your being weary of my correspondence. 
 Now, the cause of my ill-humour is this, I have been 
 sitting ever since in a retired apartment, ready to catch 
 at whatever started in my mind that might afford you 
 entertainment, but after trying to stimulate my inven- 
 tion by every means in my power I have been unable 
 to elicit even a single pleasant conceit. Two or three 
 snail-paced ideas have indeed crept across my mind, 
 but they are not of the kind I want. I find my brains 
 are too heavy and viscid ; the little wriggling maggot 
 that stirs up witty fancies is unable to move in them. 
 Alas! I must content myself with my usual dull, 
 insipid style. 
 
 I agree with you in believing that there is a great
 
 .Sir. 18.] EARLY CORRESPONDENCE. 25 
 
 deal of villainy among men. I fear few who consult 
 their experience can believe otherwise. Young persons 
 who have had little intercourse with mankind are not 
 apt to be of your sentiment, however; they generally en- 
 tertain a more favourable opinion of the world than 
 ordinary experience will support. This arises from the 
 unsuspecting benevolence which is the natural character 
 of youth. Viewed through this medium, man appears 
 encircled with the halo of every virtue. Experience 
 draws a very different picture, in which the halo of 
 virtue is changed for the veil of hypocrisy. This 
 painful contrast is perceived more or less by every one 
 upon first entering the busy world. I am prepared for 
 it myself ; but so long as my dear friend remains un- 
 changed, I will be contented. 
 
 Dear Bob, I am quite impatient to see you again. 
 It seems almost an age since I left Williamsburg. 
 Indeed, as the time of our departure from Richmond 
 approaches, the days appear to move more and more 
 tardily. In one week from this I expect we shall be 
 on the road ; then my impatience will give me no rest 
 until the journey is ended. The anticipation of again 
 enjoying your company is delightful. 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 WILLIAM B. ROGERS. 
 
 It will be observed that in October, 1822, William 
 was in Richmond. Hither the father had come, partly 
 to escape the dangerous climate of Williamsburg but, 
 on this visit, more particularly to superintend the pub- 
 lication of his text-book. In the course of a letter 
 addressed to Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Rogers refers to 
 his son William, who seems to have been his assistant, 
 as follows :
 
 26 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1822. 
 
 PATRICK K. ROGERS TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 [About 1823.] 
 
 SIR, I take the liberty of sending you a copy of a 
 little work l which I prepared for the use of one of my 
 classes in William and Mary. 
 
 The students who attend our courses are generally 
 very deficient in preparatory schooling, and a great 
 proportion of them appear to be altogether incapable 
 of steady application, from the want of early discipline. 
 My " Introduction," etc., was arranged in some measure 
 with a view to the improvement of mental discipline ; 
 its plan being convenient for regular recitals, at the 
 blackboard, or otherwise, and it is believed that fa- 
 miliar acquaintance with its contents may enable the 
 student in natural philosophy (who is duly prepared 
 in mathematics) to pursue more general reading with 
 satisfaction and enjoyment, and to encounter future 
 difficulties in the science with confidence and alacrity. 
 ... I have followed what is, perhaps, a very common, 
 and is certainly a very natural inclination. A professor 
 who loves the science which he teaches will be fond of 
 treating it in a manner as a favorite child, by dressing 
 it according to his own fancy, and by presenting it in 
 that attitude which he supposes may most effectually 
 secure to it, at first sight, an approving glance or a 
 kind sentiment. 
 
 The demonstrations of the 14th, 35th, 68th, and 93d 
 propositions are by my second son, who is now in his 
 twentieth year, and has a very extraordinary passion 
 for physico-mathematical sciences. About half a dozen 
 other demonstrations are taken without alteration from 
 the writings of Dr. Robinson and Dr. Thos. Young. 
 All the rest of the work is my own method and lan- 
 guage, my several guides being Newton, Robinson, 
 Monge, Young, etc. . . . 
 
 1 An Introduction to the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philo- 
 sophy, by P. K. Rogers. Richmond, 1822.
 
 MT. 18.] HEALTH. 27 
 
 In the letters of 1822 and 1823, there are frequent 
 references to William's delicate health or actual ill- 
 ness ; and the other brothers, as we shall see, were by 
 no means robust. 
 
 JAMES TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BALTIMORE, December 19, 1822. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER, The receipt of your letter was to 
 me a source of real pleasure, for I have nothing more 
 at heart than your health and welfare. I only hope 
 that your sickness may not lay the foundation for seri- 
 ous and troublesome complaints so often the conse- 
 quence of bilious disease. However, you are under the 
 eye of a physician whose parental care will not allow 
 anything serious, if possible, to occur. A short time 
 after I returned to Baltimore from the country, I was 
 apprehensive, from a pain in my side, that I had not 
 completely recovered from the attack I had while there ; 
 but I believe now I am perfectly free from any local 
 affection. 
 
 For the sake of improvement I attend some of the 
 lectures in the University, and particularly the chemi- 
 cal lectures, by which I have had an opportunity of 
 testing Dr. De Butts's acquirements. Dr. Murray, 
 whose works I have read, I have found to be his right 
 hand man. I have myself made so much progress in 
 this beautiful science that I would not exchange my 
 knowledge of the subject for that of the Doctor. I 
 have for the sake of improvement written an intro- 
 ductory lecture on chemistry, which I should like you 
 to see, if I had any convenient way of forwarding 
 it ; perhaps in your next letter you may suggest some 
 plan of doing so. ... 
 
 William, until the autum of 1825, spent his winters 
 in Williamsburg, and from the following letter it 
 appears that in 1823 he was giving much time to the 
 study of the classics :
 
 28 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1823. 
 
 JAMES TO WILLIAM. 
 
 February 27, 1823. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER, ... I was pleased that your 
 apology for delay in writing was attention to the study 
 of Greek, and not indisposition, which I feared existed, 
 and indeed I am not disposed to view this as a trifling 
 one, when I consider your habits of close application, 
 in which you are so abstracted from everything but 
 what you are at, as to be very liable to forget answer- 
 ing such letters as mine, in which there are no points of 
 interesting character presented to your reflecting mind. 
 Your views with respect to the beauties of Homer I 
 make no doubt are correct, for although I have not 
 studied the Greek, I love that idea of the language (I 
 know not how I obtained it) which enables me to con- 
 ceive it possible that no English translation can retain 
 the majestic sublimity of the original. 
 
 I am reading also, for the sake of improvement in 
 algebra, a Latin edition of Euler's elements of that 
 subject, and for simplicity of style, clearness of con- 
 ception, and accuracy of demonstration, he certainly 
 cannot be surpassed by any. I never had correct 
 views of this beautiful science, but since I have 
 perused him I have been enabled to reason on ab- 
 stract infinite quantity with as much precision as on 
 determinate ones. 
 
 I am pleased Henry has made such rapid progress 
 in his Latin, and that Robert is not altogether devoted 
 to play. 
 
 I shall take an opportunity soon of sending you my 
 introductory lecture by mail, that I may know whether 
 you think me able to write introductory lectures. I 
 read a short essay before the Medical Society of 
 Maryland a few evenings ago, and from their conduct 
 to me I judged they thought me in some degree qual- 
 ified to write medical essays. The subject compre- 
 hended criticism on the popular use of mercury in
 
 Mis. 19.] CLASSICAL STUDIES. 29 
 
 fever, in which I endeavoured to prove that this inval- 
 uable article was much abused by the alchymistic 
 physicians of the present day, who have as they think 
 found in it the long-sought-for Panacea, and for the 
 benefit of humanity make it their unicum remediwn, 
 and dispense it with liberal and bountiful profu- 
 sion. . . . 
 
 In the next winter (1823-24) Dr. P. K. Eogers, 
 in writing to Thomas Jefferson, states that William 
 was engaged in mathematical studies : 
 
 PATRICK K. ROGERS TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 WILLIAMSBUBG, March 14, 1824. 
 
 To THOMAS JEFFERSON, ESQ. 
 
 /Sir, The polite terms in which you are pleased 
 to express your estimate of that portion of my " In- 
 troduction " which has been printed could not fail to 
 give pleasure to the writer. And the kind conclusion 
 of your letter claims more than formal thanks : it is, 
 in commercial phrase, a draft upon the affections, 
 which the heart is ready and willing to pay. I intend 
 to indulge myself in the high gratification of mak- 
 ing a visit to Monticello next July, and regret that I 
 could not without great inconvenience have done so 
 last summer. With an ardent curiosity to see the 
 University, considerations (I cannot call them hopes) 
 are connected, which make me desirous to see you 
 as soon as the duties in which I am engaged will 
 permit. 
 
 There is something in the organization of William 
 and Mary which, independently of its location or 
 other permanent disadvantages, must forever prevent 
 it from being prosperous or successful ; and while I 
 sincerely congratulate the friends of the University on 
 their success in the late session of the legislature, I 
 am inclined to think that when that institution goes 
 into operation we shall scarcely have occasion to open
 
 30 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1824. 
 
 the doors of the old college. Even at present there 
 is no reputation to be acquired here, and no en- 
 couragement to activity or zeal. Your comparative 
 view of the merits of the French and English writers 
 on mathematical and physical science is that which I 
 have long entertained. Two great works, however, in 
 the English language, those of Young and Robinson, 
 may be regarded as exceptions to the general stand- 
 ard of the English writers on the various branches 
 of mechanical philosophy. Yet, I confess, I am not 
 a convert to the theory of light and heat which is 
 so ably defended by the former, the theory of un- 
 dulations in a diffused universal medium. The lat- 
 ter, in his system of mechanical philosophy, which 
 is delivered in the happiest style of an experienced 
 teacher, avails himself of the best and latest inves- 
 tigations of his contemporaries of every country. . . . 
 The fluxional notation and idea must undoubtedly 
 give place to the differential, in England and in this 
 country, at no distant period. The clearness and 
 facility of the latter, compared with the obscurity and 
 the difficulty of the former, in the hands of beginners, 
 will soon fix the destiny of the two methods. The best 
 Scotch mathematicians have already decided in favour 
 of the differential method. . . . My second son has 
 almost completed a translation of the " Elements du 
 Calcul Differentiel " of Bezout, for the use of his 
 younger brother, this being the only elementary work 
 to which he has access that treats the subject by the 
 theory of infinitesimals. He has himself been engaged 
 in reading the more abstruse and more perfect treatise 
 in Brewster's Encyclopaedia. Although we have a 
 pretty large library in this place, we have very few 
 books of real use to the profession, unless those on 
 metaphysics, or what has been pompously denominated 
 the philosophy of the mind, are to be considered as 
 such. We have indeed the works of Bezout and La- 
 place, with several of the best treatises on chemistry, 
 and the systems of natural and mechanical philosophy
 
 ^T. 20.] MATHEMATICS. 31 
 
 of Young and Robinson, which, after three years of 
 solicitation, were reluctantly imported and received 
 last summer. And of course we have access to most 
 of the old writers on physics and mechanics, from 
 Archimedes to Newton. . . . 
 
 I have hesitated to trouble you with the present 
 letter, aware that the correspondence which, at your 
 advanced period of life, you may still find agreeable 
 to sustain, must be with old and probably very dis- 
 tant friends. But reflecting that to read is less 
 fatiguing than to write, and that an acknowledgment 
 was really due for that assurance of welcome which 
 you have been so good as to give me, I came to the 
 determination to tender it in this form ; and with my 
 thanks for the personal favour and sentiments of 
 purest respect, 
 
 I remain, 
 
 Your ob't servant, 
 
 PATRICK KERB ROGERS. 
 
 In October, 1825, William and Henry had both 
 removed to Baltimore to seek their fortunes, Henry 
 finding employment for a time with a retail merchant. 
 Ill health, however, pursued them, as the following 
 
 letters testify : 
 
 PATRICK K. ROGERS TO HIS SON WILLIAM. 
 
 . . . Henry writes me that your indisposition con- 
 tinues unabated. I cannot, I am sorry to say, suggest 
 anything promising of utility beyond what your own 
 experience would direct you to. It is to be hoped 
 that a hard winter will do you service. . . . 
 
 WUJJAMSBURG, October 17, 1825. 
 
 DEAR WILLIAM, I regret exceedingly that I have 
 not yet received any communication from the bursar. 
 I have feared that some of you may have been in
 
 32 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1825. 
 
 want of necessary articles to meet the inclemency of 
 the season. There is now no expectation from Chris- 
 tian 1 until he comes to Williamsburg at the com- 
 mencement of next month to make his usual settle- 
 ment with the faculty. This delay of salary has given 
 me unusual concern, as I had made your aunt Ramsay 
 expect some money at the opening of the course, and 
 as it is high time your uncle had payment for board. 
 Both claims must be attended to in the beginning of 
 next month. As I do not now expect to receive any 
 money from Christian until he comes at the first of 
 January, I have enclosed thirty dollars, with the view 
 of providing any article which either of the three 
 James, Henry, or yourself may particularly require. 
 Shoes and good warm socks are indispensable, and 
 unless Henry has got already supplied he must want 
 a couple of flannel shirts. 
 
 I have been much disappointed in not receiving 
 a letter from any of you by yesterday's mail. I am 
 anxious to know how you and Henry come on in your 
 new engagement [teaching], and how the business 
 consists with the health of both. If you are able to 
 continue those duties it will be a very important cir- 
 cumstance ; you may, by a dignified and kind deport- 
 ment to the boys, lay a sure foundation for an inde- 
 pendent establishment for yourselves at some future 
 day, should it suit in respect to your health. 
 
 I had hoped, on your receiving my last letter, or at 
 least since Henry and you entered on your academic 
 duties, to have had a letter of information. Do not 
 fail to write immediately on receipt of this, or, if you 
 should find it oppressive to do so, let James or Henry 
 write. . . . 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 P. K. ROGERS. 
 
 1 The bursar of the college.
 
 JEi. 21.] A PROFESSOR'S SALARY. 33 
 
 The rising University of Virginia now threatened 
 the slender prosperity of William and Mary College. 
 It was therefore proposed to remove the latter to 
 Richmond. The following letter of Dr. Rogers refers 
 to this proposal, and also illustrates the pecuniary 
 difficulties of a professor's life in a poorly- endowed 
 college : 
 
 PATRICK K. ROGERS TO HIS SON WILLIAM. 
 
 WrmAMSBtruG, January 16, 1826. 
 
 DEAR WILLIAM, I send enclosed an order of the 
 bursar on the Bank of Virginia for one hundred dol- 
 lars. This day he laid his books before the Society 
 for settlement, and the dividend to each of the profes- 
 sors was unexpectedly small on account of the expenses 
 in fitting up the college, and the additional salary to 
 be paid out of his collections. I received only two 
 hundred dollars, fifty having been deducted for rent 
 to the 5th of July last. He has, however, pleasant 
 news for us. Large amounts of interest long due 
 will certainly be paid during the spring, and he as- 
 sures us that he has not the least doubt but that, 
 between this time and next July, every cent of arrears 
 due the professors will be paid to them. There is 
 remaining, after the present payment, about thirteen 
 months' salary due to every one. This will be very 
 fortunate for me if it is made good. But there will 
 be strong pulling at the next convention in different 
 directions : offices to be divided, professorships to be 
 put down, removal and no removal of the college. 
 Keep these things private. I shall have much curious 
 communication for you and your brother when I go 
 on to Baltimore, which I am afraid to put on paper. 
 One thing is to me certain : the college will not, in 
 any time to serve us, be removed from its present 
 location. 
 
 Desire Henry to write to me frequently. He is the
 
 34 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1826. 
 
 youngest sojourner, and therefore I feel particularly 
 desirous to know how he comes on. 
 
 Of the enclosed sum it will be proper to give your 
 aunt Ramsay at least ten dollars, and make such pay- 
 ment to your uncle as you may all judge right, and 
 apply the surplus to the use of those of you who most 
 want necessaries. I shall be happy to find on my 
 arrival at Baltimore that you all are to each other 
 kind and liberal, and that your health and happiness 
 improve. James should have a keen lookout for him- 
 self ; an unfortunate squall in this place may render 
 me unable to give him any important assistance. 
 I remain your affectionate father, 
 
 P. K. ROGERS. 
 
 The proposed removal of William and Mary College 
 to the city of Richmond, referred to above, was advo- 
 cated because of its unhealthy location, and also in 
 the belief that only by its transfer to a larger and 
 wealthier community could it compete successfully 
 with the new "University" of Thomas Jefferson. 1 
 
 In the autumn of 1826 the two brothers, William 
 and Henry, opened a school at Windsor, Md., some 
 fourteen miles from Baltimore. Robert, now thir- 
 teen years old, left his father and joined them in 
 Windsor, attending their school and living in the 
 family of Mr. and Mrs. Fitzhugh. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 WINDSOB, November 3, 1826. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, I have seated myself in the midst 
 of our school to write to you. I cannot, therefore, 
 bestow much study on my letter. 
 
 Henry is much as usual, still troubled with dys- 
 
 1 See U. S. Bureau of Education : Circular No. 1, 1887 ; The College 
 of William and Mary, etc., pp. 58-61.
 
 Mi. 22.] SCHOOL-TEACHING. 35 
 
 peptic symptoms, and occasional pains in the breast. 
 Robert has had an attack of the croup, but through 
 the kind care of the family he is now well, though 
 not able to come to school. . . . 
 
 Our school has been nearly stationary since we 
 saw you. We cannot expect to make much more 
 than a support in our present situation. The profits 
 of the school would be sufficient to satisfy one of 
 us, as it would enable him to lay by something for 
 the future ; but, as by the present arrangement they 
 must be divided between us, they will not enable us 
 to improve our circumstances. However delightful 
 the place and society, we therefore cannot regard 
 the situation as a permanent one, at least for both 
 of us. 
 
 Since you left town I have made inquiry respecting 
 the situation which Dr. Webster spoke to you about, 
 and which I declined applying for. I called upon 
 Dr. Stewart, who gave me particular information on 
 the subject. The gentleman who wanted a tutor is 
 Mr. W. Garnett, the husband of the lady who teaches 
 a very celebrated female school in Virginia. He has 
 three sons, whom he wishes to educate at home. They 
 are to be instructed in Greek, Latin, English and 
 Mathematics ; and the tutor is to receive a salary of 
 four hundred dollars and his boarding. The salary 
 is handsome, and to one in my situation is very entic- 
 ing. From the importance attached to the classical 
 instruction, I fear my qualifications would hardly be 
 sufficient. Mr. Garnett observes in a letter, from 
 which Dr. Stewart read a passage, that the person 
 whom he employs must have great patience, for he 
 must be content to teach without the use of the rod 
 or emulation. My present situation is truly delight- 
 ful in every respect but one: it is not sufficiently 
 lucrative. But for this I would not change my abode, 
 with the same employment, for any other in the world. 
 I have felt anxious to have your opinion again on this 
 subject, ever since I heard that the place was still
 
 36 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1827. 
 
 open. Mr. Garnett is a visitor of the college ; perhaps 
 you may have seen him in Williamsburg. Teaching 
 is much less profitable in Maryland than in Virginia. 
 There, a classical teacher may in a few years lay up 
 what will enable him to obtain a profession and begin 
 the practice of it ; here, unless he is so fortunate as to 
 become fashionable in the city, he can only realize a 
 support. You may, perhaps, hear of some situation 
 in Virginia that would be desirable. If you should, 
 please inform us. 
 
 I remain your affectionate son, 
 
 WILLIAM B. ROGEKS. 
 
 N. B. Do not from this letter infer that I am 
 displeased with our present situation. I am highly 
 pleased with it, but I feel that I ought to look to the 
 future. 
 
 W. B. E. 
 
 In January, 1827, we find William delivering lec- 
 tures before the Maryland Institute in Baltimore, 
 and from his "Introductory" lecture quote a few 
 sentences : 
 
 " The general considerations which I have thus pre- 
 sented are such as the scene before me is calculated 
 to suggest. I shall now conclude my preliminary 
 observations with a few remarks relative to this insti- 
 tution, and then proceed to topics more immediately 
 connected with the subject of the succeeding lectures. 
 I need not in this place enlarge upon the usefulness 
 of popular courses of scientific instruction ; with re- 
 spect to my own department, this, I hope, will be 
 clearly evinced in another part of the present dis- 
 course. Of late years, the public mind, both in this 
 country and abroad, has been much interested in the 
 subject. In many places institutions calculated to 
 render useful science attainable by the mass of society 
 have been established; and such is the growing im-
 
 2Br. 22.] INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 37 
 
 pression of their value that their number continues 
 yearly to increase. Our own city has not been back- 
 ward in this career of improvement. The Maryland 
 Institute is, I believe, the second in point of seniority 
 in the United States, and has now been upwards of 
 a year in successful operation. During this period 
 the public has had an opportunity of testing the ad- 
 vantages which it proffers. And may not its friends 
 believe that the laudable sentiments which led to its 
 erection have been more extensively and permanently 
 impressed upon the public mind by the evidences which 
 it has already afforded of its useful character ? May 
 they not hope that it has become, and will continue to 
 be, an object of the kind regard and fostering care of 
 our philanthropic citizens; that it will be cherished 
 with the guardian attention which was in ancient times 
 bestowed upon the vestal fire whose extinction was 
 thought to be ominous of evil ; and that, being thus 
 enabled to diffuse the light of useful knowledge, not 
 only among ourselves but to distant places, it will, 
 by the invaluable results to which it may in time 
 conduce, assist in irradiating with splendour the city 
 which gave it birth ? " 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 BALTIMORE, January 25, 1827. 
 
 . . . My lectures continue to be well attended. On 
 Monday night the room was crowded. I am at pres- 
 ent engaged with the subject of astronomy, and have 
 already delivered four lectures upon it, in which I 
 have been much assisted by an admirable tellurian 
 which has been loaned to me. It would be difficult 
 to give you an idea of the beauty of this instrument. 
 It was constructed by an ingenious young mechanic 
 in this place a few years ago, and has since been in 
 the possession of a teacher of a female school. It has 
 suffered much injury from the ill-usage it has received, 
 but is still of great value in illustrating many impor-
 
 38 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1827. 
 
 tant points in astronomy. It exhibits with great pre- 
 cision the relative motions of the earth, the moon, and 
 Venus around the sun. The orbit of the earth is a 
 horizontal circular ring, about six feet in its exterior 
 diameter and six inches broad, upon which the signs 
 of the ecliptic and the months of the year are in- 
 scribed. This ring stands upon four legs. The sun 
 is a large gilt globe placed upon an axis, having the 
 proper obliquity to the ecliptic. Venus is a silvered 
 ball. The earth is a small terrestrial globe of about 
 the same magnitude as that which we used to attach 
 to a string and move around a candle. The paral- 
 lelism of the earth's axis to itself is maintained in 
 all positions, together with the diurnal and annual 
 motions. A brass circle encompassing the globe in a 
 direction perpendicular to the ecliptic presents its face 
 always to the sun, and serves in a striking manner to 
 distinguish the enlightened from the dark hemisphere. 
 This instrument affords a clear explanation of the 
 phenomena of the seasons, and the variations in the 
 lengths of days, the equation of time, the apparent 
 motion of Venus and the other planets, and a variety 
 of other interesting particulars. As a means of il- 
 lustration, I think it is infinitely more useful than 
 an orrery or planetarium of the same magnitude. 
 Embracing but a few planetary bodies, it is simple, 
 and the movements it exhibits are conspicuous at a 
 distance. I wish you could see it in operation. I 
 am sure you would desire to have one among your 
 apparatus. 
 
 Dr. Vethake is lecturing on the gases. I confess I 
 do not admire the plan of his lectures. He first reads 
 the lecture from a manuscript book, and concludes 
 with the experiments. Do you conceive this a judi- 
 cious course ? It is objected to by many members of 
 the class. 
 
 James is well and apparently in good spirits. He is 
 
 a great hand at analysis. Mr. is becoming more 
 
 of a saint every day. He is the most disgusting canter
 
 M-t. 22.] A TELLURIAN. 39 
 
 I have ever seen. Although he is a member of the 
 Institute he seldom attends, preferring to be present 
 at prayer-meetings, class-meetings, etc. 
 
 I have become acquainted with Dr. Howard and 
 Colonel Long, of the U. S. Engineers. They are very 
 amiable men. I have been surprised to see the crude- 
 ness of their scientific knowledge on some subjects. 
 Where principles are concerned, I have the vanity to 
 think that I could sometimes set them right. . . . 
 
 WINDSOR, January 30, 1827. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, Henry received a letter from you 
 about three weeks ago. It was a very interesting one 
 to us. We had been desirous of knowing the state of 
 the college, and it gave us full information on this 
 point. The playf ulness of some parts of it delighted 
 us, for every indication that you are happy gives us 
 pleasure. We congratulate you upon having an agree- 
 able companion in Dr. Wilmer. 1 The amiable disposi- 
 tion of that gentleman must be particularly pleasing 
 from the contrast it forms with the very opposite 
 character of his predecessor. It is like a mild, ver- 
 nal sunshine succeeding to cold, changeful, blustering 
 weather. It really gives us great satisfaction to know 
 that you can have society congenial with your taste. 
 
 ... As has but one student, I think he can 
 
 lecture from no other motive than the love of talking, 
 which is with him a very powerful passion. So fond 
 is he of the music of his own voice that I really be- 
 lieve, rather than omit lecturing, he would harangue 
 the desks and benches. I believe his lectures have 
 often transformed his hearers into objects hardly 
 more intellectual. How I pity the luckless wight 
 who must sit singly for three long hours listening to 
 's soporific discussions ! . . . 
 
 1 President of William and Mary College.
 
 40 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1827. 
 
 HENRY TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 WINDSOR, January 8, 1827. 
 
 DEAK FATHER, William had expressed a wish to 
 write to you shortly after the receipt of your pleasing 
 letter. I therefore deferred writing until I could have 
 something worth communicating. . . . 
 
 As I have lately felt a slight recurrence of my 
 dyspeptic feeling, Mr. Fitzhugh has, with his habitual 
 kindness and attention, given me the use of a horse 
 whenever it has been practicable. Indeed, I can never 
 feel sufficiently grateful for the disposition to oblige 
 us which they have all so continually evinced. A few 
 weeks ago Mr. Fitzhugh procured from his brother in 
 Baltimore the loan of a very fine-toned violin for my 
 use. William has borrowed his cousin's flute, and with 
 the aid of some of our old music we could enjoy our- 
 selves extremely. As it is, we frequently play in 
 unison. I begin to look forward with impatience for 
 the return of summer, that it may afford us the never- 
 failing pleasure of your cheering presence. . . . 
 
 The prospect now arose of a professorship for William 
 in the Maryland Institute in Baltimore : 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 BALTIMORE, March 14, 1827. 
 
 . . . My principal object in this letter is to inform 
 you that a respectable appointment will probably be 
 offered to me, and to consult you with regard to the 
 propriety of accepting it. You know Mr. Craig has 
 been lecturing during the winter on Natural Philoso- 
 phy in the Maryland Institute. Having resolved to 
 remove to the Western country he intends to resign his 
 professorship, and to endeavour to dispose of his appa- 
 ratus to^the Institute. I have lately had several inter- 
 views with him, and he has told me that if the Institute 
 buys his apparatus he will endeavour to have me ap-
 
 ^T. 22.] MARYLAND INSTITUTE. 41 
 
 pointed his successor, if I desire it. With this view he 
 has spoken to several of the managers, and there is 
 much probability that the place will be offered to me. 
 There will be some salary given, but for the first year 
 or two it will be small. The institution is already 
 more prosperous than was at first anticipated. There 
 are at present 600 members, and they will no doubt 
 greatly augment. Mr. Craig seems very anxious that 
 I should obtain the place, and had proposed me before 
 I knew anything of the matter. Henry thinks I should 
 eagerly embrace this offer if it is made. I wish to know 
 of you if you think I should accept the appointment. 
 Am I competent, and in other respects would it be 
 proper? I wish to do exactly as you will counsel 
 
 The appointment, however, was postponed, as ap- 
 pears from the following letter from William to his 
 father : 
 
 BALTIMORE, March 31, 1827. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, ... I have been disappointed in 
 my expectation of obtaining a situation in the Institute. 
 The managers after a great deal of delay have informed 
 Mr. Craig that they cannot purchase his apparatus. 
 They have been endeavouring to collect money for this 
 purpose, but without success. I think if they possessed 
 a proper spirit they would buy it at their own expense, 
 rather than permit the institution to be without it. 
 Had they purchased it, I would certainly have been 
 appointed. As it is, I presume no appointment will 
 be made. 
 
 Our school at present is small. Permanently we can- 
 not look for more than a decent support from it. We 
 are both very well contented. I confess I would have 
 been better pleased with a station in the Institute, and 
 I felt much satisfaction in the anticipation of an em- 
 ployment so congenial to my taste. It was with great 
 pleasure I read your account of the improved condition
 
 42 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1827. 
 
 of the college. Nothing would be more gratifying to 
 me than to see William and Mary attended by numer- 
 ous classes and enjoying the reputation it deserves. . . . 
 
 One reason for William's anxiety to secure the place 
 in the Maryland Institute appears in a letter from 
 Henry to his father, dated April 13, 1827. Henry's 
 treatment of the professional outlook is also sug- 
 gestive : 
 
 HENRY TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 . . . William has apprised you of the failure of his 
 hopes with respect to the Institute ; nothing further 
 has transpired, and I think nothing will. The managers 
 have resolved to purchase a less expensive apparatus, 
 not thinking it advisable to buy at present such un- 
 necessary and costly instruments as a telescope and 
 microscope. Whether they will apply to William or 
 not we cannot tell, but some one should be appointed, 
 and that soon, and I know of no other individual here 
 who is at all competent to fill the station. They appear, 
 however, so little interested in the prosperity and so 
 incompetent to the management of the Institute over 
 which they have been placed, that I fear it will soon 
 fall through. It would have been a fortunate circum- 
 stance for us both had William been successful, as I 
 might then have been enabled to lay by a couple of 
 hundred dollars every year towards acquiring a profes- 
 sion ; but now, being associated together, with the ex- 
 penses of two and little better than the income of one, 
 we cannot look forward to anything higher than a 
 country school, the proceeds of which are both small 
 and precarious. The school yields us at present about 
 five hundred and fifty dollars, and we may calculate on 
 an average of five hundred. This, it is true, is amply 
 sufficient for every present expense, but the future is 
 also to be thought of. Our duties are light and our 
 leisure considerable ; we think, therefore, that were we
 
 2Er. 23.] THE WINDSOR SCHOOL. 43 
 
 once entered upon the study of a profession we might 
 prosecute it with considerable facility and but little ex- 
 pense. We expect shortly to have our lodgings and our 
 school removed to old Windsor, where we can prose- 
 cute any study with far less interruption. We would 
 be glad, therefore, to have some certain and definite ob- 
 ject in view, but it is difficult to fix upon the choice of 
 a profession, both law and medicine are so greatly over- 
 done. In Baltimore there are no less than ninety 
 graduates in medicine. This is enough to destroy all 
 confidence of success. The law likewise has its dif- 
 ficulties, but there appears to be in this State a better 
 opening at the bar. To a young man, there is little 
 prospect of success in medicine unless he settles in an 
 unhealthy neighborhood, and to us health will always 
 be a matter of the first consideration. William says 
 he will write to you soon, and deliver his thoughts pro 
 and con at greater length. I believe he has abandoned 
 all thoughts of the Institute. James has received a 
 proposition from Mr. Tyson, but what it is I do not 
 know. I suppose, however, he has written, and you 
 know more of the matter than I do. When we saw 
 him last, which is some time since, he appeared to 
 think that his prospect in the country was a gloomy 
 one. . . . 
 
 JAMES TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 April 20, 1827. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, I am now at Windsor, which place 
 I have visited for the purpose of consulting my bro- 
 thers upon the same subject I desire to consult you 
 upon. Isaac Tyson, the chemical manufacturer, is 
 desirous that I take the same office in the factory 
 which I had last summer. He is willing to dispense 
 with a written contract, and would substitute in its 
 place a promise to the same amount. With any 
 honest man, the one would be as obligatory as the 
 other. He has made arrangements so as to change
 
 44 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1827. 
 
 the situation of the experiment room to a more airy 
 and agreeable part of the premises, and also to im- 
 prove the manufacture of chlorine, so as to render 
 it not so unpleasant to the operator. He is willing 
 to allow only 350 dollars salary the first year and 400 
 the second. 
 
 Upon reflecting upon my present prospect and situ- 
 ation, and consulting with my brothers, I have thought 
 I should accept the situation. For a long time I have 
 had no practice to attend to. 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 JAMES B. KOGEES. 
 
 The summer vacation at the college followed and 
 appears to have been uneventful, except for the death 
 of Dr. Wilmer, President of William and Mary. At 
 the opening of the college session in the autumn, an In- 
 troductory Address was delivered by Dr. P. K. Rogers. 
 Beginning with an eulogium of Dr. Wilmer, Dr. Rogers 
 proceeded to a careful consideration of important edu- 
 cational questions. From this part of his address a 
 few characteristic paragraphs are quoted : 
 
 " In the most extensive acceptation of the term, Edu- 
 cation comprehends everything whether systematic 
 or accidental which contributes to develop, improve, 
 and determine the powers of the mind, the tenden- 
 cies of the passions, and the affections of the heart. 
 
 " To promote the happiness of the individual, to raise 
 him to the higher standard of worth and excellence, to 
 render him not merely a harmless but a valuable mem- 
 ber of the community of men, to give him the disposi- 
 tion and the power to be useful to his companions in 
 the frequently difficult and cheerless journey of life, and 
 to prepare him for the happiness of a future world, are 
 the great ends to be kept in view in the education of 
 every human being. And this is equally true whatever
 
 MT. 23.] ADDRESS OF P. K. ROGERS. 45 
 
 place in society he may occupy, from the humble walk 
 of the cottager to the throne of national authority. . . . 
 
 " The advantages derived from the science of natural 
 philosophy are of two kinds, indirect and direct. The 
 former consists in a happy discipline of mind, a con- 
 scious satisfaction in the possession of a species of 
 knowledge which increases our power and independ- 
 ence, enlarged views, and a chastened and well-regu- 
 lated imagination. . . . While the study of natural 
 philosophy restrains the thoughts within the limits of 
 reality, it at the same time affords abundant scope for 
 the sublimest conceptions, and the most excursive flights 
 of imagination. Carrying us beyond the boundaries of 
 sense, it weakens each selfish feeling, by interesting 
 us in everything around us. It is the best preparation 
 for the study of mind ; for the rigour with which its 
 researches are conducted, and its cautious mode of rea- 
 soning by induction or inference from ascertained 
 phenomena, check that rage for verbal disputation 
 which has, from the time of Plato to our own, impeded 
 the progress of the human understanding. . . . 
 
 " Metaphysics, in an extended sense, may be con- 
 sidered as the science of ultimate induction. . . . 
 
 . . . " It is impossible to draw a definite line be- 
 tween physics and metaphysics as applied to external 
 things ; nor is it by any means necessary. But in all 
 our general theories, whether philosophical or physio- 
 logical or theological, the mind rests at last on some 
 ultimate conception which is purely metaphysical." 
 
 Early in the autumn of this year William was a 
 second time appointed to lecture in the Maryland 
 Institute. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 BALTIMORE, October 31, 1827. 
 
 ... I have just received a reply to the note 
 which I addressed to the Committee of Lectures of 
 the Institute. It will not be in their power to afford
 
 46 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1827. 
 
 more than two hundred dollars to each lecturer. This 
 sum will be guaranteed, and they will be enabled in 
 time to enlarge the salary. They expect two lectures a 
 week for three months. I wish to know if you would 
 advise me to accept the situation on these terms. . . . 
 
 BALTIMORE, November 11, 1827. 
 
 ... I had determined to engage in the Institute 
 before your letter reached me, and had informed the 
 managers that I would accede to their proposals. . . . 
 After I had written to you to request your opinion, I 
 regretted having done so, and thought that you would 
 be best pleased that I should judge and act for myself 
 in the matter. Henry's health at present is as good 
 as it was in the spring, and he is confident of his abil- 
 ity to conduct the school alone. 
 
 BALTIMORE, December 9, 1827. 
 
 ... I delivered my introductory lecture on last 
 Monday. It was received with the most nattering 
 applause, and although my colleague, Dr. Vethake, is 
 an experienced lecturer, having been a professor at 
 Carlisle, 1 I believe I did not sink on being compared 
 with him. On Thursday I gave the first lecture of 
 my course, which I have understood yielded great sat- 
 isfaction. I spoke extemporaneously, assisted by a 
 few heads methodically arranged. . . . 
 
 BALTIMORE, December 27, 1827. 
 
 I am progressing with my lectures in the Insti- 
 tute, and I believe the class is well pleased with them. 
 Our philosophical apparatus has not yet arrived, but we 
 expect it daily. Henry has seen a list of the articles 
 which have been ordered for the Institute, and has 
 probably enumerated some of them to you. I long to 
 obtain the handling of them. If I had the use of them 
 at present, I am confident that 1 could give great eclat 
 to our Institution. As it is, though I do not possess a 
 single philosophical instrument, my lectures are very 
 1 Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.
 
 ^ST. 23.] SUCCESS AS A LECTURER. 47 
 
 well attended. My class is at least as great as that of 
 my colleague, who has a tolerable chemical apparatus 
 at his command. I make great use of the blackboard, 
 and manage to communicate the more obvious princi- 
 ples of the science pretty clearly by means of drawings 
 and diagrams. My last lecture treated of uniformly 
 accelerated and retarded motion and projectiles. In 
 the preceding lecture I exhibited the experiment of the 
 guinea and feather by means of a small air-pump, 
 which was lent me by a member of the class, and this 
 is the only important one which I have been able to 
 produce since the commencement of the course. . . . 
 
 HENRY TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 BALTIMOKE, January 1, 1828. 
 
 . . . Though labouring under the great disadvan- 
 tage of want of apparatus, William is still able to 
 command large and even increasing classes ; that of 
 yesterday evening considerably exceeded two hundred, 
 a larger assembly than any they hitherto had had. It 
 appears that the lecture-room can contain only about 
 three hundred persons. I cannot refrain from ex- 
 pressing my surprise at William's great success, aided 
 as he is by little more than the blackboard and 
 chalk. . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 BALTIMORE, February 19, 1828. 
 
 . . . The course in the Institute will soon terminate. 
 Dr. Vethake will conclude his lectures on Saturday 
 week, the 1st of March, and I shall finish nearly 
 at the same time. The want of apparatus has com- 
 pelled me entirely to omit several subjects in my de- 
 partment. This, though a matter of regret to me, 
 may prove advantageous to my course in the winter, 
 as it will enable me to give it an air of novelty. I 
 have really been surprised to see my lectures so well
 
 48 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1828. 
 
 attended, though entirely destitute of the usual attrac- 
 tions of a popular course. Last week I lectured upon 
 the tides and the theories of the earth. I took occa- 
 sion to expose the absurdities of Captain Symmes's 
 hypothesis, which had gained many advocates in Bal- 
 timore, and my criticisms appeared to excite much 
 interest in the class. There is some talk of connect- 
 ing an English and Mathematical School with the In- 
 stitute. It is highly probable that this will be effected 
 in the ensuing spring. Should it be soon, the man- 
 agers are desirous that I should undertake the man- 
 agement of the school. They will meet on Monday 
 next, when I shall receive more definite information 
 on this subject. I think when I have completed my 
 course I will pay you a visit. I wish to see the old 
 college, and particularly your apparatus-room, and I 
 am desirous of examining the electrical instruments 
 which you have constructed. . . . 
 
 HENRY TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 BALTIMOBE, April 12, 1828. 
 
 ... I have been less punctual in writing, as Wil- 
 liam has personally and by letter informed you concern- 
 ing my health and whatever else it would interest you 
 to know. I was pleased to hear that you advised 
 my joining with him in the contemplated school to be 
 established in the Institute. This change of circum- 
 stances will be highly acceptable, as I foresee, from 
 its present declining state, that I would have to 
 relinquish my present establishment in the country. 
 My connection with William, though it must for the 
 present be in a subordinate capacity, will eventually 
 redound, I think, to my advantage. Even now his 
 reputation is considerable, and the approaching winter 
 will no doubt augment it. ... William is at pres- 
 ent engaged in maturing a scheme for the regulation 
 of the school, to be offered to a committee of managers 
 for their approval. . . .
 
 23.] MARYLAND INSTITUTE. 49 
 
 WILLIAM TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE MARYLAND 
 INSTITUTE. 
 
 BALTIMORE, AprU 13, 1828. 
 
 To THE COMMITTEE OF THE INSTITUTE : 
 
 Gentlemen, In obedience to your request, I sub- 
 mit the following hints towards a plan and regulations 
 for the High School about to be established in the 
 Maryland Institute. . . . 
 
 1. The aim of the school being to impart such 
 knowledge and to induce such habits of mind as may 
 be most beneficial to youth engaging in mechanical 
 and mercantile employments, the study of mathematics 
 will be an object of primary attention, and will, it is 
 expected, be pursued to a considerable extent. The 
 earlier classes will be instructed in arithmetic, read- 
 ing, writing, grammar and geography; the more ad- 
 vanced, in algebra, geometry, mensuration, surveying, 
 navigation, perspective, etc., and perhaps in English 
 composition. The latter grade of scholars, after hav- 
 ing made a certain proficiency in their mathematical 
 studies, will be taught the elementary principles of 
 astronomy, mechanics, natural philosophy and chem- 
 istry, and will be permitted to attend the lectures in 
 the Institute in aid of their scientific studies, as a 
 reward for their diligence and improvement. 
 
 2. Classical studies are not within the scope of the 
 school. 
 
 3. The number will be limited to fifty. 
 
 4. To obtain admission into the school, the pupil 
 must be able to spell correctly, read with facility, 
 write a fair hand, and perform arithmetical computa- 
 tions at least as far as the rule of three. 
 
 5. The price of instruction will be eight dollars per 
 quarter, in which the expense of fuel, pens, slate- 
 pencils and other stationery, and books, is not in- 
 cluded. .
 
 50 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1828. 
 
 The subject of railways was now beginning to be 
 actively discussed, and William early contributed to 
 the popular interest in the subject by experimental 
 lectures on the principles involved. 
 
 HENRY TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 BALTIMORE, May 3, 1828. 
 
 . . . William has lately delivered to very crowded 
 assemblies a couple of lectures on the subject of Rail- 
 roads, which have greatly roused the attention and 
 gained the interest of the people here. By the assist- 
 ance of some beautiful models, he rendered them both 
 instructive and entertaining. Indeed, such was the 
 eagerness displayed by the populace to become better 
 acquainted with the principles of an undertaking in 
 which they are all interested, that the lecture-room 
 could not contain more than half of those who en- 
 deavoured to gain admission. This he finds has oper- 
 ated favourably in advancing his new undertaking, 
 and when the August holidays shall have freed the 
 children from their existing engagements we expect 
 an accession that will fill the proposed school to our 
 limit of fifty. William will write in a few days, in- 
 forming you more particularly of the progress we are 
 making. ... 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 BALTIMOKE, May 19, 1828. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, I received your letter of the 14th 
 this afternoon. I believe the " low spirits " of which 
 you complain is inherent in the family; for Henry and 
 myself are sometimes affected with it, although we have 
 never been able to assign a reasonable cause for our de- 
 pression. It is not to be wondered at that in your situ- 
 ation the mind should occasionally fall into this state. 
 It is the natural consequence of the monotony of a 
 village life. But I hope a visit to Baltimore in July
 
 .Ex. 23.] A VISIT TO PHILADELPHIA. 51 
 
 will exhilarate you. I should have written to you before 
 this to inform you of the progress of our plans, but I 
 was desirous of first ascertaining our prospects of suc- 
 cess. I am pleased that it is now in my power to tell 
 you that they are encouraging. We opened school 
 on Monday last with ten pupils, and the number has 
 since been augmented to seventeen. In addition to 
 these, we have the promise of many others who, being 
 engaged in other schools, cannot with propriety be 
 withdrawn until the expiration of their current quar- 
 ter. These included, our list numbers about twenty- 
 four. This is not a bad beginning. ... I have no 
 doubt that in less than six months our school will 
 be in a very flourishing condition. The school-room, 
 which is one of the lower apartments in the Institute, 
 fronts on Charles Street, and is airy and tolerably 
 commodious. Our hours of duty are from eight to 
 half after eleven in the morning, and from half after 
 two to five in the afternoon, making six hours in the 
 day. Robert, who left the country last week and 
 boards with us at Mr. Trego's, has entered the school. 
 He appears to be perfectly satisfied with the change, 
 and is in good health and spirits. The week before 
 last, Henry and I paid a visit to Philadelphia for the 
 
 Eurpose of inspecting the High School of the Frank- 
 n Institute. We remained there two days, and would 
 willingly have prolonged our stay if it had been in our 
 power. Philadelphia has greatly increased in extent 
 and beauty since my boyish days, yet I did not feel 
 altogether as a stranger in it. I soon became familiar 
 with its streets, and recognized many scenes of my 
 juvenile frolics. I visited the parts of the city in 
 which we used to reside, and felt a peculiar interest 
 in viewing the house in Ninth Street and the old Uni- 
 versity. We could not obtain an interview with Uncle 
 James * until the morning of our departure. He 
 
 1 Mr. James Rogers, a merchant of Philadelphia, often referred to 
 later.
 
 52 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1828. 
 
 treated us with cordiality, and expressed a wish that 
 we would make a longer stay in the city. He is quite 
 gray, but nevertheless appears to enjoy almost youth- 
 ful hilarity. He inquired particularly respecting your 
 health and situation. . . . 
 
 HENRY TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 BALTIMORE, June 7, 1828. 
 
 . . . James is quite well. He is actively employed 
 in the discharge of his duties, which require, indeed, 
 through the day, an unremitting application. I think 
 he displays, from his success in many delicate and 
 complicated processes, and from the certainty and 
 accuracy of his final determinations, no ordinary ac- 
 quaintance with the difficult operations of refined 
 analysis. Indeed, I have no doubt but that he will 
 one day be among the first practical chemists in the 
 country. 
 
 I feel my impatience to see you rapidly increasing as 
 the time draws near, and find myself daily and almost 
 hourly estimating the shortening period which must 
 elapse before that time arrives. Secluded as I am in a 
 great measure from any society in which I could mingle 
 with any degree of comfort, and debarred from any 
 substitute I might find in books, from the oppressive- 
 ness of the season and the effects of the confinement 
 attendant upon school, I am continually wishing for 
 your enlivening company. I feel an eager longing for 
 those cheerful moments which an intercourse with you 
 has never failed to bring. I believe I shall never 
 cease to look to you as a guardian spirit. The sense 
 of security which I always have when possessing 
 your advice has afforded me many of my happiest 
 hours ; and, now that I am embarking in an arduous 
 business, the value of your counsel will be highly 
 prized. I hope you will bring with you your violin 
 and music. . . .
 
 J&r. 23.] SCHOOL WORK. 53 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 BALTIMORE, June 26, 1828. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, We have been expecting a letter 
 from you for some weeks, and have become apprehen- 
 sive that you are unwell. I hope you will write to us 
 immediately. We look forward with pleasure to your 
 arrival in Baltimore, and our impatience increases as 
 the time at which we expect you approaches. We are 
 all pretty well, though some of us are enfeebled by the 
 warmth of the season. Robert is quite hearty. Henry 
 and I have found our engagement very fatiguing. 
 We have recently instituted a plan in the school which 
 enables us to relieve each other on alternate days. The 
 mode in which teaching is usually conducted renders 
 it as servile and laborious an occupation as that of a 
 ditcher. Teachers in our cities find it necessary to 
 devote the whole of their time to the concerns of their 
 occupation. Some of them keep their schools open 
 for more than eight hours in the day. Surely their 
 health must ultimately sink under such confinement. 
 We are employed in the school only six hours, and 
 find this period sufficiently long. 
 
 James has a companion in his chemical engagements, 
 a young gentleman recently from France, a pupil 
 of the celebrated Thenard. He is the most scientific 
 young man I have ever met. With an intimate ac- 
 quaintance with chemistry, theoretical and practical, 
 and a knowledge of all the important principles of 
 physical science, he combines a large fund of general 
 information. We find his conversation very interesting. 
 He is able to describe from personal knowledge many 
 of the distinguished scientific characters of France and 
 England. 
 
 You have perhaps heard of the solemnities which 
 are to take place on the 4th of July. On that day 
 the construction of our railroad will be commenced. 
 A procession, in which all professions, dignities, and 
 trades will be embodied, will march through the city
 
 54 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1828. 
 
 to the spot (about two miles from town) at which the 
 great work will be begun. The spectacle will no doubt 
 be imposing. The mechanics, merchants, farmers, doc- 
 tors and lawyers have been busy for the last two weeks 
 in making arrangements to unite in the procession. On 
 this occasion the Freemasons will display all the deco- 
 rations and paraphernalia of their order ; the carpenters 
 will exhibit the implements of their trade and a house 
 moved on wheels ; the sailors, a full-rigged ship, trans- 
 ported in the same manner ; and it is said that the 
 manufacturers will work a spinning jenny and loom 
 as they move along, and with the aid of the tailors 
 will produce a summer coat before the procession has 
 arrived at the point of its destination, which they will 
 present to old Mr. Carroll to be worn during the cere- 
 monies of the day. Mr. Carroll, who, in consequence 
 of the estimation in which his public services during 
 the Revolution are held, is called upon to officiate on 
 all occasions of general interest, is to break the first 
 ground for the railroad with a silver trowel and pick. 
 I must now close with affectionate wishes for your 
 health and happiness. 
 
 As has been stated in the previous chapter, Dr. P. 
 K. Rogers came northward this year as usual and 
 was stricken by malarial fever at Ellicott's Mills, Md., 
 where he died on August 1, 1828. How great this 
 "blow was to his sons will be understood by those who 
 have read the preceding letters. Two months after 
 his death, in the autumn of the same year, William was 
 chosen his father's successor in the chair of Natural 
 Philosophy and Chemistry in William and Mary Col- 
 lege, and thenceforward became, in large measure, the 
 head of the family. 
 
 Hon. A. H. H. Stuart, a pupil of Dr. Patrick 
 Rogers and a life-long friend of his son William Bar- 
 ton Rogers, has kindly supplied some recollections of
 
 JET. 24.] RECOLLECTIONS OF P. K. ROGERS. 55 
 
 Dr. Rogers, and of life at William and Mary in 
 1824-25, as follows: 
 
 " About the middle of October, 1824, 1 left my home 
 in Staunton, Va., to become a student at William and 
 Mary College. I was then seventeen years and a few 
 months old. The Faculty of the college consisted of 
 Dr. John Augustine Smith, President; Dr. Patrick 
 Rogers, Professor of Chemistry and Natural Philoso- 
 phy ; Ferdinand Campbell, Professor of Mathematics ; 
 and Judge James Semple, Professor of Law. 
 
 " Some delay was caused in the commencement of 
 the exercises of the college by the great celebration 
 of the surrender of Cornwallis, which was held at 
 Yorktown (twelve miles distant from Williamsburg) 
 on the 19th of October, and was attended by General 
 Lafayette. 
 
 " The professors were all men of ability and admir- 
 ably qualified for the duties of their respective posi- 
 tions ; but the financial condition of the State and other 
 causes tended to reduce the number of students in at- 
 tendance to about thirty. This paucity of numbers led 
 to a more free and familiar intercourse between the 
 students and the professors, and with each other, than 
 would have existed if the number had been larger. 
 There was no regular curriculum in force, and each 
 student was at liberty to select the studies he would 
 pursue. . . . 
 
 "Dr. Smith, the President, resided in a spacious 
 brick mansion, known as the ' President's House,' sit- 
 uated on the north side of the lawn of four acres 
 which lies in front of the college. Professor Rogers 
 occupied a similar house on the south side of the lawn, 
 and known as the 'Brafferton House.' The other 
 professors lived some distance from the college. 
 
 "In 1824 Professor Rogers was a widower. His 
 family consisted of four sons, viz., James, William, 
 Henry and Robert, all of whom, in after life, became 
 distinguished scientists and professors. James, the
 
 56 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. [1828. 
 
 oldest, had completed his education and left Williams- 
 burg before I entered college. . . . William had grad- 
 uated with great distinction a year or two before I 
 entered college, and was looked up to with the respect 
 and almost reverence with which college boys regard 
 those who have won high college honours. 
 
 "Henry was, I presume, near my own age. We 
 were classmates and friends, and, although it so 
 happened that we did not meet in after life, I noted 
 with great pleasure every step that he made in his 
 onward progress to the success and distinction which 
 he so richly merited. Robert was, during my sojourn 
 in Williamsburg, an active, vigorous, and sprightly 
 schoolboy, apparently thirteen or fourteen years of 
 age. In form and features he was much more like his 
 father than either of his brothers. My most vivid 
 recollection of him is as a diligent flyer of kites on 
 the lawn ! He, like his brothers, attained great distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 "Dr. Patrick Rogers, at the time I became ac- 
 quainted with him, was about sixty, or possibly sixty- 
 five years of age, and a man of imposing presence. He 
 was about six feet in height and was massively framed. 
 I presume he must have weighed from 180 to 200 
 pounds. His hair was as white as snow, and his com- 
 plexion ruddy and healthful, and contrasted beautifully 
 with his snow-like hair. His face was distinctively 
 Irish in its general appearance. His manner was de- 
 liberate and dignified, but courteous and affable. In 
 temperament, I judge, from the readiness with which 
 his face would flush with each emotion, that he was 
 sensitive and excitable. He was devotedly attached to 
 and proud of his sons, and on more than one occasion 
 I was struck with the interest which he showed in the 
 amusements of Robert. . . . 
 
 " Dr. Rogers was a very learned man, and a most 
 able, faithful instructor, and seemed desirous of keep- 
 ing pace with the events of the day. As an illus- 
 tration, I will refer to a single interesting incident.
 
 MT. 24.] RECOLLECTIONS OF P. K. ROGERS. 57 
 
 About the middle of the session, the newspapers of 
 the State were teeming with accounts of the mysterious 
 ringing of the bells in the elegant mansion of Colonel 
 John Taylor, of Mount Airy, in King George County. 
 The bells would commence ringing violently all over 
 the house without any visible human agency, or cause 
 for so doing ; and there was much speculation as to 
 the true cause. In a few days thereafter, when the 
 doors of Dr. Rogers's lecture-room opened, the eyes of 
 the students were greeted with the extraordinary spec- 
 tacle of a whole system of bells, in different parts of 
 the room, ringing in concert, without any apparent 
 cause for their activity. After we had looked for some 
 time at the wonderful spectacle, they were suddenly 
 and simultaneously silenced, and the professor then 
 proceeded with a delightfully instructive lecture to 
 show how the result had been accomplished, by cur- 
 rents of positive and negative electricity, thereby ex- 
 plaining all the phenomena connected with the Taylor 
 mansion on scientific principles. . . . 
 
 " Dr. Rogers lived a somewhat secluded life, min- 
 gling but little in general society. His time was de- 
 voted to study, the society of his sons, and the direction 
 and supervision of their education. He enjoyed the 
 reputation of being a profound scholar, and I can 
 bear testimony that he was a careful and faithful 
 teacher, singularly successful in his illustrative experi- 
 ments before his class."
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND CHEM- 
 ISTRY AT WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. 
 
 1828-1835. 
 
 William succeeds his Father. His Introductory Address. Corre- 
 spondence of the Brothers. Life in Williamsburg. Henry ap- 
 pointed Professor of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy in Dick- 
 inson College. James Professor of Chemistry in a Baltimore 
 Medical College. His Marriage. Henry leaves Dickinson Col- 
 lege. With Robert, is engaged on Railroad Surveys in New 
 England. The Cholera. William visits North Carolina. Nar- 
 rowly escapes Drowning. Henry visits England. His Impres- 
 sions of English Men of Science. He returns to Philadelphia and 
 lectures on Geology at the Franklin Institute. Geological and 
 Chemical Investigations of the Brothers. Henry appointed Pro- 
 fessor in the University of Pennsylvania. Proposals for Geological 
 Surveys. Appointment of William to a Professorship in the Uni- 
 versity of Virginia. 
 
 As we have already seen, it was the custom at 
 William and Mary College for a professor to mark 
 the formal opening of the year by an introductory 
 address. In the previous year (1827) this address 
 was delivered by Dr. Patrick Rogers, who began by 
 eulogizing his lately deceased friend, Dr. Wilmer, 
 President of the College, and passed on to remarks 
 on education, some of which were quoted in the last 
 chapter. 
 
 By a chain of natural causes William Barton 
 Rogers, now Professor of Natural Philosophy in the 
 Maryland Institute, and already well known as a
 
 ^ET. 24.] CANDIDATE FOR A PROFESSORSHIP. 59 
 
 successful teacher and lecturer, himself a graduate 
 of distinction of William and Mary College, was 
 chosen to be his father's successor, and the duty of 
 making the opening address in 1828 devolved upon 
 him. 
 
 The election occurred on October 13, 1828, but 
 before that time, in accordance with a custom prevail- 
 ing at the college, the young man and his friends 
 secured and forwarded to the governors numerous 
 testimonials in his favor. In this connection the fol- 
 lowing letters are of interest : 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BALTIMORE, October 1, 1828. 
 
 DEAR WILLIAM, I received on Saturday last 
 your interesting letter, and immediately set about 
 executing the commissions it contains. On Sunday I 
 had some conversation with Mr. Hasard, in which he 
 appeared to enter warmly into your interests, engaging 
 himself to procure forthwith the credentials of the 
 engineers, Colonel Long and Dr. Howard, the latter 
 of whom I find is at present in town, and promising 
 at the same time to convene the managers as soon as 
 practicable, in order to procure from them as a body 
 collectively the testimonials which you have desired. 
 This was done last night, and, upon my mentioning to 
 them in a note your wishes, they passed a resolution 
 authorizing the secretary, Mr. Latrobe, to draw up a 
 letter to be signed by the chairman, Mr. Lucas, and 
 himself, on behalf of the board as a body. I suc- 
 ceeded on Monday in seeing Dr. McAulay, and was 
 cordially received. I then saw Dr. Potter, who, with 
 equal politeness, has afforded his attestation, protest- 
 ing characteristically that, had he been aware of your 
 views and wishes, he would have voluntarily afforded 
 you his name. You have therefore letters from Drs.
 
 60 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1828. 
 
 Baker and Potter and two from the engineers, together 
 with general ones from our managers and the Faculty 
 of Washington College. 1 
 
 Dear William, inform me soon of the aspect of 
 your affairs, for I feel a powerful interest in the result 
 of your exertions. I have heard many persons ex- 
 press their deep regret at the likelihood of your 
 removal to Virginia, and some of them, I suppose, are 
 looking around them in despair for some individual to 
 supply your place. One or two with whom I have 
 conversed have looked to me, thinking me the only 
 -alternative they have. Mr. Hasard, who is anxious 
 for the preservation of the school and is really desir- 
 ous that the Institute should flourish, has suggested to 
 me the expediency of remaining here, saying there can 
 be little doubt of my succeeding you ; that I could 
 employ an assistant in the school ; and that, with the 
 aid of the expected apparatus, he did not question my 
 ability to afford them ample satisfaction. This is a 
 subject which I wish you to revolve well in your mind, 
 and on which, when you have leisure, to express your 
 full and decided opinion. 
 
 BALTIMORE, October 3. 
 
 In fulfillment of the promise stated in the envelope 
 of the package which I forwarded the day before yes- 
 terday, I now transmit a very gratifying letter drawn 
 up by Colonel Long, and signed by himself and Cap- 
 tain McNiel. I was not a little surprised to hear from 
 Mr. Hasard, who has been active in procuring this 
 letter, that it is the opinion of both those engineers, 
 with whom he himself agrees, that your ultimate ad- 
 vancement would be more promoted by your remain- 
 ing here. They state that there is now opening in 
 this country an extensive field for highly respectable 
 and lucrative exertion in the growing spirit for works 
 of internal improvement demanding the superintend- 
 1 The medical college in which James taught.
 
 JET. 24.] WILLIAM SUCCEEDS HIS FATHER. 61 
 
 ence of scientific men. This I have thought it my 
 duty to communicate, and shall for the same reason 
 suppress my own opinion. 
 
 The college was formally opened on October 27, 
 and on November 12 there appeared in the " Phosnix 
 Ploughboy," published in Williamsburg, a report of 
 the young professor's introductory address, prefaced 
 by an editorial comment : 
 
 " The following address of Professor Rogers, intro- 
 ductory to his course of natural philosophy, was de- 
 livered a few days ago in the College of William and 
 Mary to a numerous and attentive assemblage of 
 ladies and gentlemen. We could not avoid listening 
 to our youthful professor with lively emotions, as, with 
 the animated warmth of true filial sensibility, he ad- 
 verted to the recent melancholy event which had left 
 that chair vacant to which he was now appointed by 
 the Visitors of the Institution." . . . 
 
 ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR ROGERS. 
 
 In entering upon the duties which have been de- 
 volved upon me by the governors of this institution, 
 I am impressed with feelings which it is difficult to 
 describe, feelings that arise from the peculiar rela- 
 tionship in which I stand to the revered individual 
 whom I have succeeded. 
 
 To have returned to the scenes of my early youth 
 scenes hallowed in my bosom by every fond and 
 pleasurable sentiment ; to be enabled to renew the de- 
 lightful associations which even the absence of sev- 
 eral years has but slightly impaired ; to tread again 
 within these consecrated precincts, where at every step 
 the remembrances of former years are awakened into 
 animated existence, and where the very air I breathe 
 seems almost to speak of companions dear to my affec- 
 tions, of social study and collegiate ambition is, I
 
 62 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1828. 
 
 confess, attended with emotions of the purest and 
 liveliest satisfaction. And I may be permitted to add 
 that these sentiments are heightened by reflecting 
 on the circumstances in which I am about to renew 
 my connection with these scenes, and to become again 
 an inmate in the halls of my venerable Alma Mater. 
 But, alas ! mournful considerations sadden these re- 
 flections, and, indulging in them, gratification is con- 
 verted into grief. 
 
 To your sensibilities I will commit the task of 
 appreciating the feelings I experience when, with the 
 affections of a cherished son and pupil, I view the 
 objects that surround me, associated as they all are 
 with the recollections of a venerated parent and pre- 
 ceptor. Should I conduct you to the apartments in 
 which for a series of years, with the calm dignity of 
 true philosophy, he imparted to his pupils whatever is 
 useful or sublime in physical science ; should I display 
 to your view the beautiful collection of philosophical 
 instruments in which he took such pride, arranged 
 with characteristic neatness and symmetry, and in 
 some degree the products of his own ingenuity and 
 zeal, you would feel these traces of his recent pres- 
 ence with a melancholy force, and friendship would 
 sympathize with filial tenderness in the engrossing 
 sorrow of the scene. 
 
 Were I gifted with the chastened though pathetic 
 eloquence which flowed spontaneously from his pen ; 
 could I imitate, even at an humble distance, the touch- 
 ing pathos with which at the opening of the last course 
 he paid the tribute of grateful eulogy to a colleague 
 dear to Williamsburg, to the college, and to himself, 
 I would gladly present you with a picture of his diver- 
 sified excellencies worthy of such a subject. But I 
 feel myself inadequate to the task. Nor is it neces- 
 sary that I should attempt it. I feel assured that by 
 those of you who knew him his memory will not be 
 forgotten. But his intellectual qualifications and at- 
 tainments, his humane sensibilities, his paternal regard
 
 JET. 24.] INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 63 
 
 for the youth under his preceptorship, his devotion to 
 the interests of the college, his candor, his innocent 
 simplicity of heart, his inflexibility of principle, and 
 the lofty spirit of independence which shone in all his 
 thoughts and actions, will long be cherished in your 
 affections, and his name, in association with that of 
 his late revered colleague, will continue to be repeated 
 with eulogy by those who shall have the interests of 
 this institution at heart, until these ancient halls shall 
 have ceased to be visited by the votaries of know- 
 ledge, or until whatever is eminent in intelligence or 
 exalted in moral character shall have ceased to be 
 subjects of admiring and grateful recollection. 
 
 I trust, in thus giving expression to the feelings 
 which arise from the circumstances in which I am 
 placed, I shall not be regarded as an ostentatious 
 panegyrist, or an obtrusive claimant of your sym- 
 pathies. I have felt, in assuming the functions but 
 recently exercised by my beloved father in the college, 
 that some offering of the heart was due to his mem- 
 ory, and demanded as well by the warmth of filial 
 affection as by a sense of the obligations of justice 
 and filial duty. 
 
 But, quitting a theme upon which, however natural, 
 it is profitless to dwell, I would for a moment address 
 myself to those who are about to become inmates of 
 this institution. Towards you, gentlemen, I am hence- 
 forth to be placed in a relation of the most interesting 
 character, one in which my interests will be in a great 
 measure mutual with your own, and in which the hap- 
 piness and success of both will be much promoted by 
 a continued reciprocation of kindness, friendship and 
 esteem. You must be aware that on my part such 
 a relation involves duties of an important and some- 
 times extremely delicate nature, duties embracing 
 not merely the judicious fulfillment of a course of 
 scientific instruction, but the enforcement of those 
 laws which have been established for the regulation 
 of the college, and with the observance of which your
 
 64 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1828. 
 
 collegiate acquisitions and subsequent advancement 
 in life are not less intimately connected than the repu- 
 tation and prosperity of the institution to which you 
 are attached. 
 
 In assuming my functions in the college, it is nat- 
 ural that I should be desirous of conciliating your 
 respect and kind regard. I would fondly hope that 
 the mantle which has descended to me, though no 
 longer graced by the paternal character with which 
 age had invested my predecessor, may still, through 
 a zealous devotion to your interests, be viewed with 
 reverence and affectionate estimation. From my own 
 experience as a student of this college, I am aware of 
 the feelings with which, under certain circumstances, 
 even the noblest and most ingenuous youths are ac- 
 customed to regard the collegiate authorities. I know 
 they do not always advert to the community of inter- 
 est by which the preceptor and pupil are naturally 
 united to each other, but sometimes look with dissat- 
 isfaction, if not hostility, upon those who certainly 
 should be among their best and most valued friends. 
 Such feelings are much to be deprecated, and I sin 
 cerely desire never to become the object of them. It 
 is, therefore, that I would here willingly begin that 
 intercourse of kindness and mutual confidence which 
 I shall ever labor to maintain, by giving you the as- 
 surance that I shall esteem it my duty, as it will be 
 my delight, by every means within my power, to con- 
 tribute to the success of your studious pursuits, and 
 to your general happiness and welfare, and by claim- 
 ing from you in return a share of that cordial good- 
 will which, with generous ardor, you dispense to your 
 associates in letters, and your participants in study, 
 emulation and honour. 
 
 After these remarks, which I trust will be received 
 in the spirit in which they have been dictated, I would 
 solicit your attention to the views which I shall pre- 
 sent in illustration of the history, nature and utility 
 of Physical Science generally, and particularly that
 
 ^T. 24.] A FILIAL TRIBUTE. 65 
 
 department of it which is usually denominated Natural 
 Philosophy. In presenting these views I propose, 
 
 first. To allude to the relative proficiency of 
 the ancient and modern worlds in Science and the 
 Arts. 
 
 Secondly. To exhibit some general ideas in rela- 
 tion to the material world ; and, 
 
 Thirdly. After defining the science of Natural 
 Philosophy, and tracing the limits which separate it 
 from Chemistry, to adduce a variety of illustrations 
 to evince its utility. . . . 
 
 Among the letters of congratulation upon his ap- 
 pointment, the first which we find came from his 
 uncle, James Rogers, of Philadelphia. After the death 
 of the father, this uncle plays an important part in 
 the family affairs. He is described as having been a 
 gentleman of courtly and most agreeable manners. 
 His friendly attitude towards the orphan brothers is 
 illustrated by the following postscript of a letter ad- 
 dressed to Henry some months later : " At all times 
 command my services and my money too. So long 
 as used and necessary for your comfort or respecta- 
 bility, I tender you both." 
 
 His letter to William was as follows : 
 
 JAMES ROGERS, ESQ., TO HIS NEPHEW WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, October 29, 1828. 
 
 MY DEAR WILLIAM, I congratulate you upon 
 your success in obtaining the situation in William 
 and Mary lately filled by your much-lamented father. 
 
 While we all mourn the great bereavement we 
 suffer in the loss of so near and beloved a relative, I 
 feel some consolation in the assurance that his excel- 
 lent example, devotedness and great attention to the 
 education and morals of his sons will be treasured up
 
 66 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1828. 
 
 by them as a most invaluable inheritance. I am anx- 
 ious to know how your brothers are occupied. . . . 
 
 HENTIY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BALTIMORE, November 3, 1828. 
 
 It is really to me a source of the proudest exul- 
 tation that, by the mere influence of unpatronized, 
 unobtrusive merit, James and yourself are likely 
 to acquire well-founded respectability and a perma- 
 nent success. Continue, William, to exercise the same 
 prepossessing disposition which has gained for you 
 here many real friends, and you will grow in the re- 
 spect of your colleagues and the students, and inspire 
 in the inhabitants a deep-rooted and enduring attach- 
 ment. Their sympathizing veneration for the exalted 
 character of our father sways my mind with a grati- 
 tude more powerful than I deemed myself capable of 
 entertaining, and their regard for Robert oppresses 
 me with a softened love. 
 
 During the past week I attended most of the intro- 
 ductory lectures in each of the rival schools, and dis- 
 covered a vast superiority in those delivered by James 
 and his coadjutors. James surprised and fascinated 
 his auditory, without one exception. To me it was a 
 most gratifying spectacle to witness the rapt and ap- 
 proving attention of many who were unprepared for 
 such an intellectual treat. I could read in the accord- 
 ing smiles and tokens of the professors their high esti- 
 mation of his abilities, and the pleasure they received 
 from his elegant production. 
 
 The reference to James in this letter shows that 
 he had already begun his connection with a medical 
 school, lately opened in Baltimore as a rival to an 
 older and well-established school. James's hopes of 
 success in this lectureship, though brilliant in the 
 beginning, soon faded, and both he and Henry sought
 
 ^T. 24.] LETTERS FROM HENRY. 67 
 
 for places in the Maryland Institute. Their letters 
 during this period to William, who now had an as- 
 sured position, are numerous, and alternately buoyant 
 with hope and heavy with discouragement. But how- 
 ever dark the outlook, they never sought counsel of 
 William without obtaining a sympathetic response. 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BALTIMORE, November 14, 1828. 
 
 I have attended the post-office for some days past 
 in anxious expectation of receiving a letter, but until 
 to-day have always returned disappointed and dis- 
 heartened 
 
 Dear William, I have been subject for two weeks 
 past to the most deep despondence. A sense of 
 friendless destitution is ever rising to shadow with 
 its gloom my liveliest aspirings ; it requires for its 
 suppression the utmost exertion which my fortitude 
 can sustain. Oh, how I sometimes deplore the neces- 
 sity of my absence from you! each succeeding day 
 seems only to heighten my regret. You will not think 
 me unreasonable in my repining when you reflect on 
 my utter loneliness, on the harassing incertitude 
 of mind arising from the inexplicable delay in the 
 arrival of the apparatus, and on the precarious con- 
 dition of my health. 
 
 Scarcely a half hour elapses but my mind steals 
 insensibly away from its occupation, to dwell in mus- 
 ing on you and Robert, surrounded as you are by the 
 tranquillizing yet animating influence of your own 
 avocations, so happily blended with the refined society 
 around you. I cannot think of Robert, with his gen- 
 tle, tender disposition, but a rising gush of feeling 
 overcomes me. Do be explicit about his health and 
 welfare. Let him know that I cherish towards him, 
 as towards yourself, an affection that agitates me when 
 solitary with an irrepressible solicitude. ... I feel
 
 68 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1828. 
 
 in your absence a void of all the objects of my regard ; 
 and in the spontaneous swellings of a long-cherislied 
 love I vainly seek for something to allay its fervour 
 in giving it direction. I never thought till now that 
 I could derive gratification from caressing a dog. . . . 
 
 If you knew the uncontrollable eagerness with which 
 I expected a letter by each mail for the last six days, 
 and the sharp disappointments which attended my ap- 
 plications at the office, you would find time to give me 
 at least some intimation of yours and Robert's health. 
 
 Dear brothers, the most unbounded love to both. 
 Farewell. HENRY. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 WIL.LIAMSBUKG, December 6, 1828. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER, The disappointment with which 
 I perused the beginning of your last letter was mingled 
 with a sentiment of indignation at the culpable neglect 
 which has marked the conduct of the Managers of the 
 Institute. Yet, while a sympathy in your hopes and 
 your laudable ambition to become eminent rendered 
 the information contained in your letter painfully dis- 
 appointing, the prospect of welcoming you to our Vir- 
 ginia home, and of enjoying society once more so 
 peculiarly congenial to my feelings, more than counter- 
 balanced these unpleasant sentiments, and induced me 
 almost to wish that there was no longer even a pos- 
 sibility of the arrival of the apparatus, or of the occur- 
 rence of any circumstance which might protract your 
 absence. 
 
 I trust, in the event of the non-arrival of the appa- 
 ratus, you will not hesitate to leave Baltimore immedi- 
 ately. Your health and enjoyment would be greatly 
 enhanced by a residence in hospitable old Williams- 
 burg. You might prosecute your studies at leisure 
 with the facilities which the college would furnish, and 
 improve your qualifications for situations similar to 
 that which you have been expecting in the Institute.
 
 ^ET. 24.] DIFFICULTIES IN LECTURING. 69 
 
 It is indeed almost the only wish of my heart which is 
 not fulfilled that we might all live together. ... I 
 have just concluded my lectures on caloric, to my own 
 satisfaction, and, I am well assured, in a manner agree- 
 able to the class. No little difficulties arising from 
 want of instruments, or from imperfection in those we 
 possess, or any other trival circumstances connected 
 with my duties, give me the slightest uneasiness or 
 perplexity. I employ every accessible means of illus- 
 trating my subject in an intelligible manner, and when 
 instruments fail me I have recourse to explanations. 
 The want of apparatus is certainly a serious difficulty 
 in the way of a lecturer. But I believe that one 
 course delivered under these circumstances is of more 
 value as an exercise to the professor than half a dozen 
 assisted by the usual auxiliaries. 
 
 Both James and Henry finally obtained, and filled 
 for a time, the places which they coveted in the Mary- 
 land Institute, the former the lectureship on Chemis- 
 try, the latter that on Natural Philosophy, though in 
 Henry's case at a reduced stipend ($150 for three 
 months' service). Accordingly, William's cordial offer 
 of refuge to the latter was not accepted and the 
 winter was spent in Baltimore. Thus it happened 
 that here Henry formed the acquaintance of Miss 
 Fanny Wright, an apostle of Fourierism, of whom he 
 writes to William : 
 
 " The populace of Baltimore throughout all last week 
 have been wonderstruck by the matchless eloquence of 
 a most daring reformer. Miss Frances Wright, a 
 coadjutor of Owen the Harmonist, and joint conductor 
 with him of the ' Harmony Gazette,' an infidel in all 
 religion and an avowed opponent of existing institu- 
 tions, has, in association with a gentleman of the name 
 of Jennings, been preaching a crusade throughout the
 
 70 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1828. 
 
 chief of the Atlantic cities. A prodigy in learning, in 
 intellect and in courage, she awes into deference the 
 most refractory bigots. . . . 
 
 " Unable, through the narrow-minded policy of the 
 proprietors, to procure the use of any other room suf- 
 ficiently capacious, she was compelled to lecture in the 
 Belvidere Theatre. Fancy a woman nearly six feet 
 high, majestic in her mien, and with a countenance be- 
 tokening a long indulgence in the most refined and phi- 
 losophic thought, with her short hair unbound and in 
 ringlets on a head which would have graced Minerva, 
 standing before a multitude in the delivery of strains 
 written in a style of unsurpassed elegance, and deliv- 
 ered with a grace which Dr. Barber could not equal : 
 think, William, that I witnessed this and much 
 more in reality, and then I think you will excuse my 
 fervour. But I am unjust in withholding the men- 
 tion of her rarest peculiarities. To be more explicit in 
 my account, her native country is Scotland, and her 
 birthrights were wealth and all the refined luxuries of 
 aristocratic Europe, but for her noble intellect these 
 seem to possess no fascinations ; from her early youth 
 she forsook them to devote her time to study in all 
 branches, even the abstrusest. Well versed in the 
 languages and learning of antiquity, she associates 
 what is rarely their companion, a comprehensive 
 acquaintance with the absolute sciences of modern 
 times. After spending her youth in the acquisition 
 of all these, she conceived the noble design of en- 
 lightening lay her labours the views of mankind. 
 Her independent mind, spurning obedience to the 
 self-invested authority with which ecclesiastics have 
 ever endeavoured to trammel the actions and even 
 the thoughts of men, and actuated in her attempts 
 by views based on the soundest philosophy, she has 
 devoted her life to the promulgation of sound prin- 
 ciples and just knowledge. Eenouncing the entice- 
 ments of her former sphere of life, she has suffered 
 an ample fortune to become impaired in the dis-
 
 ^Er. 24.] FANNY WRIGHT. 71 
 
 charge of her arduous undertaking. She is now intent 
 on procuring, in the chief cities of the country, the es- 
 tablishment of " halls of science " appropriated to the 
 instruction of all orders of society, in every demonstra- 
 tive department of human learning. According to the 
 plan proposed by her in her lectures, these should ac- 
 commodate, gratuitous of cost, from three to five thou- 
 sand persons each. They should have attached to them 
 lecturers on all the certain sciences, libraries and ap- 
 paratus, and extensive schools ; but in them she would 
 have the existing methods of instruction totally sub- 
 verted, and their place supplanted by others far more 
 rational. That you may know more accurately her 
 views, I should inform you of the purport and topics 
 of her lectures. Her first was on free inquiry, tending 
 to lull the prejudices of those who recoil at the dis- 
 cussion of subjects at all implicating religion. The two 
 subsequent ones regarded knowledge, its importance, 
 its true nature, and its source primarily in the senses : 
 this had a powerful bearing on the substantiality of 
 religious belief. The fourth lecture was devoted to a 
 disproof of the justice of any science of theology, and 
 contained some highly philosophical discussion on the 
 distinction between belief and knowledge. In the last 
 she treated of morals. The whole might be regarded 
 as a happy extension and application of the sound phi- 
 losophy of Brown to the existing condition of human 
 institutions ; but there were throughout such clear- 
 ness and reach of thought, sublimity of diction, and 
 often such powerful philippics against the clergy, that 
 every mind seemed spell-bound throughout the term 
 of her lectures. To you I need communicate but one 
 circumstance to impress a just conception of the rare 
 acuteness of her mind. In an interview with her which 
 I sought, after much conversation, all displaying a 
 transcendent genius, she spoke of the true nature of 
 mathematical truth, denied its foundation in abstrac- 
 tions, and dwelt on the importance of communicating 
 its first principle, through perception."
 
 72 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1829. 
 
 BALTIMORE, January 6, 1829. 
 
 You would be surprised at beholding the entire re- 
 verse of popular sentiment as respects the Institute. 
 James, though he acquits himself in an admirable 
 manner, has but a handful of two or three dozen yawn- 
 ing and lounging listeners. My own classes are as 
 slender, and to all appearance as little edified. Now, 
 though I am conscious my manner has been unassured 
 and consequently tame, yet, in thought and subject 
 it should have been interesting. I certainly can avow 
 with no undue self-praise that, adopting as a guide 
 the notes which you had left me, I inculcated in the 
 three last lectures an enlarged and critically correct 
 philosophy. I have said I feel no disappointment at 
 our own inauspicious circumstances, but I do feel pro- 
 voked at the inattention and mismanagement of the 
 managers. All must be ascribed to them, and so en- 
 tirely have they weaned the popular regard that, under 
 present feeling, no efforts of the lecturer can avail to 
 regain it. They seem, however, conscious of their 
 dereliction, and determined to adopt in future more 
 strenuous means of promoting our interests. I am 
 therefore contented with the present, and only solici- 
 tous to accomplish myself in my profession. 
 
 The town has been all on the qui five for some days 
 past in witnessing the exhibition of a newly invented 
 railroad friction wagon, the contrivance of a Mr. 
 Winans, of New Jersey. The invention is certainly 
 valuable ; in the exhibited model, a half-pound drew, 
 on level rails, 1,000 pounds ! 
 
 Dearest brother, could I convey in due expression 
 the dictates of my surcharged emotions, you might 
 rightly appreciate the devotedness of my affection. I 
 have lately, for the first time, adequately conceived the 
 amount of gratitude I owe you ; you have been to me 
 a moral master, a steadfast friend and an enlightened 
 tutor. I owe to you much of my acquisitions, but I 
 owe you more, the mental independence of erroneous
 
 MT. 24.] ON THE ART OF LECTURING. 73 
 
 views : you have always inculcated in me the purest 
 virtues and the most enlightened philosophy. But 
 for your valuable precepts, I should never have en- 
 joyed the proud gratification of my present engage- 
 ments. Under your guidance I anticipate that Robert 
 will prove an accomplished scholar and a virtuous 
 man. 
 
 What think you of Miss Wright and her plans ? I 
 find it necessary to be guarded in my expressions, but, 
 thanks to our lamented Father and yourself, I enjoy a 
 precious freedom from the despotic sway of false and 
 perverting doctrines. Williamsburg is, I suppose, 
 almost enveloped in the Bishop's cassock. 
 
 At this time the young Williamsburg professor was 
 apparently keeping bachelors' hall, with two of his 
 colleagues, in the Brafferton, the home of his earlier 
 years. 
 
 In spite of Henry's melancholy mood, William 
 expresses his satisfaction with the family prospects, 
 and adds to a letter addressed to Henry interesting 
 suggestions on the art of lecturing : 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 WILLIAMSBURG, January 12, 1829. 
 
 DEAR HENRY, I was pleased to find by your last 
 letter that yourself and James are progressing in your 
 professional duties in a manner so satisfactory to your- 
 self and your auditors. From the moment in which 
 the prospect of your present engagement was pre- 
 sented, I experienced delightful anticipations of the 
 honour and advantage you were about to derive from 
 them, and felt an assured confidence of your eminent 
 success. Believe me, even were my own circumstances 
 less rich in sources of satisfaction than they are, the 
 consideration of the happy success which attends you 
 both would of itself be sufficient to impart content
 
 74 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1829. 
 
 and tranquillity to my mind. Every letter that I 
 direct to James and yourself elates my thoughts. I 
 feel that I ought to be proud of such brothers, and of 
 being one of three who, though youthful, are already 
 so honourably distinguished from the general mass of 
 society. 
 
 The " unassured manner " to which you allude, as 
 a cause of occasional embarrassment, is a difficulty 
 with which all who are entering on a career such as 
 yours are obliged to contend. Lecturing is in some 
 respects to be considered as an art, and perhaps the 
 same remark may be applicable to public speaking 
 of every description, even the more eloquent displays 
 of the pulpit, the senate and the bar. Much practice 
 is requisite to acquire such a degree of readiness as 
 will be satisfactory to the speaker, and enlivening to 
 his auditory. In my opinion, a very important re- 
 quisite in public speaking is zeal, or perhaps I might 
 even say enthusiasm. With respect to my own exer- 
 tions, I have always observed that my success in ex- 
 position is proportioned to the earnestness with which 
 I engage in it. Too minute an attention to accuracy 
 of phraseology will infallibly induce hesitation of 
 manner. It is even better to allow an inaccuracy of 
 expression to pass uncorrected than to become in- 
 volved in confusion by an attempt at amendment. 
 The importance of this remark I have learned from 
 experience, and think it cannot be too deeply im- 
 pressed. You will find that as you progress you will 
 acquire increased ease and power of expression, and 
 you will sometimes be surprised at the facility and 
 effect with which you deliver yourself. Even in the 
 midst of your disquisitions, you will on some occa- 
 sions become your own auditor, and will enjoy a 
 singular species of satisfaction from witnessing your 
 own exertions, as if they were those of a distinct 
 individual. 
 
 We are all perfectly well, and as happy as we can 
 be without the participation of James and yourself.
 
 ^T. 24.] PAPER ON "DEW." 75 
 
 Assure Mr. Keyser that I do not forget my duty to 
 him, and that I intend writing to him by the next 
 mail. He is a gentleman whose friendship I have 
 always valued highly. Of his excellent father 1 I 
 cannot think without feelings of almost filial affection. 
 You may inform the old gentleman that I have ap- 
 plied the platina sponge and wire to several useful 
 and interesting purposes in my lectures, and not with- 
 out acknowledging my obligations to a scientific friend 
 in Baltimore. 
 
 In the autumn of the same year (1829) Henry 
 became a candidate for the chair of Chemistry and 
 Natural Philosophy in Dickinson College, Carlisle, 
 Pa., to which he was formally elected in January, 
 1830, while in his 22d year. "Whilst connected 
 with the college he edited ' The Messenger of Useful 
 Knowledge,' a monthly magazine of popular scientific 
 character, and also containing essays on educational, 
 literary and political subjects, and valuable informa- 
 tion from foreign journals." 2 To this journal, edited 
 by his brother, William contributed occasional essays, 
 notably one on " Dew." 
 
 With the arrival of the autumn, and the opening of 
 another academic year, William returned as usual to 
 Williamsburg. To his uncle James, in Philadelphia, 
 he writes of the contrast between life in a country 
 college and that offered by a large city : 
 
 WILLIAMSBUKG, November 8, 1829. 
 
 DEAR UNCLE, To you, who reside in a busy, pop- 
 ulous city where every hour gives birth to occurrences 
 of interest, the details of village transactions would 
 
 1 This was probably the china merchant (p. 15). 
 
 2 Dickinson College, by Charles F. Himes, Ph. D., Professor of Nat- 
 ural Science. Harrisburg, Pa., 1879.
 
 76 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1829. 
 
 appear trivial and contemptible. Nor is the news 
 which originates with us calculated to excite the curi- 
 osity of a stranger. Our town, like others of the 
 same grade, is a favorite abode of that daughter of 
 Satan, Gossipry, whose restless tongue from house to 
 house rings, untiring, " its eternal larum," and whose 
 wrinkled visage, " spectacle-bestrid," is seen invading 
 the privacies of intercourse, and introducing discord 
 and confusion into the domestic circle. Heaven be 
 praised! she has yet permitted me the undisturbed 
 enjoyment of my fireside, and I trust she will thus 
 continue to observe her distance. I pity the luckless 
 wight upon whom she has once fixed her " scrutiny 
 severe." 
 
 Our college has opened with encouraging prospects, 
 but at the present stage of the course no correct esti- 
 mation of the ultimate amount of students can be 
 made. Our number will at least equal that of the 
 former session ; most probably it will be greater. My 
 own classes are perhaps the largest in the institution ; 
 and that in the department of Natural Philosophy has 
 not been equalled for the last ten years. 
 
 It has too often been the case in the United States 
 that medical schools have been created largely for the 
 sake of fame or financial gain to their owners. The 
 one in Baltimore, in which James was a professor, 
 appears to have b^en an example of this kind. 
 
 JAMES TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BALTIMORE, November 22, 1829. 
 
 . . . Washington College may, by a very fortuitous 
 concourse of events, acquire a reputation which, in a 
 pecuniary point of view, shall be valuable to its pro- 
 fessors, as an unworthy and undeserving nephew ac- 
 quires an unlooked-for fortune by the death of a 
 rich uncle who dies intestate ; or it may for a time
 
 ^T. 25.] SUCCESS AS A TEACHER. 77 
 
 attract the wonder and incite the curiosity of the 
 searchers after medical honours by the wildness and 
 attractive novelty of its emanations, dignified theories, 
 strange compounds of philosophy and poetry, fact 
 and fiction, things captivating to the young medical 
 mind, and producing impressions as evanescent and 
 illusory as is the reputation they would seem to be- 
 stow on their author. You may understand my allu- 
 sions when I inform you that Dr. M. has discovered 
 that the whole medical world, from the days of old 
 Father Hippocrates down to the present time, has been 
 in the midst of error in accounting for the phenomena 
 of life, and in leaving out of consideration the won- 
 derful agency of the compound of oxygen, electricity, 
 and caloric, in forming the nervous fluid, while the 
 blood is undergoing its various mutations in the ani- 
 mal economy. . . . 
 
 William now began to win success as a teacher : 
 
 ROBERT (AGE 16) TO HENRY. 
 
 WILLIAMSBUKG, December 6, 1829. 
 
 . . . William has his hands full, having to lecture 
 twice every day. His class are advancing very well 
 indeed, and they are all very much pleased. William 
 has divided his classes into four divisions, which are 
 called clubs ; he meets one of them every night of the 
 week except Saturday and Tuesday, and the students 
 attend with the greatest alacrity possible : there is not 
 the least disorder among them, either at college or 
 at the table ; they are sociable, but polite, towards 
 William. I put my name down on the matriculation 
 book, and made the 55th student. I attend, as a re- 
 citing student, five classes, William's four and Mr. 
 Empie's. William has made a number of fine models, 
 and is making many more, to explain conic sections, 
 spherics and all solids. Two or three students were 
 at first very much opposed to mathematics, but now
 
 78 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1829. 
 
 they have become very much delighted with the sub- 
 ject. The subject on which William is now engaged 
 in chemistry is light ; he will soon finish it, and then 
 go to electricity. He has been so very busy that he 
 has not been able to finish your piece, but is now 
 writing it. He says you shall receive something for 
 the " Messenger " every month. The subject on which 
 he is now writing is Meteorology. If I meet with 
 anything in my reading, I shall transcribe it and 
 forward it to you. There will be more studying this 
 year than usual, on account of there being monthly 
 examinations, keeping the students always on the 
 spur. 
 
 The Faculty, finding that the students are so well- 
 behaved, permitted them to meet in the society at 
 night. We had last night a question which is as old 
 as the society itself almost ; it was, " Should the 
 Sight of Suffrage be Extended ? " I opposed the 
 measure at present, but I said that the lower classes 
 of society be first informed, and then they would 
 know their rights better, and therefore maintain them ; 
 but under the present ignorance they might make 
 bad use of them were they extended. 
 
 Meantime, William's interest in popular education 
 remained unabated, and his fertility in suggestion is 
 illustrated by a letter addressed to his brother Henry 
 at Carlisle, Pa. : 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENKT. 
 
 WILLIAMSBUKG, December 15, 1829. 
 
 I approve highly of the plan of popular lectures 
 which you have in contemplation, and feel assured of 
 its beneficial results to yourself and the society of 
 Carlisle. 
 
 Upon reflecting on the plan which you have pro- 
 posed to yourself, a variety of topics have suggested
 
 JEr. 25.] POPULAR LECTURES. 79 
 
 themselves as appropriate to popular elucidation. You 
 have yourself hinted at astronomy and meteorology 
 as presenting extensive fields for the selection of in- 
 teresting materials. . . . An exposition on the theory 
 of projectiles, embracing an account of the experi- 
 ments of Robinson and Hutton and Rumford, and 
 simple illustrations of the resisting agencies of the 
 atmosphere and other fluids, might prove highly inter- 
 esting to a popular audience. My students are always 
 delighted with the subject, and it is so susceptible of 
 simple illustrations that all would find it perfectly 
 intelligible. On this head Dr. Robinson would be 
 your best guide. As the subject of internal improve- 
 ments has excited much attention in Pennsylvania, 
 might not an exhibition of the comparative advan- 
 tages of railway and canal transportation be presented 
 to your citizens with interest and advantage? You 
 are aware that various particulars of a curious nature 
 to the uninformed might be introduced in connection 
 with this subject. Thus the equilibrium of forces on 
 an inclined plane ; the application of the laws of cen- 
 trifugal force in the meanderings of the road ; the 
 property of the curve of swiftest descent ; the laws 
 of friction ; the modification of animal or mechanical 
 energy by the velocity of the motion, together with a 
 general account of the properties of steam and the 
 structure of the steam engine, would supply curious 
 and interesting matter for several discourses. At 
 present I can make no further or detailed suggestion 
 on these subjects ; but in my next, and in succeeding 
 letters I propose to transmit such hints as I may from 
 time to time think likely to prove useful to you in the 
 prosecution of this plan, and in your general business 
 of instruction. Perhaps in doing this I shall con- 
 tribute but little to your aid. 
 
 N. B. Would you believe that I am reported 
 
 through town to be engaged to Miss , and not 
 
 without her countenance ? But of this, Mum ! Heaven 
 defend us from gossips !
 
 80 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1829. 
 
 Into the ear, and we may truly add into the heart, 
 of William his brothers still always poured the story 
 of their many troubles and their sorrows, as the letters 
 which follow abundantly testify : 
 
 JAMES TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BALTIMORE, December 13, 1829. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER, ... It seems as if I was pecul- 
 iarly selected for the sport of adverse fortune. . . . 
 Our classes this season were small ; the proceeds aris- 
 ing from mine, together with some monies I had re- 
 ceived as registrar of the college for matriculation fees, 
 were laid aside. After having liquidated my debts, 
 I had about $100, which I left hung up in one of my 
 coats in the room I thought secure. While I was out 
 some villain entered my room, stole the coat and some 
 articles of clothing of much less value. No search has 
 been able to detect the thief, and in all probability he 
 will riot on the proceeds of my labour. Dear brother, 
 I am thus left almost penniless, and, with the exception 
 of two or three tickets I expect to sell some time in 
 the winter, know not where to look for money. . . . 
 
 Ducatel, of the Institute, has lately become very 
 sociable, and invited me to assist him in one of his 
 lectures on galvanism. This I did not refuse, in con- 
 sideration of my respect for him, although I enter- 
 tain none for the managers . . . 
 
 I have received from Philadelphia the deflagrator, 
 and made some of the most brilliant experiments with 
 it ever made in Baltimore. My poverty has compelled 
 me to solicit indulgence of the artist for some time, 
 and to delay the other instrument, the calorimeter. I 
 have invented a little classification of the subjects of 
 my lectures for the more easy comprehension of my 
 class, for which I have received some commendation. 
 I will make a fair copy and transmit it soon, if you 
 have curiosity to see it. It may, perhaps, furnish you 
 with a hint.
 
 2ET.25.] PECUNIARY TROUBLES. 81 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 CARLISLE, January 2, 1830. 
 
 ... I cease to believe that I have an identity entire, 
 and almost feel myself but the fourth member of an 
 individual. There is a nature common to us all, and 
 only one happiness amongst us all. So little do I feel 
 myself of separate existence from my brothers, that 
 often I assume successively the place of each, and in 
 his emotions contemplate the other three. It is there- 
 fore with the sensation of a private sorrow that I sym- 
 pathize with James in his distress, and it is my own 
 regrets I seem to be enlisting when I call on yours. . . . 
 Pecuniary means James would have if you should con- 
 cur with me in deeming him privileged, from his wants, 
 to employ a portion of the funds of our poor, lamented 
 parent. Five hundred dollars would make his long- 
 harassed heart sing in joy, and it would afford him 
 means of accomplishing a sure success. After reliev- 
 ing him from all embarrassments, it would contribute 
 enough for apparatus and other expenses essential to 
 the undertaking. Did our own circumstances render 
 us less able to lend future aid to Robert, I could feel 
 more reluctance to such an appropriation ; or, did I rely 
 less on the noble and affectionate temper of that gen- 
 erous boy, I should not venture in such unreserve to 
 propose my hints. I think I have fair reason to ex- 
 pect my place and salary to be permanent ; yours are 
 already so. With these we can well assist our brothers 
 till their equal merits procure them equal recompense. 
 
 The object of my letter is that you may think of 
 these things, and to make you the assurance of my 
 cooperation in whatever your judgment will decide in 
 aid of James's circumstances. To relieve the distress 
 he must suffer I conceive a duty. I am not dictating, 
 William. I know the ample soul which you possess, 
 and if I have a liberal feeling of my own, I know how 
 much it is due to you. My only object is to mention 
 my thoughts, and leave all with you.
 
 82 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1829. 
 
 HENKY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 CARLISLE, December 23, 1829. 
 
 . . . We see the universe in parallax, nor shall we 
 rectify our judgment of its aspect till we perceive 
 that we are not the centre. You spoke truly of the 
 great extent of the topic that I have chosen. Science 
 is, indeed, a hill, for from it we behold the widest of 
 all prospects. . . . 
 
 Perhaps you entertain occasionally a wish to learn 
 something of the tenour of my pursuits and the cir- 
 cumstances of my situation. I have foreborne hith- 
 erto to speak of the condition of this college. Since 
 the session began, all around me has been suspense ; 
 every effort to procure a president has failed. . . . 
 Care for my ultimate success in life never influences 
 much my happiness. I have few social delights, as I 
 am destitute of your presence and feel an extreme re- 
 luctance for society. But I do not deem my solitude 
 a privation, except when I think of you, and I receive 
 more than a compensation for the absence of heartless 
 acquaintanceships in the exquisite and soothing enjoy- 
 ment that I can derive from science. Oh, how one 
 may revel in pleasures of true knowledge ! Secluded 
 from men, we may mingle in wider and closer fellow- 
 ship with Man ; we may dwell with him through all 
 past ages, and wherever he has made abode. And 
 thus lonely, to all but ourselves, we may wander 
 wherever thought has strayed, amid all that was or is 
 or shall be in the history and destiny of Nature and 
 the human race. Only in the deepest privacy can we 
 visit the sealed solitudes of Nature. Amid thoughts 
 like these do I find my pleasures in the present. Shall 
 I speak of my ambitions in the future ? to whisper them 
 would be too loud. Of late I have minded not the 
 petty vicissitudes around me, for change is busier 
 within me ; in new powers of vision I behold new 
 scenes and new paths in the field of enterprise. Wil-
 
 JET. 25.] PRIESTLY RULE. 83 
 
 liam, I have strange thoughts sometimes, when I re- 
 flect how little good we do our fellow-beings, and how 
 much we might ; how many truths important to human 
 welfare we cherish, yet tremble to avow. Are there 
 not frequent periods of self-upbraiding when your 
 sagacity discloses how profitless to real good are all 
 the fine talents and extensive knowledge you possess ? 
 For myself, I feel an exalted incentive to pursue 
 knowledge. A fever has been born in my heart that 
 will never leave it. 
 
 Tell me how you enjoy the present session, and give 
 me a full narration of all your performances done or 
 fancied. . . . 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 CARLISLE, February 2, 1830. 
 
 ... I did not discern till recently how prostrate 
 must be the independence of all who take their 
 hire of a nefarious priesthood. But now I find full 
 amply that the tenure of my station must be a deep 
 hypocrisy, and an oppression and ignominious ser- 
 vitude. Some evenings since, I attended a pleasant 
 party at which the choicest society of the place was 
 present. To gratify the company the host produced 
 his violin, and all united in a dance. Now I, poor 
 devil, knew no reason why I should not with the 
 rest taste the gaiety of the evening, nor could I ap- 
 prehend that any should scruple at my conduct. In 
 deference, therefore, to the mistress of the house, I 
 danced, and saw in the same cotillon two of the trus- 
 tees of our college. But, behold, in due time I was 
 notified through a private interview with one of our 
 priestly rulers how greatly I had acted amiss, and was 
 made abruptly to know how little my greatest services 
 might avail me to retain my place should I disavow 
 the requisitions of their church, or fail in my conduct 
 and expressions to cooperate in rendering the col- 
 lege a school of religious discipline. Now this was 
 gross tyranny and insult, and my soul burned to defy
 
 84 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1830. 
 
 it. Then it was that I felt the lofty spirit of my 
 father in me, and I answered that, if such must be the 
 fetters I must wear, then Dickinson and I must part ; 
 but I afterwards softened my expressions and all was 
 appeased between us. Since, I have held myself mute 
 and continue cautious. I think I have fair expecta- 
 tions of reelection in the spring, but certainly I should 
 forfeit all chance of such an issue were I not now to 
 bow low to dictation. 
 
 I cannot rightly tell you how much and how anx- 
 iously I have lately pondered my future conduct in 
 life. My mind seems destined to struggle along be- 
 tween the decisions of policy and the ardent determi- 
 nation of a bolder virtue. . . . 
 
 There is in recent years much criticism of the 
 Congress assembled at Washington. It would seem 
 that the doings of this body in 1830 did not inspire 
 universal respect, and those who insist that the former 
 times were better than these may be interested to 
 peruse the following estimate of Congress by a young 
 contemporary professor : 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 WILLIAMSBUKG, February 13, 1830. 
 
 . . . Who that is inspired with just ideas of the 
 true interests of society can witness the proceedings 
 of our Congress, the assembled learning and talent 
 of our country, without disgust and shame? How 
 trivial, and how foreign from the happiness of the 
 people for whom they act, are the subjects they discuss 
 and the measures they decide! and how false, and 
 often vicious, the principles by which they affect to 
 regulate and improve the condition of society ! For- 
 getful of the moral nature of man, they seem to regard 
 him only in a legal point of view, as the proprietor 
 of land and other possessions. They legislate as if
 
 -ST. 25.] NITROUS OXIDE. 85 
 
 national and individual happiness were synonymous 
 with extensive property, and dependent upon the 
 arithmetic of ledger calculations. Their hall of coun- 
 cil is the very headquarters of selfishness. There the 
 agents of the several States assemble, not to digest 
 schemes of diffusive moral benefit, but by argument 
 or intrigue to drive interested bargains for their con- 
 stituents, and all their proceedings are little better 
 than a miserable scramble after wealth and power. 
 Witness these engrossing questions, the Tariff and 
 the Public Lands, in which each section of our 
 country is agitated by hopes and fears concerning its 
 own prosperity, and which, however they may be de- 
 cided, can influence their real happiness only in a very 
 slight degree. . . . 
 
 WILLIAMSBUHG, February 26, 1830. 
 
 . . . This morning I exhibited nitrous oxide to sev- 
 eral of my students, and in some instances with the 
 most powerful effects. I have myself inhaled it twice 
 in private, and found its operation upon my system to 
 be somewhat peculiar. It imparts to me a sense of 
 omnipresence. I lose all feeling of relation to the 
 earth or sublunary things, and seem winged away 
 through boundless space, the only sentient being in 
 existence. My emotions are pleasurable, but their 
 characteristics are vastness, grandeur, sublimity and 
 solitude. The influence of the aerial draught con- 
 tinues for a long time, and as it subsides I become 
 gradually sensible of my presence upon the ground, 
 and look around me with the haughty disdain and 
 towering importance of the Great Mogul. 
 
 Throughout the correspondence thus far, William 
 appears to have refrained from offering unsolicited 
 advice to his brothers, except on the all-important 
 subject of their health. But now he writes more 
 freely.
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1830. 
 
 WILLIAM TO JAMES. 
 
 WILUAMSBTJKG, March 27, 1830. 
 
 Be not discouraged by the present state of circum- 
 stances. The literary institutions of our country are 
 numerous, and the demand for men qualified as you 
 are is daily augmenting. A year, perhaps less time, 
 may open you a way to distinction and emolument. 
 Be on the alert, be vigilant in watching for the propi- 
 tious opportunity, and with unrelaxing perseverance 
 labour in improving the eminent qualifications you 
 already possess. In the season of disengagement 
 from the duties of instruction, do not abandon your 
 studious pursuits. Do not permit your armour to rust, 
 but keep it well burnished by continual use, and be 
 ever ready for the field. Above all, my dear brother, 
 be not too diffident of yourself when a favourable 
 occasion is presented for a display of your claims to 
 the attention of the community. This is not a coun- 
 try in which retiring merit is ever likely to be re- 
 warded. There are no kind patrons of genius, ever 
 ready to assist its efforts, ever active in drawing it 
 forth from the haunts of obscurity and want. Here 
 talents cannot succeed without enterprise, and every 
 man is expected " to achieve his own greatness." The 
 community will only give you credit for as much as 
 you display, and they will not seek to educe your hid- 
 den resources. You must present yourself before 
 them boldly, frequently and impressively ; you must 
 almost obtrude yourself upon their notice : by such 
 means their good opinion must unfailingly be secured, 
 and, once obtained, you may bid defiance to disap- 
 pointment. . . . 
 
 In the summer of 1830 William with Eobert visited 
 Henry in Carlisle. The following letter of William 
 to his uncle refers to his friendship with the Empie 
 family :
 
 JET. 25.] JAMES'S MARRIAGE. 87 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS UNCLE JAMES. 
 
 CARLISLE, August 14, 1830. 
 
 DEAR UNCLE, Mr. Empie and his most excellent 
 lady have ever been among my most cherished friends 
 in Virginia. In difficulty or in sickness I have always 
 experienced their heartfelt sympathy and their ten- 
 derly affectionate attentions. They are to me indeed 
 as brother and sister, and the apprehension of their 
 serious indisposition, of which I have received some 
 accounts, excites my most painful solicitude. Should 
 you ever become acquainted with these valued friends, 
 you will sympathize in my affection for them. 
 
 In company with Henry and sometimes Robert, I 
 make frequent excursions to the neighbouring moun- 
 tains and valleys, and derive from them improvement 
 both in health and information. We have already 
 explored, both botanically and geologically, a consider- 
 able region of the surrounding country, and we still 
 continue these enlivening expeditions. . . . Amid the 
 various jealousies and hostilities which have for many 
 years prevailed in town and college, and which still 
 continue to disturb the peace of both, I have been 
 pleased to find that Henry's prudence and manly open- 
 ness have conciliated the esteem of all, and that he is 
 generally respected for his abilities and science. . . . 
 
 Another academic year opened in October, 1830, 
 and found William at his post in the ancient college. 
 Troubles were brewing, however, for Henry at Car- 
 lisle. James had been violently ill during August, and 
 in the autumn, after his recovery, had terminated a 
 long-standing engagement by marriage to Miss Rachel 
 Smith, of Harford County, Maryland. To eke out 
 his income he soon after entered with a partner into 
 the business of an apothecary in Baltimore ; but this 
 essay was doomed to failure.
 
 88 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1830. 
 
 Meantime the professorship of mathematics in Wil- 
 liam and Mary became vacant, and the classes were 
 carried on temporarily by William, as the following 
 shows, with acceptance : ' 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS UNCLE. 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY, November 11, 1830. 
 The students of my classes, unknown to me, met 
 this morning and entered into resolution to solicit the 
 Visitors to make no appointment now, but to continue 
 me in the mathematical chair, at least to the end of 
 the course. . . . 
 
 As was anticipated, the Visitors met but made no 
 new appointment and the classes continued under 
 William's direction. Henry, meantime, found the 
 position at Carlisle less and less to his liking, and 
 finally in the spring of 1831 resigned. James con- 
 tinued in Baltimore, in constant financial difficulties, 
 but towards the summer saw a ray of hope, having 
 secured a lectureship for the next year in the Mary- 
 land Institute. 
 
 In these troubles of the brothers William gave 
 them unfailing sympathy. To Robert he gave a pater- 
 nal protection, to James constant and substantial 
 aid, and to Henry encouragement and counsel. 
 
 During the summer of 1841 William, Henry and 
 Robert went North, in the hope of securing for Rob- 
 ert work under Captain McNeil who was engaged in 
 locating some of the new lines of railway then pro- 
 jected in New England. Robert soon found employ- 
 ment under Captain McNeil and his associates in- 
 cluded some who afterwards achieved eminence in 
 engineering, notably Mr. E. S. Chesbrough.
 
 ^ET. 26.] ENGINEERING. 89 
 
 As he was now out of employment, Henry appears 
 to have determined to join one of the numerous sur- 
 veying parties then in the field, and on September 10 
 he proceeded from New York to Providence, R. I., 
 by steamboat, and thence by stage-coach to Boston. 
 Robert accompanied him, and the experiences of the 
 young men on arriving in New England were inter- 
 esting. 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BOSTON, September 25, 1831. 
 
 . . . For the last week we have been entirely in 
 the country, prosecuting our surveys with great activ- 
 ity, and it was necessary to ride seventeen miles to get 
 here. During our excursion so far, we have met with 
 nothing to annoy us ; the weather has been uniformly 
 serene and soft, and the country we have traversed as 
 beautiful as taste could wish. Our operations being 
 at present directed towards Taunton, we have pursued 
 a line nearly due south ; this at first led us, on quit- 
 ting Boston, close upon the heights of Dorchester, the 
 site, you are aware, of the American redoubts during 
 the Revolution ; and in all that vicinity we enjoyed 
 a scenery varied and pleasing beyond description. 
 Passing on, we reached the foot of the Blue Hills, 
 directly beneath the magnificent quarries of the cele- 
 brated Quincy granite, and, deviating slightly to the 
 east, we avoided the rocky barrier in our path by 
 penetrating the range through a deep valley. We 
 witnessed, of course, all the interesting works con- 
 nected with the quarries, and beheld from their sum- 
 mits by far the noblest scenery in the neighbourhood ; 
 in the distance, a grand and lovely view of the ocean 
 and its islands, and beneath us the fair-built city and 
 the rich meadows, fields and woods of its vicinity. 
 
 During our stay in the neighbourhood of Quincy, we 
 made that pretty village for the time our home, but 
 for the last three days we have tarried for lodgings
 
 90 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1831. 
 
 and meals in the interesting village of West Ran- 
 dolph. Our practice is to halt at the nearest town, 
 or, if one be not accessible, at the nearest country inn, 
 when we approach it within about three miles ; there 
 we stop generally about two or three nights, until our 
 operations carry us too far beyond it. Taking break- 
 fast before commencing the day's business, thrusting 
 a few biscuits into our pockets, we labour on without 
 intermission until the approach of sunset ; then, con- 
 fiding our instruments to our labourers, we seek our 
 place of rest for the night, enjoying our suppers with 
 no little relish, and spending the evening with books, 
 or amusing conversation with the people about us. ... 
 Robert and I amuse ourselves sometimes in practising 
 topography, an art of the first importance ; after sketch- 
 ing the local features of the ground around us, I often 
 make some observations on its natural history, espe- 
 cially the nature of the trees and rocks. Griswold has 
 mentioned my habit to the Captain, reporting, I pre- 
 sume, something in praise of my geological informa- 
 tion: the Captain requested me to-day to record a 
 series of geological observations throughout our route, 
 stating that such things will be beneficial to my pros- 
 pects. So much for a little science ! ! ! I should not 
 omit to state that, though volunteers, we receive the 
 full recompense usually given persons who do our 
 duty, each of us getting now $1.25 a day. This of 
 course will not continue after we quit the field, but for 
 the present it more than defrays our expenditures. 
 
 KOBEET (AGE 17) TO HIS UNCLE JAMES. 
 
 SEEKONK, MASS., Friday, September 28, 1831. 
 
 . . . We have concluded most of the important 
 surveys of the season. We have been from Boston to 
 Taunton, and from Boston to Providence, and there 
 yet remain some short distances to be surveyed before 
 we shall have finished all our outside work. . . . 
 
 When in Virginia, I have often heard the activity
 
 Sis. 27.] NEW ENGLAND. 91 
 
 and the stirring enterprise of the North put in con- 
 trast with the languor and listlessness of the South, 
 and I had been led to form a different opinion of the 
 New Englanders from that which my past experience 
 would justify, though they are indeed an active and 
 stirring people ; yet their enterprise does not seem to 
 be at all enlarged, but confined to each one's own petty 
 interests, entirely disregarding those of another. One 
 thing is the fact, however, that I have never seen any 
 part of the country so well calculated to leave a good 
 impression upon the mind of the traveller as the en- 
 virons of Boston. Everything has the appearance of 
 utmost neatness and care ; the houses are all built in 
 good taste, with beautiful lawns of grass before the 
 doors, all bearing the appearance of greatest comfort : 
 here, with a million or so of income, I might live the 
 life of a happy bachelor. . . . 
 
 The winter of 1831-32 was passed by William in 
 Williamsburg, and by Henry and Robert in New 
 York. Reference has already been made to the in- 
 fluence which Fanny Wright and her doctrines had 
 produced upon Henry. During this winter he saw 
 much of Robert Dale Owen and others belonging to 
 the same movement, and became so much interested 
 in their plans that, in spite of his uncle's disapproval 
 and William's reluctant assent, he determined to cast 
 in his lot for a time with the reformers and, in fur- 
 therance of this purpose, decided to travel with Owen 
 to London. 
 
 HENRY TO HIS UNCLE JAMES. 
 
 NEW YORK, May 12, 1832. 
 
 . . . My own feelings assure me that I, not for one 
 moment, have been careless as to how you and William 
 would look upon my schemes. These schemes I have
 
 92 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1832. 
 
 long had in contemplation ; but in coming to my deci- 
 sions about the career I was selecting, I fully appreci- 
 ated the distress which I saw I would occasion you. 
 My decision was by no means rashly made ; I may say 
 that for the last two years I have almost incessantly 
 deliberated upon the matter. You have frequently 
 told me that you did not think any one authorized 
 to run counter to public opinion ; so far I saw that you 
 must censure the course I was tracing out for myself, 
 and so far I felt a disposition to alter my views. But 
 conviction, a sense of conscientious duty, has been too 
 strong. This William is aware of, for my trip last 
 winter to Virginia was for the express purpose of giv- 
 ing him my intention and hearing his sentiments. I 
 cannot think, therefore, that I have proceeded rashly. 
 I have well studied the state of opinion among that 
 part of society who favour my plans, and feel convinced 
 that they will not fail. I cannot see that I have much 
 to fear from popular odium, even among those who will 
 object to my use of the Sunday. My main object is 
 to be useful. Sunday is the useful day for the purpose, 
 therefore I select it. Again, were my schemes to fail 
 and all the world to scout, my true happiness would 
 still be greater than any I could have by taking a 
 course contrary to my convictions. 1 . . . 
 
 About Europe, should William have his views 
 altered by what you wrote him, and now disapprove 
 of my going, I do not go. Should he still approve, I 
 must obey my conviction of its propriety, and adhere 
 to my first intention. I shall not take his generosity 
 unless I have his judgment. 
 
 Henry finally sailed from New York, on the ship 
 " Washington," on May 19. Kobert, when the spring 
 opened, returned to his surveying near Boston. This 
 was the year of the great invasion of cholera and, as 
 
 1 The use of Sunday here referred to was for lectures to working- 
 men which were later given in London.
 
 2ET. 27.] A SOUTHERN TRIP. 93 
 
 the time for the annual migration from Williamsburg 
 approached, William wrote to his uncle : 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS UNCLE JAMES. 
 
 WILLIAM AND MAKT, June 21, 1832. 
 
 DEAR UNCLE, . . . You will be surprised that I 
 am preparing for a journey South before I can join you. 
 Mrs. Em pie and family have determined to pass the 
 summer among her relatives at the seaside, near Wil- 
 mington, N. C. The health of Mr. Empie is such that 
 he will be compelled to spend the season in travelling 
 and at the Virginia Springs. He cannot then ac- 
 company his lady and her children to their friends. A 
 pressing invitation from several persons in Wilmington 
 has been given me to attend Mrs. E. thither and re- 
 main there during the summer. The deep obligations 
 of kindness and maternal affection which I owe to this 
 inestimable lady would alone require as a duty that 
 I should do everything to contribute to her safety and 
 convenience. But, moreover, she is exceedingly infirm 
 and delicate ; her family is large, and consists mostly 
 of very young children ; and the journey is long and 
 somewhat fatiguing. How, then, could I in friend- 
 ship withhold my assistance from her in these cir- 
 cumstances ? 
 
 . . . Some anxiety has been occasioned in my mind 
 in reference to Robert's safety by recent accounts of 
 the cholera. Should it extend to Boston, would he not 
 be in greater danger than in Philadelphia ? Oh, what 
 anguish should I suffer if I had reason to believe that 
 it prevailed in his vicinity ! My dear uncle, if you 
 think there is any likelihood of his being placed in 
 the way of this terrible scourge, please write to him 
 immediately and request him to return and await me 
 in Philadelphia. . . . 
 
 In September William informs his uncle that 
 he had lingered near Wilmington, N. C., partly on
 
 94 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1832. 
 
 account of the cholera, " the terrible pestilence by 
 which even your healthful and cleanly city has been 
 assailed." Here, also, he almost lost his life. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS UNCLE JAMES. 
 
 WRIGHTSVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, September 13, 1832. 
 
 ... I have already described the village in which 
 I have spent most of my time. The Atlantic Ocean 
 is not much more than a mile in a direct line from 
 our house. The intervening space is occupied by rich 
 meadows of sea grass, with creeks meandering through 
 them, and communicating with the sea by inlets made 
 by breaks in the low sandbanks which form the shore 
 of the ocean. The roar of the breakers, which are 
 very heavy on this coast, is now sounding with a noise 
 like that of distant thunder in my ears. 
 
 About ten days since, I went with a party of gen- 
 tlemen on a sailing excursion in a small boat, such as 
 is commonly used in the waters of the Sound. We 
 passed before a brisk wind through the nearest inlet, 
 and sailed for some time on the bosom of the ocean ; 
 we then proceeded to return to the Sound by another 
 inlet lower down on the coast. Our pilot, however, 
 steered us into the very midst of the breakers. In an 
 instant, surrounded by the raging waters piled like 
 mountains on every side, our boat was turned over, 
 and ourselves precipitated into the boiling and foam- 
 ing waters. We clung with difficulty to the boat, 
 while the irresistible tide carried us out farther and 
 farther into the ocean. For half an hour we remained 
 in this situation, until I, who had been seized with 
 cramp, had given myself up as lost, and all were 
 ready to sink in despair. Providentially some fisher- 
 men had witnessed our disaster, and, coming to our 
 assistance in a strong and well-manned boat, rescued 
 us from a terrible fate. I lost my watch, shoes and 
 waistcoat. . . .
 
 MT. 27.] TULLY AND HIS MICROSCOPES. 95 
 
 Letters in due season arrived from Henry, the ab- 
 sent brother. These reported that he would soon 
 return, and he in fact actually embarked from London 
 in the autumn. But a series of westerly gales arising, 
 the ship was unable to proceed beyond the English 
 coast, and after struggling for some weeks with the 
 elements, during which time the vessel was driven 
 to and fro, sometimes advancing and sometimes re- 
 treating and again lying at anchor, all having been 
 long sick and the captain of the vessel having had his 
 arm broken, Henry and his friends decided that the 
 best thing to do was to give up the attempt and return 
 to London for the winter. His letters contain much 
 of interest, especially many valuable glimpses of con- 
 temporary men of science in England; and as the 
 young professor was one of the earliest of American 
 scientific men to report his observations, somewhat 
 copious extracts are given : 
 
 HENRY TO HIS UNCLE JAMES AND HIS BROTHER WTLLIAM. 
 
 LONDON, November 14, 1832. 
 
 ... I am very comfortable at Mr. Owen's, 4 Cres- 
 cent Place, Burton Crescent, London. 
 
 ... A few evenings ago I met Tully, the great 
 optician. 1 His microscopes are reported the finest 
 ever invented, and certainly, from what I saw of one 
 which he made for our host, I can well believe it. 
 Not the wildest accounts which we have ever heard of 
 the microscope equal what I witnessed. During the 
 evening we made the very interesting discovery of a 
 valve in the pulsating system of a minute object like 
 a cabbage-louse. . . . Going home with Mr. Tully, 
 he mentioned to me that the attempts of Mr. Faraday 
 and the Royal Society's Committee to procure optical 
 glasses have not succeeded. He says by using a borate 
 of lead their product is too dense to sort with crown 
 
 1 One of the inventors of the achromatic microscope objective.
 
 96 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1832. 
 
 and plate glass in achromatic lenses, besides having 
 other defects. Tully has contrived a little instrument 
 by which he rules with a diamond 12,000 parallel 
 equidistant lines in one inch on glass, giving the most 
 perfect micrometer ever made, and enabling one ac- 
 tually to measure thus the minutest infusoria. It was 
 truly curious to witness, on the back of the plant-louse 
 I before spoke of, a number of bell polypi swinging 
 to and fro on slender stems, erecting themselves, 
 expanding their fibrillse, and catching the minutest 
 monads. . . . Turner l is in every sense a gentleman. 
 I am present at his lectures almost daily. He experi- 
 ments very much and in beautiful style, most of his 
 instruments being on a large scale. To-day, treating 
 of hygrometers, after showing us all the varieties, he 
 presented one of his own, the most simple and perfect 
 of all. It is merely a cup of silver two inches by half 
 an inch, gilt and burnished outside. A few grains of 
 freezing mixture, half nitre and half sal-ammoniac, 
 are dissolved and stirred with a small thermometer on 
 which you mark the dew points. Some days since, he 
 brought before us a pyrometer of Darnell's which I 
 had not known. It is a bar of plumbago bored to 
 receive a rod of malleable iron, and a shorter rod of 
 clay to act as index. The plumbago prevents oxida- 
 tion. . . . This evening I go by invitation to a soiree 
 of the professors and friends of the University. 
 
 Faraday is at present on electricity at the Royal 
 Institution. Yesterday he was melting the metals, 
 etc., by the most powerful battery I ever beheld, with 
 two enormous machines in full action. Three days 
 ago it was electrical light, and a more successful and 
 splendid series of experiments could not be performed 
 by any one. Faraday's style of lecturing and experi- 
 menting reminds one of Paganini's playing : so easy, 
 so adroit, so much execution. When I listen to his 
 fluent and eloquent delivery, my thoughts wander 
 home to you, William ; and with tenderness and with 
 
 1 Edward Turner, Professor of Chemistry in University College, 
 London.
 
 Mi. 28.] ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. 97 
 
 a sweet pride I think of the greater powers possessed 
 by my own dear brother. Yes, William, I have al- 
 ready heard several lecturers, reputed among the best 
 in Europe, and I will vouch for it that with equal 
 aids you shall outshine them all. 
 
 You are aware of the discoveries of Ritchie in 
 electro-magnetism ; he is Professor of Natural Phi- 
 losophy in the London University. He is conducting 
 two courses, one profound, the other more exclu- 
 sively experimental. I have an invitation to attend 
 either. He is a Scotchman, deeply scientific, and a 
 clear lecturer ; but, strange to say, while Turner has 
 in chemistry nearly three hundred students, Ritchie 
 has barely twenty or twenty-five, not more, I hope, 
 than your own class. It should cheer you when you 
 learn that the singular distaste of the age for natural 
 philosophy is not restricted to Virginia. Biot, in 
 Paris, had often not above half a dozen. . . . 
 
 I was introduced some days ago to Loudon, the 
 botanist and gardener. He is a Scotchman, has lost 
 his right arm, and is a truly amiable man. He seemed 
 extremely rejoiced to meet an American. ... I may 
 mention that the news reached this city a few days 
 ago of the death of Professor Leslie, of Edinburgh, 
 who breakfasted with us at Mr. Owen's in the sum- 
 mer. The same day he was with us he went to Court 
 and was knighted. The honours accorded by the phi- 
 losophic world will long outshine the already withered 
 laurels of the King. With many here, there is a feel- 
 ing that philosophers ought not to wear the empty 
 decorations of the Court. Dalton, 1 like a man of 
 sense, lately refused a knighthood, though warmly 
 proffered. . . . 
 
 HENRY TO HIS UNCLE JAMES. 
 
 LONDON, December 14, 1832. ' 
 
 . . . Dr. Turner, last night, introduced me to the 
 Geological Society of which he is secretary. I shall 
 have fine chances for making myself a geologist by 
 1 John Dalton, the famous chemist and natural philosopher.
 
 98 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1832. 
 
 the free access I may have to the Society's superb 
 museum. I was introduced personally to several of 
 the members, De la Beche, Lyell, Babbage and 
 others. . . . 
 
 One of the papers read [at the Koyal Society] 
 will prove a highly important one to men of science, 
 as it contains some fundamental discoveries in elec- 
 tro-magnetism. It is by Ritchie, of London Univer- 
 sity, whom I very well know, and with whom I had 
 last night some very instructive chat. As you are a 
 reader of the scientific journals, you may have seen 
 something of Mr. Faraday's very brilliant discoveries 
 concerning the production of electricity from magnet- 
 ism, which created much noise here last winter. This 
 subject Ritchie is now exploring with great success, 
 and has already in this paper reduced all Faraday's 
 researches to one simple universal law. I attend his 
 lectures habitually, and esteem him one of the first 
 natural philosophers of the age. I go likewise to the 
 Royal Institution, where Brande and Faraday deliver 
 perhaps the most perfect course of chemistry anywhere 
 given. . . . 
 
 My chances here are now truly golden ones, for I 
 am on such easy terms with several men of science 
 that they place every opportunity open to me ; and it 
 has become my consuming ambition to retrieve my 
 mistakes by devoting myself to those studies which 
 will please my friends and procure me an honourable 
 name. It annoys me, however, when I think how 
 soon I must leave these fine opportunities, almost 
 immediately, as it were, after I have broken the ice. 
 Such has been William's generous kindness that I 
 can hardly excuse myself in thus reaping advantages 
 which should in justice be his and not mine. 
 
 I feel a strong wish to ramble a little in England 
 before forsaking Europe forever. . . . My expenses 
 are very small, and this is some consolation when I 
 think how much I have taxed William. I have 
 glorious means before me for studying geology, espe-
 
 J3T. 28.] RURAL ENGLAND. 99 
 
 cially if I were to steal a month or six weeks in 
 pedestrian excursions. . . . 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 LONDON, January 5, 1833. 
 
 DEAR WILLIAM, ... It would be no easy mat- 
 ter to describe the Christmas doings in England, 
 though it all seems to centre in but one indulgence. 
 This eating nation seems to devote all its energies at 
 this time to plum-pudding, and energy enough does 
 it require. The lectures throughout London being 
 suspended, I embraced the holidays to make a short 
 excursion with an acquaintance into the country, to 
 see a little of England's geology. He being, like 
 many of the English, an excellent walker, and know- 
 ing how beneficial the exercise is always to myself, 
 we went on foot, and shaped our rambles toward the 
 lower end of Kent. Leaving our place of lodging in 
 London in the evening, we walked sixteen miles, a 
 light frost on the ground, a bright moon above, a 
 smooth footpath leading us over hill and dale, the 
 mists of night sleeping in the valleys, and once in 
 every while a solitary horseman on patrol saluting us 
 with the protecting words, "Good-night." 
 
 We passed several villages, with their gray church 
 towers, every spot teeming with the records of old 
 England's stormy history. But it was when we reached 
 our inn that I recognized in full strength in what land 
 I was staying. Entering the little parlour, I thought 
 I saw some picture from Smollett or Fielding, a 
 bright coal-fire, and around a table near it the host 
 and several sturdy farmers, each pipe in hand, a pot 
 of beer at his elbow, and all busy at the truly English 
 game of cribbage, the short breeches and gaiters 
 and deep waistcoats were so like my own early picture 
 of English rural life. 
 
 The next day we went twenty-four miles by one 
 o'clock to Maidstone, a fine old town on the Medway,
 
 100 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1833. 
 
 studying the country as we went, and culling speci- 
 mens of all the rocks passed. My great object was 
 to procure fossils, and I wished, therefore, to reach 
 the district called the Weald, in the clays of which 
 they are so abundant, and where those immense re- 
 mains of saurians, etc., are chiefly found. We were 
 likewise to go to the Island of Sheppy, in the Thames, 
 but a change of weather prevented our reaching 
 either and drove us hastily up to London. I learned 
 much from this ramble, and I also found myself 
 stronger from the exercise. Sheppy is a formation 
 where they find an immense deposit of extinct fruits 
 and seeds, all similar to those now growing in the 
 tropics. A parcel of these I have, and shall take 
 home with me a collection of them. . . . 
 
 You may remember, my dear William, that years 
 ago in Baltimore we read in the "Edinburgh Review" 
 an article on the Hazelwood School, near Birmingham. 
 I am very good friends with the proprietors of that 
 fine school. Two of the Messrs. Hill possess a branch 
 school seven miles from London, and now, during the 
 holidays, old Mr. Hill with the whole family are up 
 from Birmingham at Bruce Castle, where I go to-mor- 
 row to dine and stay a day or two. The older Hill, 
 the founder of these very superior schools, was for- 
 merly a great friend and espouser of Priestley. The 
 elder son has just been returned to Parliament for 
 Hull, and is a great favourite with Brougham. All 
 the brothers there being four are men of fine 
 education and first-rate talent. 
 
 . . . The papers are all making comments on the 
 resistance of South Carolina to our government, and 
 on the President's memorial, the general sentiment 
 being one of sympathy with the South, and of surprise 
 that we should find any bone to quarrel over. Alas ! 
 the true condition of America's politics is but little 
 understood here. . . . 
 
 The dread of the cholera affected the prosperity
 
 Mf. 28.] DISCOURAGEMENT. 101 
 
 of William and Mary College, which had long had 
 the reputation of possessing an unhealthy situation. 
 The classes were smaller than usual, and to Wil- 
 liam the outlook for the old college, now threatened 
 by the growing prosperity of its formidable rival, the 
 University of Virginia, was discouraging. Something 
 of this feeling must have been reflected in his letters 
 to Kobert, who writes : 
 
 ROBERT TO WILLIAM. 
 
 NEW YOKK, January 7, 1833. 
 
 DEAR WILLIAM, ... It grieves me that you are 
 subject to strains of melancholy such as your last 
 letter seems to have left you in ; but really, my dear 
 brother, I think you have little, very little, cause thus 
 to be sad. Your career has been one of success, vir- 
 tue and usefulness, but of the latter, perhaps, less 
 than your benevolent heart would lead you to de- 
 sire, and certainly less than your abilities would en- 
 able you to perform: wherever you may be placed, 
 you cannot fail to find yourself comfortable and in- 
 dependent ; you will make friends wherever you 
 go, and with your powers and acquirements you are 
 sure of success in whatever undertaking you may em- 
 bark. . . . 
 
 It has always been, and always will be, I think, my 
 craving to follow, in some measure, in the track of 
 my brothers, to become a teacher. I know of no- 
 thing that I should like better than to be an instruc- 
 tor in a school. . . . Engineering holds out but very 
 few inducements, for only those who have been edu- 
 cated at West Point stand in the way of promotion, 
 and can look forward to certainty of success ; they 
 alone are sure of constant occupation in the profes- 
 sion. 1 . . . 
 
 1 Civil engineering, as a distinct branch, had hardly yet arisen. The 
 only " engineers " were military engineers from West Point.
 
 102 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1833. 
 
 NEW YORK, March 1, 1833. 
 
 ... I believe, but I am not certain, that I men- 
 tioned in my last letter that I had given four lectures, 
 the first and second on chemical affinity, the third 
 on electricity, the fourth on testing and analysis ; 
 and, as a powerful agent in effecting decomposition, I 
 introduced galvanism, making use of a voltaic pile of 
 a hundred plates ; the experiment with this succeeded 
 finely. I decomposed water, the bubbles of its two 
 gases flying off in copious and constant streams, being 
 received into small glass, graduated tubes, which in- 
 dicated exactly the proportion of their volumes as 
 two to one. I also decomposed sulphate of soda, using 
 three cups, and putting the salt in the middle one and 
 an infusion of cabbage in the two end ones ; it was 
 beautiful to remark that that at the positive end turned 
 red, while that at the negative end turned green. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS UNCLE JAMES. 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY, February 22, 1833. 
 ... Of local news, my dear uncle, I have none to 
 transcribe ; of the general public news of the day, you 
 are doubtless much better aware than I. Is not the 
 threatened tempest to be averted by measures of con- 
 ciliation now proposed ? Will the present brighten- 
 ing prospects again be overshadowed by the fatal ob- 
 stinacy of either or both the contending parties ? Are 
 we to have peace or fratricidal war? These questions 
 daily agitate and concern my thoughts, but of the course 
 of events I feel but ill qualified to judge. Can you 
 not enlighten me on these points by views derived 
 from your better knowledge and ample experience? 
 Another subject on which I feel interested to learn 
 your opinion is the doctrines sustained in the procla- 
 mation. You know in general they are anti-Virginian, 
 though there is a large party in the State inclined 
 partially to embrace them. In this part of the State
 
 .ET. 28.] POLITICS. 103 
 
 the politics are ultra-Southern. Here, therefore, the 
 proclamation is almost universally condemned. 
 
 I understand that Mr. Rives, our minister, has given 
 such dissatisfaction to the legislature that a propo- 
 sition has just been offered in that body requesting 
 him to resign his seat in Congress. Mr. Tyler, who 
 expected to be excluded, has been elected by a majority 
 of one. Mr. Leigh has not returned. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY, April 15, 1833. 
 
 . . . From Mr. Joseph Cabell, a Visitor of the Uni- 
 versity [of Virginia], and a very particular friend of 
 mine, I have lately received very strong hints of the 
 probability of a vacancy in that institution in the 
 current or following year. Possibly the preparations 
 now in progress towards the institution of the Girard 
 College have led to this prospect on his part. Should 
 such a vacancy occur, I have reason to expect from 
 him and others all the assistance requisite to assure 
 my appointment. Of these subjects, it is needless 
 to say, I speak to no one but my brothers and your- 
 self. . 
 
 These were the days of " nullification," and the po- 
 litical references are to the proclamation of the Pres- 
 ident (Jackson) in response to the action of South 
 Carolina. 
 
 Henry, after much hesitation, decided to remain in 
 England until after the meeting of the British Asso- 
 ciation, which occurred in June at Cambridge. His 
 stay appears to have been of the highest service to 
 him, and through him eventually to all the brothers. 
 So attractive did he find his scientific and especially 
 his geological work, that this appears to have rapidly 
 overshadowed in importance the purely philanthropic 
 objects which had carried him over the sea. Still his
 
 104 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1833. 
 
 interest in the latter did not cease, and he even gave 
 public lectures in the halls of the reformers. But his 
 pursuit of science became constantly more eager, and 
 before long he was honored by an election as Fellow of 
 the Geological Society of London. His experiences 
 are fully detailed in letters to his brother William 
 and his uncle James. We quote the following ex- 
 tracts : 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 LONDON, February 14, 1833. 
 
 . . . Parliament is in full tide of debate, and a 
 crisis of deep interest is close at hand for England 
 and, above all, for poor, unhappy Ireland. The mis- 
 eries in that devoted land pass conception. I have 
 acquaintance with two or three of the more aristo- 
 cratic families from Ireland, whose relatives are in the 
 Commons, and their description of the country would 
 truly appall you. O'Connell is taking a very elevated 
 position, and has already waged a most tremendous 
 attack upon the King's address. He will either effect 
 the Repeal of the Union, or Ireland will be in open 
 insurrection before another year. . . . 
 
 It is highly amusing to observe the determined style 
 in which Cobbett forces the proud and scornful aris- 
 tocracy of the House of Commons to give attention to 
 his scoldings. He has been flogging some of the high 
 spirits most rarely. O'Connell, as you will see by the 
 papers, is laying about him with a very heavy hand. 
 
 LONDON, March 6, 1833. 
 
 I should mention that at the last meeting of the 
 Society a very curious communication was read from 
 Brewster 1 onthe origin of the diamond. From exam- 
 ining the effects of polarized light on certain minute 
 cavities in it, he comes to the conclusion that it has 
 been originally soft like a gum, and he gives to it a simi- 
 lar source to the amber. I hardly know what to think 
 
 1 Sir David Brewster, Scottish natural philosopher.
 
 &i. 28.] VCONNELL. 105 
 
 of the notion. About every two weeks the President 
 of the Society, Mr. Greenough, who is an extremely 
 wealthy and munificent man, entertains the members 
 and other friends at his house in Regent's Park. I 
 have access to all his parties, and such luxury in 
 science I have never before seen. His library and 
 cabinet are a scene of perfect enchantment. He is a 
 very cordial old man. I met there Babbage, Ure, 
 Lubbock, Davies, Gilbert, etc., but none so awakened 
 my admiration as Babbage. 
 
 At the last conversazione in the Royal Institution, 
 Faraday's lecture was on the nature and cure of dry- 
 rot. He detailed a series of very elaborate and suc- 
 cessful experiments now making by himself and others 
 on the efficacy of solutions of corrosive sublimate in 
 completely preserving timber, canvas, etc., from de- 
 cay by this malady, which he showed us to result com- 
 monly from parasitic vegetation. Wheatstone lectures 
 there to-morrow night on some of his own discoveries 
 in vision and sound. 
 
 And now for politics. I have heard Daniel O'Con- 
 nell, not only in the House of Commons, but in an 
 immense assembly of the National Union, and cer- 
 tainly none but a son of poor, despised Ireland could 
 display such eloquence, at times so tremendous and 
 terrific, and at moments so melting and so tender. 
 He looks a very Hercules ; and from his sturdy, coarse 
 frame, bull neck, and ploughman air, no one on first 
 sight would ever suspect him the man of genius which 
 he is. O'Connell is making a desperate and powerful 
 opposition to the Irish Coercion Bill, as it is called ; 
 and, should you see in the papers the despotic nature 
 of the yoke to be imposed on that country, you will 
 not wonder at the frenzy it excites among the Irish. 
 Still, I fear the bill will pass, and what new act will 
 follow in this fearful drama the fates who brew the 
 mischief only know. O'Connell's influence in his 
 country is supreme, even to exciting the people into 
 tranquillity. If he escapes the vengeance of his foes,
 
 106 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1833. 
 
 and runs his career unharmed, I am pretty sure that 
 liberty in Ireland will triumph. . . . 
 
 LONDON, March 30, 1833. 
 
 ... I think I mentioned to you my expectation 
 of becoming a Fellow of the Geological Society ; on 
 Wednesday last I was regularly nominated by Turner, 
 De la Beche 1 Murchison, and several others, and my 
 card suspended for a few weeks prior to my election, 
 which now, however, is certain. It will be a source of 
 some pleasure to me, more especially when I remember, 
 as I always shall, the kind and friendly way in which 
 Turner, De la Beche, etc., have taken me by the hand. 
 Mr. Greenough, the President, also expressed very 
 kindly his pleasure at finding that they were to have a 
 young and active fellow-labourer on the other side of 
 the Atlantic. This silly bit of F. G. S. and the other 
 points mentioned, together with a strong desire to see 
 a little of England out of London, decide me to remain 
 longer than I contemplated. De la Beche is occupied 
 with a geological survey of Devonshire, Cornwall and 
 most of the South of England just now, for the great 
 ordnance maps, under the direction of Government, 
 and he desires that I shall visit him in Devonshire to 
 study the subject practically from nature and from his 
 lessons. This I esteem a great privilege, as it will fit 
 me, as you perceive at once, to do the like at home, 
 whenever the pursuit may prove desirable. And I 
 shall take notes, collect specimens, and I doubt not, in 
 the exquisite air of Devonshire, get fat and rosy cheeks. 
 
 De la Beche is bringing out an entirely new edition 
 of his work in very perfect form. He very kindly 
 offers to put the new edition proofs in my hands when 
 I go, sending the remainder after me as they appear, 
 that I may republish it with notes of my own, a mark 
 of regard that I value. He leaves the thing quite 
 to my option, but will give me the chance, whether 
 I accept or not. What think you? Could we not 
 do something good in this way in your vacation, you 
 
 1 Sir H. T. De la Beche, English geologist.
 
 ^T. 28.] FARADAY. 107 
 
 doing the authorship, I doing the geology with you ? 
 ... I was at the great Priestley dinner, saw all the 
 great men of the age in science, Faraday, Dalton, 
 Cummings, Daubeny, etc., and heard them speak. 
 Faraday is a prodigious favourite. So is Turner. . . . 
 
 LONDON, May 22, 1833. 
 
 . . . Since my visit to Oxford and return to Lon- 
 don I find I should be resigning chances of improve- 
 ment, of a kind and importance I was not aware of, by 
 returning home at once. Being now a Fellow of the 
 Geological Society, I should by right become a mem- 
 ber of this Annual Association of the Philosophers of 
 the Kingdom, they admitting me to a full share in all 
 their proceedings and privileges, with an especially 
 welcome reception by them as a foreigner ; so, many 
 of the members, Faraday, Sedgwick of Cambridge, 
 etc., tell me. . . . 
 
 My intercourse with the men of science is every day 
 becoming more easy and valuable to me. I go, free of 
 ceremony, to almost any of the societies, once every 
 week to the Royal, and, now that Faraday and I are 
 familiar, without even a member's ticket, to the Royal 
 Institution. Faraday is, I fancy, the leading man now 
 in England, and I shall not be surprised to witness his 
 fame much augmented ; he seems to be certainly on 
 the train of some very important discoveries in regard 
 to electricity. He reads a paper at the Royal Society 
 to-morrow night on a new law he has discovered in 
 electric conduction. 
 
 I went to Oxford under excellent auspices, previ- 
 ously acquainted with one or two of the professors 
 and taking letters. They entertained me for two days 
 most hospitably. I was present at their society, where 
 I met the whole body, went to several lectures, saw all 
 the colleges, museums, Bodleian Library, etc. Dined 
 twice in College Hall, with the Professors and Fellows 
 in their gowns and caps, at Magdalen College, and 
 attended them in great state to Chapel, the most beau-
 
 108 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1833. 
 
 tiful piece of Gothic, by the way, I have ever seen, and 
 with the finest choir of boys. Had I not been tied by 
 my trip to Bath, I should have stayed with them a 
 week, for invitations to meetings, dinners, etc., were 
 crowding upon me the morning I left. 
 
 I am getting now some little insight into good soci- 
 ety in London, and am invited to dinner oftener some- 
 times than I wish. I go to dine with a gentleman to- 
 morrow where I shall meet many very eminent men. 
 I only wish my dear brother William were here to 
 partake, as he would more beneficially than I can, of 
 the good spirit thus shown me. . . . 
 
 After Henry's return in the summer the brothers 
 William, Henry and Robert appear to have been to- 
 gether until the autumn, probably in Philadelphia. 
 On the opening of the college William returned to 
 Williamsburg, while Henry and Robert remained in 
 Philadelphia, the former offering lectures on geology 
 to the public to be delivered at the Franklin Insti- 
 tute, the latter attending the medical school of the 
 University of Pennsylvania. James meantime con- 
 tinued to live in Baltimore, and still retained his con- 
 nection as Professor of Chemistry with the struggling 
 medical school to which reference has been made. 
 Robert's ingenuity and mechanical skill, for which he 
 was noted, as well as other matters, are touched upon 
 in the following letter : 
 
 EGBERT TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, November 15, 1833. 
 
 . . . James, being desirous of having a galvanometer, 
 and not minutely aware of its construction, desired me 
 to send him one. I took some pains, and have made 
 him, I think, a very beautiful and complete instrument. 
 It is on the plan we last proposed as best, that in which
 
 2Br. 29.] 4 GALVANOMETER. 109 
 
 straws are used : the lower one, to sustain the needle, 
 I made four inches long, so that it might be astatic. 
 At right angles to the magnet I placed a very fine 
 straw ; this, as an index, vibrates over an arc of 60. 
 The arc at the sides and end is walled by a rim of 
 paper, and on the top is an arc of glass, the whole to 
 protect the needle from agitation ; it acts finely. 
 
 Since finishing this, Henry and myself have been 
 busily engaged in preparing for his lectures, which are 
 to be delivered in the Franklin Institute. You cannot 
 imagine what a beautiful set of models to illustrate 
 crystallography we have made ; they are constructed 
 of glass, which is put together by means of gum and 
 small slips of colored paper. They not only present 
 the simple and primitive forms, but also illustrate the 
 resolution of one crystal from another. Henry is at 
 my elbow, and bids me ask you to give him as many 
 hints as to the method of treating the subject-matter 
 of lecturing, etc., as you can, and to write very soon, 
 as he delivers his first on this day two weeks. He at 
 present thinks of treating first of Physical Geology, 
 or the present existing causes modifying the earth's 
 structure. The Institute is attended by an over- 
 flowing class, and I doubt not that Henry will show 
 them that he understands the subject and do himself 
 much credit. . . . 
 
 William's attention was now turned more and more 
 to geology. The powerful stimulus which Henry had 
 received in London towards geological investigation 
 seems to have been an impulse which reacted also on 
 William, who set on foot inquiries into the marl, green- 
 sand, and other deposits of Virginia l that soon brought 
 him into public notice, and into correspondence with 
 some of the foremost men of the country. 
 
 In the following spring he was attacked by a severe 
 
 1 See Geology of the Virginias. Appleton, N. Y., 1884.
 
 110 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1834. 
 
 illness, characterized by chills and fever. During 
 his absence in Philadelphia, to which place he went 
 to recruit his health, his friend and colleague, Pro- 
 fessor Dew, addressed to him a letter giving news of 
 Williamsburg : 
 
 FROM PROFESSOR T. R. DEW. 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, April 23, 1834. 
 
 You have no doubt heard from Mr. and Mrs. Empie 
 all the news which our miserably dull city can furnish. 
 We are travelling our eternal round of dulness and 
 insipidity as usual, lecturing, to me more intolerable 
 than ever. 
 
 . . . Dr. Peachy proved to me, as logically as the 
 47th problem is demonstrated in Euclid, that we are to 
 have ten students from Frederick alone next year, and 
 numbers almost innumerable from other quarters. I 
 am afraid this good news will neither stop your chills 
 nor make you strut. I have reason to believe more 
 strongly than ever, however, that if next year is a 
 failure like the present, the Visitors will consent to a 
 removal of the college. Be therefore of good cheer, 
 and continue present sacrifice for future fame. . . . 
 
 An interval of more than six months occurs in the 
 series of letters. It is probable that the brothers (ex- 
 cept James) were together during the summer. It 
 would appear that William was occupied in field-work 
 in Virginia and with investigations of mineral springs. 
 It was during this period that the first important 
 scientific publications of the brothers began. In June, 
 1834, William addressed two communications to the 
 "Farmer's Register," of Virginia, and at about the 
 same time made his first contribution to " Silliman's 
 Journal." 
 
 The contributions to the " Farmer's Register " (vol.
 
 JET. 29.] PAPERS ON GEOLOGY. Ill 
 
 ii.) are entitled, " Some Observations on the Tertiary 
 Marl of Lower Virginia," and " Further Observations 
 on the Green Sand and Calcareous Marl of Lower 
 Virginia." These are dated from William and Mary 
 College, June 26 and June 27 respectively. Later in 
 the same year (1834) " Silliman's Journal " contained 
 two articles by William, and one under the joint 
 authorship of William and Henry. 1 
 
 In the following letter, Henry refers to a corre- 
 spondence with the elder Silliman, professor at Yale 
 and editor of the "Journal" in which the brothers 
 were now publishing the results of their researches. 
 The letter affords a good example of the incitements 
 to work which the brothers constantly supplied one 
 to another, and also the variety of their scientific 
 interests : 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, November 28, 1834. 
 
 Having received a very friendly letter from Silli- 
 man in which you are as much interested as myself, 
 I enclose it, to save the trouble of copying, and to 
 put you fully in possession of his expectations from 
 us. ... 
 
 If you furnish him anything on the Virginia Springs, 
 it can only be a mere report, which would, perhaps, if 
 carefully drawn up, be calculated to whet the a] 
 tite for your book, which I assume is a godd 
 talked of. ... 
 
 I begin to think that we shall hold enviable ground 
 by and by if we persevere. Can you help me to some 
 references upon the subject of the twinkling of the 
 stars, a matter I am writing on for the American 
 Philosophical Society. . . . 
 
 Remember my advice about your book ; never 
 
 1 Experimental Enquiry into Some of the Laws of the Elementary 
 Voltaic Battery, vol. xxvii. pp. 39-61.
 
 112 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1834. 
 
 more than two hours' writing per day, and no copy- 
 ing. 
 
 Will you have anything, however short, for the 
 Philosophical Society in three weeks ? . . . 
 
 I have had a letter from James on electro-magnet- 
 ism which I shall soon send you. . . . 
 
 I wish much you were here. Can you not collect 
 some geology about the coal mines of Richmond ? . . . 
 
 Keep a sharp lookout for the eclipse, but you will 
 scarcely get this in time. . . . 
 
 The following refers to a possibility which had 
 arisen of William's appointment to some position in 
 Philadelphia, and also to an attempt about to be 
 made to induce the Legislature of Virginia to in- 
 augurate a geological survey of the State, such as 
 Massachusetts, Maryland and Tennessee had already 
 instituted. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 WILLIAM AKD MAKY, November 30, 1834. 
 
 . . . Firstly, of the contents of your letter so far 
 as relates to myself. I owe many kind thanks to 
 Dallas 1 for this evidence of his friendly regard, and I 
 hope he will feel assured of the grateful pleasure with 
 which his proposal affected me. Of the expediency of 
 my accepting the offer I really know not what to think. 
 I have endeavoured disinterestedly, and in calm pru- 
 dence, to weigh all the reasons and motives pro and 
 con, and I confess I am still in doubt. Had the opening 
 occurred last season I would have embraced it, perhaps 
 without hesitation. But now that the college is decid- 
 edly looking up, my health improved, and (I may say 
 it without vanity) my reputation in Virginia rapidly 
 rising, while at the same time a much wider field of 
 exertion seems likely to open before me, I feel that the 
 advantages of a situation in Philadelphia, great as they 
 
 1 Dallas Bache, afterward Superintendent U. S. Coast Survey.
 
 JET. 80.] PROSPECTS OF THE SURVEY. 113 
 
 are from every point of view, are less decidedly pre- 
 ponderant than they would have been at any former 
 time. Yet when I recur to the still doubtful nature of 
 my hopes of public employment in geology in Virginia, 
 and also the precarious tenure by which my health 
 must always be held in this climate, I almost decide 
 for a removal. So far as reputation in the community 
 is concerned, I believe that I shall soon have no com- 
 petition among the scientific men of the State. Letters 
 are coming to me every mail asking advice on the 
 subject of marl or some other thing. All these things 
 are in favour of my present residence. If I could be 
 certain of obtaining the geological appointment this 
 winter, I think that would decide me to remain here, 
 unless, indeed, it could be combined with my duties 
 in Philadelphia. To obtain such a situation from the 
 legislature, or, indeed, to urge them to any measure of 
 the kind, will require great activity, not only of me but 
 of all my friends. . . . By the first or second week in 
 January, I should know what the legislature can be 
 prevailed upon to do. In the mean time might you not, 
 as you have already proposed, undertake the "Journal," 
 etc. ? I wish you to give me your opinion on the point 
 by return of mail. I am sure that I could eventually 
 do well in Philadelphia, but here I have already 
 obtained firm footing, and this is what " gives me 
 pause." 
 
 I have been waiting for a private opportunity to 
 forward shells, etc., to Philadelphia, but I shall wait 
 no longer. In a few days I despatch them to Norfolk, 
 thence to be sent by packet. Of most of the speci- 
 mens I shall retain a sample myself, marking what 
 I send and what I retain with the same number or 
 letter. I wish Conrad 1 and yourself to name the 
 shells as numbered, so that I may thus learn through 
 
 1 T. A. Conrad, American paleontologist, Philadelphia. These 
 shells -were described by W. B. Rogers and H. D. Rogers in a series 
 of contributions to the American Philosophical Society, 1835, 1837, 
 1839.
 
 114 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1834. 
 
 you their true denominations. Many of them I know 
 already. If you have received the November number 
 of the "Register" you will find in it my article on 
 Artesian Wells. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY, December 22, 1834 
 . . . You speak of my intended publication on the 
 Springs. I am very anxious to have it ready by an 
 early day, but I feel still more solicitous to have my 
 results complete and perfect. For nearly a month 
 past I have been daily at work in further analysis. 
 Having water from many of the springs, I went over 
 some of my summer's work, and pursued the same 
 process with several springs which I had not then 
 examined for saline matter. I was alarmed to find 
 in the latter that the barytic precipitants usually 
 directed would throw down but a small portion of 
 the carbonic acid in the water. I had ascertained 
 in the summer that free carbonic acid was scarcely 
 at all affected by nitrate of barytes, and I was soon 
 induced to prepare some artificial carbonated water 
 holding up a little carbonate of lime. I found the 
 "barytic salt precipitated only a minute portion of the 
 carbonic acid. Hence you see that Murray's formula 
 will not apply to waters of this kind. With my ad- 
 mirable marl apparatus, 1 however, I can determine 
 the carbonic acid exactly from a given quantity of 
 solid residuum obtained by evaporation ; so that I 
 can correct the deficient quantity of carbonic acid, 
 which, however, I find to be excessively slight in the 
 White Sulphur. Of course, you see it will be neces- 
 sary to go over all the Springs with this view. Had 
 I the analyses to perform again I could with my pres- 
 ent knowledge obtain my results with far less labour 
 than I went through in the summer. 
 
 On January 1st I hope to put pen to paper in be- 
 ginning my work, but in the mean time I must be 
 extremely busy. What I have said about the inade- 
 
 1 See Geology of the Virginias, p. 10.
 
 Mf. 30.] HENRY PROMOTED. 115 
 
 quacy of the barytic tests is, I suppose, known to 
 chemists, but it is nowhere insisted on. My marl 
 apparatus now comes into most admirable play. I 
 did use it occasionally in the summer, but all along 
 imagined that the other process was sufficient. . . . 
 
 On January 6, 1835, Henry was elected to the pro- 
 fessorship of geology and mineralogy in the Univer- 
 sity of Pennsylvania, and on January 2, to membership 
 in the American Philosophical Society. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENBT. 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY, January 21, 1835. 
 
 . . . Nothing is doing yet on the subject of geology 
 in our legislature. Gregory is here, and tells me that 
 a proposition will probably be introduced as soon as 
 the agitating subject of electing a Senator shall have 
 been finished. I have great hopes of obtaining the 
 work. Your views of the best mode of prosecuting a 
 survey would be of great interest and use to me. 
 Please let me have a copy as soon as possible. 
 
 When William Martin comes on in the spring, you 
 can embrace the opportunity of sending me Lyell and 
 any other works that you may think useful. Please 
 also to obtain for me the following articles, and send 
 them by the same or an earlier opportunity : 
 
 1 platinum capsule, such as I had a year ago. 
 
 1 Ib. of absolute alcohol (French). 
 
 Half oz. oxalate ammonia. 
 
 Half Ib. distilled muriatic acid (pure). 
 
 Half Ib. distilled nitric acid. 
 
 1 four-ounce phial of phosphate of ammonia. 
 
 1 foot of small platinum wire for blowpipe. 
 
 These can all be obtained at Smith's. My alcohol, 
 with all the economy I have used, is almost exhausted. 
 The gill which I had at the opening of the course has 
 been used at least ten times in analysis, and, though
 
 116 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1835. 
 
 carefully distilled off in each operation, a portion of 
 course is lost. . o 
 
 In furtherance of the interests of the survey, William 
 went to Richmond and, after appearing before the leg- 
 islative committee having the matter in charge, was 
 awarded the privilege of addressing the lower body, 
 or House of Delegates, which he did on February 9, 
 1835. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 RICHMOND, February 11, 1835. 
 
 I fear you have been anxious on account of my un- 
 usually long silence, but I am sure that the contents 
 of this letter will more than compensate you for your 
 anxiety. I have been here for more than a week, 
 though when I left Williamsburg I designed to return 
 in a day or two. The object of my visit you have 
 already guessed. I am almost certain that I shall 
 accomplish it. A geological committee has been ap- 
 pointed by the legislature to report upon a survey. 
 Unprepared as I was, I appeared before the committee 
 two days ago, and, in an harangue of an hour and a 
 half, so interested them in the matter that the mem- 
 bers of the legislature requested me to make an ad- 
 dress to them publicly on that subject. With but a 
 few hours' warning and without a note, and without 
 even casting a thought upon how I was to address 
 them, and with only one illustration (a magnified 
 section), I marched into the hall of delegates yester- 
 day evening at half past seven. At least three hun- 
 dred persons had already appeared, and many more 
 crowded in afterwards. At my right were Mr. Stan- 
 nard, Mr. Wickham, and several of the judges of the 
 Court of Appeals ; around me on all sides were the 
 numerous members of both Houses of Assembly. It 
 might well have daunted a stouter heart than mine. 
 But a scarcely momentary tremor gave way to the
 
 ^T. 30.] AN ADDRESS. 117 
 
 conscious feeling of the importance and dignity of 
 the occasion, and I stood forth boldly and advocated, 
 I think powerfully, the cause of geology, developing 
 a few of its most important truths, and displaying the 
 benefits which it proffered to Virginia. I was listened 
 to with a riveted and deep attention, which satisfied 
 me of the interest which I excited ; and without once 
 halting or stammering or becoming confused I went 
 on for upwards of an hour, and when I closed loud 
 words of approbation followed me. Stannard and 
 others, here esteemed great critics, have been pleased 
 to pass high encomiums on my address, and its effect 
 upon the legislature is acknowledged to have been 
 great. What think you of my being asked for a copy 
 of my address for printing? I don't remember a 
 syllable of it now. 
 
 Friends say that the legislature will authorize a 
 reconnaissance this year, and of course I shall have 
 the management of it. You must help me all you 
 can. . . . 
 
 The movement for the establishment of a geologi- 
 cal survey of Virginia came before the legislature 
 in the form of " Certain Memorials from Morgan, 
 Frederick and Shenandoah Counties praying for a 
 Geological Survey of the State, with a view to the 
 Discovery and Development of its Geological and 
 Mineral Resources." These petitions were referred 
 to a select committee of the General Assembly, who 
 submitted (in February, 1835) a lengthy report. 
 This is published in full in the " Geology of the Vir- 
 ginias," pp. 754-762. The following letter shows 
 that this report of the committee was prepared by Mr. 
 Rogers :
 
 118 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1835. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 WIUJAMSBUKG, February 27, 1835. 
 
 . . . Yesterday I received the printed Report of 
 the Geological Committee, together with the bill, 
 which has by this time probably passed its third read- 
 ing and goes up to the Senate. The report was drawn 
 up by me, and has been adopted and fathered by the 
 Committee without a syllable of change. It was pro- 
 nounced good. The bill will authorize the appoint- 
 ment of a geologist, and if needful a topographer, by 
 the Board of Public Works, the joint emoluments not 
 to exceed 83,000. It contemplates a reconnaissance in 
 the first place, after which there can be no doubt of 
 a complete and extensive survey. I am told that 
 there is little doubt that the bill will pass ; but even 
 if it should not now, next year it certainly will. The 
 daily papers of Richmond have lauded my efforts in a 
 very complimentary style. So much you see for a little 
 enterprise. How much I wished for two or three of 
 your drawings at my public lectures ! With the aid 
 of one of the engineers, I copied on a large scale a 
 portion of Coiiybeare's European section by way of 
 illustration, and this was all I had. I hope Robert 
 will come as soon as he is able, and if you can spare 
 several of your drawings I would find great use for 
 them. 
 
 Have you, or can you get for me, a set of platinum 
 wire weights ? I have called on your kindness in so 
 many ways that I am really frightened at the amount 
 of trouble you will incur, but don't let anything I 
 ask take you from important engagements. Robert 
 will now have no lectures to attend, and he will exe- 
 cute my commissions readily, I am sure. . . . 
 
 An Act establishing the survey was passed on March 
 6, 1835, and William was soon after appointed to
 
 2ET. 30.] GEOLOGY. 119 
 
 conduct it. Henry began about the end of May, 1835, 
 a similar reconnaissance of the State of New Jersey. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 WILLIAM AND MART, March 25, 1835. 
 
 Your last letter, stating your hopes of being ap- 
 pointed to make the reconnaissance of New Jersey, 
 gives me great delight. I trust that we shall spend 
 many delightful and profitable days together in the 
 field. Your suite of rocks would be very acceptable. 
 Can you procure a small specimen of strontianite to 
 bring on, or have you any of the strontian or barytic 
 minerals in your collection ? I found a mineral in the 
 calcareous slate this summer which I judge to be of 
 this nature. I am about to examine it. Bring on 
 specimens of the New Jersey fossils. How I long for 
 Dr. Hayes's work and Sowerby ! 
 
 I have found a Crepidula new to me. It is very 
 smooth on the exterior, and the beak turns up beau- 
 tifully so as to resemble the Crepidula communis 
 ariells of Lea, only more beautifully rounded at the 
 back. . . . 
 
 On February 4, 1835, Mr. Eogers was elected to 
 membership in the Virginia Historical and Philosophi- 
 cal Society of Richmond. After his appointment as 
 Chief of the Geological Survey, other societies in Nor- 
 folk and elsewhere in Virginia, as well as the more 
 important American Philosophical Society of Phila- 
 delphia, offered him membership, either active or 
 honorary. 
 
 But now a far more important step than any he had 
 yet taken was near, namely, his removal from the 
 malarious climate of Williamsburg to the more salu- 
 brious and elevated region of Charlottesville. Early
 
 120 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. [1835. 
 
 in August Mr. Rogers received notice of his election 
 to the chair of Natural Philosophy in the University 
 of Virginia, and soon after signified his acceptance. 
 He was now in his thirty-first year, and had been 
 for seven years Professor of Natural Philosophy and 
 Chemistry in the College of William and Mary. 
 
 OP WILLIAM AND MASY COLLEGE.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNI- 
 VERSITY AND DIRECTOR OF THE GEOLOGICAL SUR- 
 VEY OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 1835-1842. 
 
 The University of Virginia. William appointed State Geologist. 
 First Report. Lack of Assistants. Henry Geologist of New 
 Jersey and Pennsylvania. Robert graduates in Medicine. Dis- 
 turbances in the University of Virginia. James Professor of 
 Chemistry in Cincinnati. Formation of the Association of Ameri- 
 can Geologists and Naturalists. Student Riots. Opposition to 
 Geological Surveys. Chemical Analysis. Ill-health. The Na- 
 tional Association for the Promotion of Science. Beginnings of 
 the Smithsonian. Discovery of Infusorial Earth. Chairman of 
 the Faculty of the University killed by a Student. Vain Efforts 
 to save the Survey of Virginia. Henry presides at the Second 
 Meeting of Geologists and Naturalists in Philadelphia. Removal 
 of James to Philadelphia. Lyell visits America. A Journey to 
 New England. Geological Discussions. William and Henry 
 present their Memoir on the Physical Structure of the Appala- 
 chian Chain, at the Third Meeting of Geologists and Naturalists in 
 Boston. 
 
 THE University of Virginia occupies a peculiar 
 position among American institutions of learning. 
 Founded by an ex-President of the United States as 
 an embodiment of novel and liberal ideas of univer- 
 sity education ; supported chiefly by the State, free 
 from sectarian control, and open to all classes of the 
 white population ; governed on the part of the State 
 by a Board of Visitors, and on the part of the instruc- 
 tors by the Faculty itself which was without a presi-
 
 122 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1835. 
 
 dent and answerable only to this Board ; located in 
 buildings expressly designed as an historical architec- 
 tural setting for a thoroughly modern establishment, 
 and fearlessly discarding obsolete or obsolescent edu- 
 cational ideals ; the University of Virginia has, from 
 the outset, been entirely unique. Thomas Jefferson, 
 its founder, after long public service and residence 
 in Europe, conceived and carried out the establish- 
 ment of the University, secured for it the support 
 of the Commonwealth, and imposed upon it not only 
 its architectural plan, but to a great extent its pe- 
 culiar educational features. Jefferson himself was 
 a graduate of William and Mary, but he did not 
 hesitate, in the interests of freer and higher educa- 
 tion, to view with complacency the overshadowing 
 and even the absorption of the old College by the 
 University. 
 
 The University was opened to students on March 
 7, 1825. It had therefore been in operation for ten 
 years only when William Barton Rogers was called 
 to it from the College of William and Mary. Ever 
 since the Rogers family had been established in Wil- 
 liamsburg in 1819, they had suffered severely from 
 the climate. In summer they had been compelled to 
 migrate northwards, and in winter they had felt its 
 ill effects. References to the unwholesomeness of 
 William sburg as a place of residence abound in the 
 correspondence covering the entire period from 1819 
 to 1835, and some citations have already been made. 
 Doubtless the vitality of all the brothers suffered from 
 this cause ; and to show that they were not peculiar 
 in this respect, the following from the President of 
 William and Mary may be quoted :
 
 . 31.] CHARLOTTESVILLE. 123 
 
 FROM REV. ADAM EMPIE. 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, April 1, 1836. 
 MY DEAR SIR, I have just distributed your sugar 
 to the children as a means of comforting them, for 
 Adam, Charles, Susan and Lucy have all had chills 
 this morning. The rest of us, thank God ! are well. 
 There seems no prospect of our ever enjoying health 
 in this wretched place, though we were to spend our 
 lives here. My own health is not good ; I have very 
 little appetite, and have had more or less of febrile 
 symptoms for the last six weeks. . . . 
 
 Charlottesville, on the other hand, proved to be an 
 excellent and wholesome location, and Mr. Rogers's 
 health improved. Of his first impressions little or 
 nothing, unfortunately, has been preserved. But with 
 the coming of the spring, after his first winter at the 
 University, he wrote to one of the Empie children 
 a rhapsody on the season : 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 14, 1836. 
 DEAR KATE, . . . Spring is now exulting in the 
 hills and valleys ; graceful and lovely is the livery she 
 wears. The soft green of the tender grass and grain 
 that overspreads the fields and meadows ; the deeper 
 hue of the luxuriant clover ; the rich coloring of the 
 verdure that spreads its ample folds even to the sum- 
 mits of the mountains, are a delicious luxury to the 
 eyes. Our gardens and lawn are beautiful beyond 
 description. Just now the early roses are turning 
 their blushing cheeks to the kisses of the sun, and the 
 flowering locusts stand around on our lawn like bridal 
 nymphs arrayed in white plumes and flowing lace. 
 Odours are wafted by every breeze, and the songs of 
 the spring birds awaken many a tender and many a 
 sad remembrance. Surely this world is beautiful, 
 and God is good. . . .
 
 124 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1835. 
 
 There is abundant evidence that Mr. Rogers's de- 
 parture from William and Mary was deeply lamented 
 by his many friends in Williamsburg. In this con- 
 nection brief extracts of letters, the first from his 
 friend and former colleague, Professor T. R. Dew, 
 and the second from Mrs. Empie, the always devoted 
 friend of the brothers, may be quoted : 
 
 FROM PROFESSOR T. R. DEW. 
 
 WILLIAM AKD MABY COLLEGE, November 2, 1835. 
 
 It makes me sad indeed to take my seat to write to 
 a friend with whom I have spent so many happy hours, 
 and laboured so many years in our old college. I miss 
 you exceedingly ; your rooms are as yet closed, and 
 when I stroll up and down the old piazza the college 
 presents to me quite a desolate aspect. I am almost 
 tempted sometimes to wish you here again, in spite of 
 all the advantages which I know you will realize at 
 the University. 
 
 Our old college has opened under better auspices 
 than I anticipated; the number of matriculates this 
 morning was thirty-nine, and I believe there are sev- 
 eral more in town to subscribe. ... I now really 
 think that if we had you with us the college would 
 have been thoroughly resuscitated, for the present at 
 least. . . . My dear fellow, I wish most cordially I 
 had you here to accompany me in my long and soli- 
 tary rides ; I think in one more year I should become 
 quite a famous geologist without reading. ... I sup- 
 pose by this time you are fairly under way at the 
 University. Have you trouble in governing your 
 students? How often do you meet in faculty? Is 
 your health good? . . .
 
 &T. 31.] DIRECTOR OF THE SURVEY. 125 
 
 FROM MRS. EMPIE. 
 
 WILLIAMSBURG, December 7, 1835. 
 
 . . . Christmas is almost here, and your coming a 
 daily subject of conversation. The children talk of 
 it with delight, and Lucy sings it over and over. 
 
 Old Mrs. Peachy gave a splendid party (she says 
 to the college). Every student was invited, and, 
 would you believe it, Mrs. Sally P. danced! Col. 
 Mac. gave also quite a grand entertainment, at which 
 (report says) both married and single became gentle- 
 manly merry. Mr. Bright had a stylish dining com- 
 pany on Friday. . . . 
 
 The Act of the legislature establishing the Geolo- 
 gical Survey of Virginia was passed, as already stated, 
 on March 6, 1835, and Professor Rogers was soon 
 after appointed geologist in charge. Thus began a 
 public and official service which was continued by his 
 reappointment annually for the six next succeed- 
 ing years. Thus also began that investigation of the 
 geology of Virginia which was his most extensive con- 
 tribution to natural science. 
 
 His public plea for the establishment of a survey, 
 and his appointment as its director, occurred while 
 Mr. Rogers was still at the College of William and 
 Mary, and probably this was one reason for his call 
 to the University of Virginia, although he was already 
 well known to men of science. Joseph Henry, then 
 Professor of Natural Philosophy in Princeton Col- 
 lege, and afterwards the eminent Secretary of the 
 Smithsonian Institution as well as President of 
 the National Academy of Sciences, wrote of Mr. 
 Rogers :
 
 126 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1835. 
 
 FROM PROFESSOR JOSEPH HENRY. 
 
 NASSAU HALL, PRINCETON COLLEGE, July 6, 1835. 
 
 Mr. William Rogers, of Virginia, is well known as 
 an ardent and successful cultivator of science. I am 
 personally acquainted with him, and have a very high 
 opinion of his talents and acquirements. He is one 
 of those who, not content with retailing the untested 
 opinions and discoveries of European philosophers, 
 endeavour to enlarge the boundaries of useful know- 
 ledge by experiments and observations of his own. 
 
 Should Mr. Rogers's life and health be spared, I am 
 confident that he will do much towards elevating the 
 scientific character of our country. 
 
 It is worthy of remark in this connection that the 
 young man of whom it was thus predicted that he 
 would " do much towards elevating the scientific char- 
 acter of our country " became in after years Professor 
 Henry's successor in the presidency of the National 
 Academy of Sciences. To him also, in this capacity, 
 fell the honorable duty of pronouncing the eulogy of 
 that Academy on Professor Henry. 
 
 To his academic duties and to the work of the sur- 
 vey Professor Rogers faithfully devoted the earlier 
 years of his service at the University of Virginia. 
 The winter of 1835-36 was comparatively uneventful. 
 His first Report, giving the results of his reconnais- 
 sance of Virginia and accompanied by a colored pro- 
 file section of the State, cost him much labor, not 
 only in the field in the summer of 1835, but also at 
 his desk during the following winter. In all his work 
 at this time he was cheered by the ardent affection, 
 sympathy and aid of his brother Henry. The latter 
 was living in Philadelphia, and during the winter was 
 engaged chiefly upon his own first Report of the geo-
 
 2Ex. 31.] HENRY, JAMES AND ROBERT. 127 
 
 logical survey of New Jersey. Robert was in Phila- 
 delphia studying at the medical school of the Univer- 
 sity of Pennsylvania. James, who had now a family 
 of small children, held a Professorship of Chemistry 
 in a medical school in Cincinnati. Henry became 
 interested in a movement for the establishment of a 
 geological survey of Pennsylvania, of which he was 
 destined to be the head. The attempt proved suc- 
 cessful, and in 1836 he was the director of the geolo- 
 gical surveys of both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 
 He also found time in the same year to assist William 
 to some extent upon the survey of Virginia. 
 
 Robert, meantime, was drawing near to the end of 
 his course as a medical student. His experiences well 
 illustrate some of the methods of medical education of 
 the time : 
 
 ROBERT TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, October 9, 1835. 
 
 . . . Our summer course has not yet closed ; it will 
 finish at the end of this month, when the winter ses- 
 sion will immediately begin, and then I shall be tied 
 indeed, listening for eight or nine hours daily to lec- 
 tures, and catching what time I can for reading up on 
 them. . . . 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, December 16, 1835. 
 
 Heartily do I wish that the days were longer. My 
 studies are crowding faster than ever upon me, and 
 my thesis is yet unfinished, I might almost say un- 
 begun, for many of the most important experiments 
 are to be performed. This moment have I been re- 
 leased from my last lecture (and it is now past nine 
 o'clock), chasing from room to room since nine this 
 morning. And yet I shall have to drop my pen in a 
 few minutes to prepare for to-morrow's lectures. . . . 
 
 Samuel Haldeman 1 is in town, and is quite full of 
 
 1 Geologist and distinguished philologist.
 
 128 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1835. 
 
 the geology of his neighbourhood. He is desirous, 
 I believe, of making with Henry's assistance a geolo- 
 gical map of that section of the State. 
 
 In analyzing some of the marls which Henry left 
 for Casamajor and myself, we find that, upon the 
 addition of ammonia to the digested marl, and sub- 
 sequently by heating, as directed by the books, to 
 thorough dryness, a substance is sublimed which is 
 by no means solely chloride of potassium, but in large 
 amount muriate of ammonia. You had better repeat 
 this, and see what suggestions you can make to relieve 
 us from this difficulty. We find that, by continu- 
 ing the heat to redness, we volatilize the ammonia ; 
 may not some of the chloride of potassium also be 
 driven off? 
 
 I wish you to think of the subject of my thesis. 
 Can you not devise some method by which I can 
 separate the colouring matter from the saline matter ? 
 for I consider it a discovery that is extremely difficult, 
 and has never yet been done, though generally con- 
 sidered as effected by simple means, such as press- 
 ing the clot between bibulous papers. In this even 
 Berzelius is in error, and therefore I am particularly 
 desirous of a method unobjectionable, as many of the 
 experiments heretofore performed have been made 
 upon the presumption that it was pure colouring 
 matter employed. 
 
 Dr. Hare is now upon pneumatic chemistry, and 
 my opportunity for experimenting has just arrived ; 
 but my lectures engross all my time, and it would 
 sometimes seem even more, for the duties of several 
 hours are sometimes pressed into one. This, there- 
 fore, you will not consider a short letter for one so 
 much a slave as I am. . . . 
 
 It was reported this evening that New York is still 
 on fire, and that six hundred houses have been already 
 consumed on the East River side.
 
 . 31.] MEDICAL EDUCATION. 129 
 
 March 20, 1836. 
 
 . . . You will be much pleased to learn that I am 
 successfully through my examinations, and that I 
 have not merely passed, but have acquitted myself 
 in the eyes of the Faculty with much credit. My 
 thesis I handed in but a few days before I appeared 
 for my examination ; it was read by all, and all com- 
 plimented me highly. Dr. Chapman was the first to 
 meet me when I entered the " green room." " Mr. 
 Rogers," said he, " we have all read your thesis at- 
 tentively and with great pleasure ; it does honour to 
 yourself and to the University. You need not be at 
 all alarmed, you are perfectly safe." He then asked 
 me one question, which I answered, slapped me on 
 the back and said, " You '11 pass." Dr. Hodge then 
 began a conversation about my thesis, and ended 
 with saying to Dr. Gilman, " I resign Mr. R. to you, 
 sir, and if you deliver him as well as he can deliver 
 I shall be perfectly satisfied." Dr. Gilman said I 
 had got myself into a difficulty, for " any one who 
 writes such a thesis is pitting himself against the 
 Faculty, and they are sure to try to stump him." But 
 instead of this he asked me two of the simplest ques- 
 tions he could think of, and turned to Dr. Hare and 
 said, " Dr., it is your turn." The Dr., without lifting 
 his eyes from a newspaper he was reading, called out, 
 " I pass this gentleman." Materia medica came next. 
 Dr. Wood not being present, Dr. Chapman asked me, 
 " What is opium? " and one or two similar questions. 
 Dr. Homer treated me equally kindly. They then all 
 rose to congratulate me. 
 
 This morning was the time I had fixed upon to 
 start to join you, but yesterday I received informa- 
 tion from Dr. Horner (the Dean) that the Faculty 
 had passed a resolution to have my thesis printed, 
 and another awarding me a medal to be presented 
 at " Commencement " (on next Saturday the 26th), 
 and were therefore desirous that I should be there to
 
 130 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1836. 
 
 receive it. A committee of the Faculty have been 
 appointed to have it made. They are not sure that 
 it will be ready in time, but, should it not, the form 
 will still be gone through. I have therefore to 
 postpone the time of my departure till Monday, the 
 28th. . . . 
 
 The young state geologists were hardly at the head 
 of their respective surveys before a very serious diffi- 
 culty arose in the total lack of properly fitted assist- 
 ants. There was no scarcity of young men willing to 
 become salaried assistants, but the experience of the 
 brothers in Virginia and New Jersey the previous 
 year had shown that young men competent to make 
 investigations in field geology were extremely rare. 
 As this was a difficulty which promised to continue, 
 William, who was necessarily confined to his univer- 
 sity duties, appears to have felt it so keenly that he 
 even thought seriously of resigning his professorship 
 in order to give all his time to the work of the survey. 
 Accordingly, it was decided by the brothers that Robert 
 should for the moment abandon the idea of practising 
 medicine and become William's assistant in Virginia. 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, April 10, 1836. 
 
 . . . Our great and pressing dilemma is for com- 
 petent geological assistants. The country does not 
 afford them : they are to be made by us, and patience 
 is therefore indispensable, for bear in mind that under 
 no circumstances ought the State to look to us for 
 detailed work; that is to come from the assistants. 
 Be not teased by what you hear, but quell the impa- 
 tience we have awakened, by pleading the importance 
 of maturing plans and getting duly organized with 
 fitly instructed assistants ere we go minutely to work.
 
 MT. 31.] ASSISTANTS. 131 
 
 These popular schemes are too apt to be abortions, 
 and better do little than go wrong at the start. 
 
 In regard to your survey, I propose to join with 
 Robert and Maxwell in about twelve days at furthest, 
 consult with you and lead them to the scene of opera- 
 tions, and get back towards the 20th of May, or sooner 
 if I can, with Maxwell, who is to be my reliance in 
 Pennsylvania with J. Eraser. Then, for a second per- 
 manent assistant for you, I am at a loss. Mr. Espy, 
 who has a strong leaning to geology, would spend his 
 vacation from the 20th June to September with you 
 and try what he can make of it, so that, if he should 
 find himself likely to make a geologist, he would give 
 up his school and become your second permanent 
 assistant. He could not do so, however, for less than 
 $1,500 clear of travelling expenses, but thinks we 
 might in a year induce the State to add a small ap- 
 propriation for Meteorology, a thing really of vast 
 practical moment to an agricultural people, especially 
 as he would do it by teaching a better knowledge of 
 the climate and the means of foreseeing storms, etc. 
 I design to give all my New Jersey appropriation for 
 assistance in that State, taking to my share the labour 
 only. Perhaps after a while I may shuffle it off to 
 some competent successor, and then if Robert wants 
 to resume medicine I could again take his place. 
 Keep of good cheer, and in due time we shall see all 
 things go on well. As to opposition and detraction, 
 of course I look for this, but I feel certain we shall 
 ultimately prove ourselves foremost in the ranks. I 
 am sending to Europe for several important works, 
 and by next winter we shall be fully equipped for 
 doing our tasks scientifically. Heed not the impa- 
 tience you witness ; it is the inevitable consequence 
 of our state of society and institutions. It cannot 
 harm us if we do not feel it. The New York survey 
 is ruined by attending to the popular impatience. 
 General Dix, who drafted their plan, confessed to me 
 in a letter how much the good of the measure has
 
 132 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1836. 
 
 been marred by it, and this is the secret of their great 
 appropriation, $26,000 per annum. . . . 
 
 Robert alone looked with some disfavor on this 
 plan, and especially as he had just been appointed 
 physician to the almshouse. But he cheerfully set 
 aside his own preferences for the common good, and 
 prepared himself to enter the service of the Virginia 
 survey under his brother William, who cordially ap- 
 proved of the plan. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 25, 1836. 
 
 ... I am now at electricity, and have a good deal 
 to do in the lecture-room. Next week I shall lecture 
 at night as well as in the day, in order to finish this 
 subject within the week. I have yet to treat of Gal- 
 vanism, Magnetism, Electro-Magnetism, Optics and 
 Astronomy, and I shall be prodigiously hurried. I am 
 in great distress about my book upon the Springs. 
 
 I look with great satisfaction to Robert's aid. I am 
 sure that physical science will open better prospects 
 for him than medicine. But I can well appreciate the 
 reluctance with which he will suspend for a time his 
 medical pursuits. Should he come on as I expect in 
 May, I want him to scour the Northern Neck for 
 marls and fossils, which he can do before the climate 
 becomes unsafe. . . . 
 
 With the opening of the season for field-work in 
 1836, William's assistants continued the work begun 
 during the past year, the legislature having voted an 
 appropriation. Owing to his duties at the University 
 Professor Rogers could not join them at the outset, 
 but that he carefully superintended and directed their 
 work the following extract from a letter to one of them 
 testifies :
 
 . 31.] FIELD-WORK. 133 
 
 TO C. B. HAYDEN. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 18, 1836. 
 
 . . . You must keep a keen lookout in the vicinity 
 of Norfolk, and in extreme eastern counties in gen- 
 eral, for deposits newer than the Miocene. You and 
 Robert both fell upon strata seemingly of this char- 
 acter at the mouth of the Rappahannock. You re- 
 member the peculiar oyster, of very long figure and 
 thick hinge, associated with clay of a darker hue, and 
 in the same neighbourhood with the gypsum. Look 
 out for a recurrence of these things. . . . 
 
 Let your notes always be very ample, for it will be 
 far easier to compress from abundant materials than to 
 remedy imperfections in detail. Remember you are to 
 draw up the results of your aquatic tour, and with 
 such modifications as I may see to be useful, this will 
 be incorporated in my Report. Take the temperatures 
 of such springs and wells as you meet with, noting 
 their probable depth. . . . 
 
 When released from duty at the close of the session, 
 Mr. Rogers joined his assistants in the field. Rob- 
 ert also was by this time engaged in field-work in 
 Virginia, so that, with Henry at work in New Jersey 
 and Pennsylvania, all three of the brothers were thus 
 simultaneously engaged during the summer. The fol- 
 lowing from William to Henry gives some idea of the 
 character of his work : 
 
 CHRISTIANSBURG, October 29, 1836. 
 
 MY DEAR HENRY, I reached this point yesterday 
 and have been kept within doors by bad weather. 
 This morning we had a fall of hail and now it is rain- 
 ing. To-morrow (Monday) morning I shall set off for 
 some of the coal seams in the vicinity of Blacksburg, 
 and shall probably ride into the mountains near the 
 Botetourt line. I am on the ridge that separates the
 
 134 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1836. 
 
 Mississippi and Atlantic navigable waters. An exten- 
 sive district between this and Newbern, which is about 
 twelve miles a little south of west, exhibits horizontal 
 strata of limestone, and this circumstance has probably 
 contributed to make the impression that this is con- 
 nected with regions to the west, in structure and char- 
 acter. 
 
 The sandstones which occur here, as a part of the 
 series of calcareous rocks, are remarkable for a beau- 
 tiful pisciform structure, like that of the specimen 
 from Scott County which Wyndham Robertson gave 
 us last winter in Richmond. 
 
 I have seen and examined the strange and interest- 
 ing regions of the lead-salt and plaister, and have 
 taken some useful notes. I shall cross the Blue Ridge 
 at Buford's Gap on my way home, about the middle 
 of next week, and I expect to reach the University by 
 Saturday. 
 
 I have heard nothing from Philadelphia since my 
 departure from the University, and I have become 
 exceedingly anxious and impatient to know how 
 you and Robert are coming on. I do not know how 
 Robert is now employing himself in Philadelphia, 
 but I suppose at analysis. 
 
 I am glad to be so near the close of my excursion, 
 for, although I have seen a great deal to interest me, 
 my time has been so restricted, and my means of loco- 
 motion often so very indifferent, that I have sometimes 
 grown quite impatient, though never weary. Besides, 
 I have felt a painful solicitude, which I have rarely 
 experienced before, on account of being cut off from 
 all intercourse with my brothers. I feel, too, that with- 
 out their companionship I am but half myself, either 
 for labour or enjoyment. When, my dear brother, can 
 we be so circumstanced as to work and enjoy ourselves 
 in concert ? This is what I now desire more than any- 
 thing else. 
 
 Of James I have not heard a syllable for a long 
 time. I presume he has written to one or both of you
 
 JE-r. 32.] FIELD-WORK. 135 
 
 since reaching Cincinnati. When you write, let me 
 know all about him. I am anxious, too, to hear from 
 our dear Uncle. I hope his health improves. Please 
 to remember me affectionately to him. 
 
 When, my dear Henry, will you join me at the Uni- 
 versity ? I shall be looking for you in November. I 
 have a great deal to do, my notes to put in form, my 
 Report to write, and my lectures to the engineering 
 class, in addition to the others. But I keep a stout 
 heart and work on, for I think I can do it all. 
 
 What would I not give to have you here ! and I feel 
 this longing now, not so much from the want of your 
 valuable help as from the affectionate concern for your 
 welfare and happiness which seems to gather fresh 
 strength as we are more separated. I sometimes, too, 
 feel a sort of awful foreboding that time and distant 
 occupations may wean us from each other. The tears 
 start and my heart sickens at such a thought. God 
 grant that this may never, never be. Life to me would 
 be worthless without the love and society of my bro- 
 thers. 
 
 Excuse, my dear brother, these perhaps foolish 
 thoughts, and do not suppose that I indulge them. 
 Are we not too much to each other for such things 
 ever to be possible ? A thousand blessings upon 
 you both, my dear Henry and Robert. Write to me 
 often. I shall write as soon as I reach home, where 
 I expect to find letters from you. 
 
 Your affectionate brother, 
 
 WILLIAM. 
 
 The cordial relations existing between Henry and 
 the English geologists are illustrated by a letter from 
 John Phillips, Esq., then Assistant General Secretary 
 of the British Association for the Advancement of 
 Science, who, writing under date of September 2, 
 1836, in his official capacity to request Henry "to 
 prepare a continuation of your [his] report on the
 
 136 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [183<?. 
 
 Geology of North America, to be presented at the 
 next meeting of the Association at Liverpool, in Sep- 
 tember, 1837," adds to his official request the follow- 
 ing personal letter : 
 
 JOHN PHILLIPS, ESQ., TO PROFESSOR HENRY ROGERS. 
 YORK, September 28, 1836. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, After I wrote this official 
 circular last year, I received your most welcome letter 
 containing the notice that you would give us at the 
 next meeting the continuation of your report, and I laid 
 my " form " aside as needless. But since, a few days 
 ago, I saw Professor Bache, I have resolved to give 
 you a few lines in addition to this letter of request, 
 though to say truth I have been and I am so drowned 
 in occupation that all my correspondence is in danger 
 of utter ruin through the mere distraction of my 
 mind. First of all, be assured that the continuation 
 of your report is most earnestly desired by the geolo- 
 gists of England, who received the former part with 
 great favour and thankfulness at Edinburgh. Mr. 
 Lyell and Mr. Murchison, as well as your humble 
 friend, explained the bearing of many of the ques- 
 tions discussed, and the whole meeting concurred in 
 the sentiments of approbation with which your labours 
 were mentioned. Some person or persons in America 
 sent over to England a rather strange critique upon 
 what he or they fancied to be your report (the very 
 imperfect abstract which was put by some person un- 
 known into "Jameson's Journal," I believe), and this 
 paper I threw in the fire. Others received this cri- 
 tique as well as myself, and treated it in the same 
 manner. 
 
 ... It would be a fatal error if you should sup- 
 pose your reputation unsafe in the hands of the Eng- 
 glish geologists, who are, it is true, very ill-informed 
 of the state and progress of science in America, but 
 who are, believe me, too well instructed in the merits
 
 JET. 32.] UNIVERSITY DISTURBANCES. 137 
 
 of your zealous labours, not to do you the fullest jus- 
 tice. Have no doubt on this point, I entreat you, 
 but send us the continuation of your work for the 
 next meeting in September in Liverpool. ... By 
 the bye, I have never yet obtained possession of the 
 Trilobites you were so good as to say you had sent 
 me, nor do I know at all how they came, nor to whom 
 addressed. Perhaps you had intended them for the 
 Geological Society, as the specimen you last sent, 
 which I confess I do not understand, nor have I any- 
 thing very like it. My last volume on Yorkshire 
 geology contains 420 species of organic remains from 
 mountain Limestone alone, and of them 320 are new ! 
 
 The return of the autumn found Professor Rogers 
 again at his post at the University. But evidence 
 abounds in the letters of this period, and those im- 
 mediately following, that his position was in many 
 respects difficult. His double service (to the State 
 and to the University) and his frequent enforced 
 absence appear to have excited the envy of some of 
 his colleagues, while his outspoken disapproval of the 
 behavior of the student-body served to make him for 
 a time an object of dislike to the unruly. The situ- 
 ation, therefore, became irksome, especially after cer- 
 tain disturbances which now interfered with the quiet 
 of the academic life. 
 
 On November 12, 1836, a serious infringement 
 of the rules of the University took place, and led to 
 the summary dismissal of seventy students. "The 
 grounds of the sentence of dismission set forth in the 
 sentence were, that the students included in it had 
 introduced firearms within the precincts, without law- 
 ful authority, and avowed their determination to keep 
 them in their possession, notwithstanding the enact- 
 ments of the institution and the express prohibition
 
 138 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1836. 
 
 of the Faculty ; and that these offences were greatly 
 aggravated by the circumstance that they were the re- 
 sult of an illegal combination between those students." 1 
 It was one of the rules governing the University 
 that "No student shall, within the precincts of the 
 University, introduce, keep or use weapons or arms 
 of any kind, or gunpowder." 2 
 
 " A voluntary association of students, styling them- 
 selves the ' University Volunteers,' had organized and 
 brought arms within the precincts, apparently without 
 being * aware that to do so it was necessary to obtain 
 the leave of the Faculty.' Application being made to 
 the Faculty, leave was granted on certain stipulated 
 conditions essentially similar to conditions attached 
 to similar leave in former years. One of the (seven) 
 stipulated conditions reserved to the Faculty the right 
 to dissolve the corps for violation of the prescribed 
 conditions or ' whenever the interests of the Univer- 
 sity shall in their opinion require it.' . . . 
 
 " These conditions, on being communicated to the 
 company, were not acceded to. ... On the contrary 
 they resolved ' to resist the authority of the Faculty.' 
 . . . And the second night after the refusal of the 
 company to accede to the conditions prescribed, dis- 
 turbances commenced by the frequent firing of a 
 musket or muskets on the lawn and elsewhere in the 
 University, which was continued on the following 
 night. . . . 
 
 " And on the night of the meeting of the company, 
 at which their resolutions of combination and defiance 
 were adopted, the breaking up of the meeting was 
 immediately followed by an outrageous riot, during 
 
 1 An Exposition of the Proceedings of the Faculty of the University 
 of Virginia in Relation to the Recent Disturbances at that Institution, 
 December 16, 1836. 
 
 2 Chapter iii. 3, Enactments relating to the Constitution and Govern- 
 ment of the University of Virginia, 1831.
 
 ^T. 32.] A STUDENTS' RIOT. 139 
 
 which there was a continual roar of musketry on the 
 lawn and in other parts of the University for an hour 
 or more, apparently intended to celebrate the triumph 
 supposed to have been already achieved by the combi- 
 nation, or to intimidate the Faculty into submission. 
 And subsequently their determination to carry their 
 resistance into effect was marked by every circum- 
 stance which could indicate deliberation and contempt 
 of the authority of the Faculty. 1 
 
 "On the sentence being made known, about four 
 o'clock on Saturday, a scene of unparalleled disorder 
 and violence was immediately commenced, which with 
 little intermission was continued until late on Sunday 
 night. The acts committed during the nights of its 
 continuance, particularly the second, were altogether 
 different in their character from those which have 
 usually distinguished college riots, they were the 
 outrages of an infuriated mob. Our houses were 
 attacked, the doors forced, and the blinds and win- 
 dows broken. And there is reason to believe that, 
 not content with this, they contemplated proceeding 
 to the desperate extremity of entering our houses for 
 the purpose of attempting personal violence." 2 
 
 The dismissal of seventy students, which followed, 
 naturally created a profound sensation and aroused 
 much criticism, but after order had been restored the 
 Faculty resolved to allow "to reenter those of the 
 dismissed students who should make application for 
 readmission, on their disclaiming participation in the 
 principal acts of riot and violence which had been 
 committed, or, if they could not do so, on their mak- 
 ing proper atonement therefor." 
 
 The whole matter led to the lengthy statement, or 
 " Exposition," from which the foregoing extracts have 
 been made, prepared by Professor J. A. G. Davis, 
 1 Exposition, etc., pp. 11, 12. 2 Exposition, etc.
 
 140 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1836. 
 
 then Chairman of the Faculty and Professor of Law. 
 The "Exposition" is dated December 16, 1836. 
 Among Mr. Rogers's papers is a draft of a letter 
 addressed to J. H. Pleasants, Esq., editor of the 
 " Whig," Richmond. 
 
 TO J. H. PLEASANTS. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA, December 20, 1836. 
 
 I send you by mail a copy of the " Exposition " of 
 the Faculty of the recent disturbances here, and of the 
 course which they pursued in relation to those stu- 
 dents who were involved in them. This paper, very 
 clearly drawn up by the chairman, sets in a just and 
 proper light all the incidents which occurred, the 
 measures adopted by the students and by the Faculty, 
 and the laws upon which the measures of the latter 
 were founded, and by which, as I think, they were not 
 only fully justified, but rendered absolutely impera- 
 tive. Perhaps no necessity for such a detailed expo- 
 sition existed, but as from more than one quarter 
 sentiments of approbation of the conduct of the stu- 
 dents have been heard, and as it appeared obvious to 
 us that these expressions of approval were founded on 
 imperfect or mistaken knowledge of the facts and law 
 of the case, it was thought that a more detailed view 
 of the matter than had yet appeared was, to say the 
 least, expedient. 
 
 I am fully aware of how much your time must be 
 occupied with public matters. Yet I take the liberty 
 of requesting you to read the " Exposition " herewith 
 sent, and, without desiring you to give it a place in 
 the " Whig," which I know would be inconvenient if 
 not impracticable, I would ask you, in case you find 
 the opinion you formerly expressed to be no longer 
 tenable, to make a remark to that effect, whenever 
 convenient, in the " Whig." 
 
 There are many students with whom your former 
 notice possessed much weight, and some of them have
 
 JT. 32.] A STUDENTS' RIOT. 141 
 
 probably been delayed in reentering the University 
 by the confirmation thus given to their views by so 
 high an authority. Without in the smallest degree 
 intending to sway your opinions, I would remark that, 
 in case you agree with us in the justice and propriety 
 of the course we pursued, and of this accordance I 
 feel almost certain, an intimation to this effect would 
 probably decide the course of several who from mis- 
 taken pride are now holding off, though extremely 
 desirous of resuming their studies in the University. 
 About forty of the dismissed students have returned 
 to their studies under the resolution of the Faculty 
 by which they are conditionally admitted. Others 
 will no doubt follow their example, and it is therefore 
 desirable for their sakes, as well as that of the insti- 
 tution, that an erroneous view of the laws and of the 
 recent action of the Faculty should not be counte- 
 nanced by those in whose opinions they confide, so as 
 to become an obstacle to their return. 
 
 Only four years later, Professor Davis himself 
 was shot down before his own door and killed by a 
 student celebrating the anniversary of this riot of 
 1836. 
 
 The survey of Virginia was continued in 1837, and, 
 Henry having resigned his connection with it, James 
 (who was still Professor of Chemistry in a Cincinnati 
 medical college) was appointed to become one of Wil- 
 liam's chief assistants. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 30, 1837. 
 ... I have written at great length to the Board of 
 Public Works asking their approbation of the ap- 
 pointment of Aiken and Hayden, formally announcing 
 your resignation, and recommending James for the 
 place. I have also given a detailed view of the pro-
 
 142 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1837. 
 
 posed organization and plan of operations for the 
 season, with which, I have no doubt, they will be 
 greatly pleased ; and in addition to all this, I have 
 given a schedule of the expenses which will be in- 
 curred, as far as I can make them out, and accom- 
 panied with such of the particulars connected with the 
 prospects of the work as I thought would make them 
 fully acquainted with our views, and add to the inter- 
 est they already feel in the prosecution. 
 
 I look forward with cheering confidence to the 
 progress of the work, whatever may be the difficul- 
 ties which from time to time we may have to encounter. 
 But I need not say, my dear Henry, how much of this 
 confidence would be withdrawn, did I not feel that in 
 your wider experience and clearer science, I shall 
 still possess a resource in cases of embarrassment. 
 When you first announced your intention to resign, 
 the pain I felt was much greater than you probably 
 imagined ; but in the kind and generous tender of as- 
 sistance with which you accompanied your resignation, 
 I felt my confidence renewed. How, my dear brother, 
 can I sufficiently express my sense of the affectionate 
 concern you manifest in whatever is interesting to 
 my health, happiness or reputation ? When I think 
 of the enduring strength of the fraternal ties which 
 unite us in mind and sympathy, how ardently do I 
 long for the arrival of the time, which I cannot but 
 think will come, when we shall all be together, as in 
 childhood, in the same house, and prosecute our re- 
 searches in a happy concert of activity ! 
 
 Since you left I have regularly taken a ride of 
 five or six miles before breakfast, and have been so 
 much refreshed by the exercise that I intend keeping 
 it up. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 9, 1837. 
 
 ... I paid two visits, of two days each, to the Blue 
 Ridge since you left, and have explored very closely 
 in the caves near Rockfish and Turk's Gap. I have 
 seen the fucoidal sandstone in large beds upon the
 
 2ET. 32.] THE PANIC OF 1837. 143 
 
 west side of the Ridge, gently sloping to the west and 
 lying upon the rocks of the Ridge. I brought home 
 from Turk's Gap more than a dozen fragments of 
 the sandstone with impressions. The stones are all 
 straight and parallel. I was amazed upon this visit 
 at seeing how much I had previously been deceived 
 by the cross joints of this rock, giving it an almost 
 vertical and slightly eastern dip ; but I caught the 
 beds in large mass very gently sloping to the west. 
 On Saturday (to-morrow) I go again to Turk's. . . . 
 What a disastrous train of difficulties have come 
 upon the country ! I greatly fear that our institutions 
 of learning will feel a share of the pressure next 
 season. The Governor has convoked the legislature 
 on the 12th of June, but what they can do I cannot 
 imagine. . . . 
 
 The last few lines refer to the financial panic of 1837. 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, May 20, 1837. 
 
 ... I found matters in the money world in a sad 
 condition on my return here. How I wish you had 
 some time ago transferred all the spare funds you can 
 command to this place, as for some time to come it will 
 not be at all easy for me to bring on Virginia paper 
 without a loss ! . . . 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, June 14, 1837. 
 
 . . . Uncle is mending in strength, I think, daily. 
 But pecuniary matters weigh on him to the detriment 
 of his health. The fact is, he indiscreetly embarrassed 
 himself by going too far into the stocks, and has been 
 obliged to sacrifice a little, and fears he shall have to sac- 
 rifice more. Had he only some ready means now in his 
 hands all would be right for the future, I believe. I 
 found him this morning nervous on the subject of his 
 commercial credit, which has always stood without a 
 tarnish. . . . He enjoined me not to desire you to lend 
 him anything, for he says he has no right that any
 
 144 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1837. 
 
 should be without the use of their money but himself, 
 who has played the fool. Still, I know that if you 
 could bring on one (or, better, two) thousand, he would 
 secure you in sound stocks, for which you could afford 
 to wait a year or two, while you will lift a weighty 
 load from his spirits. Indeed, I fear he has nearly 
 abandoned the idea of going to Europe, in conse- 
 quence of his apprehension of not having available 
 funds without a present heavy sacrifice. He knows 
 your generosity, and he bade me therefore be silent 
 on the subject of his money troubles. Don't let him 
 know I have mentioned them. . . . 
 
 Never did I want your succour and counsel more 
 than at the present time. I stand in a truly trying 
 situation. You shall hear. 
 
 The Government Engineer of the Delaware Break- 
 water some time ago objected to the Gneiss rock of 
 
 Chester quarries, owned by the L s, connections of 
 
 Dr. P , and preferred the unstratified trappean 
 
 rocks of quarries near Wilmington. The Secretary of 
 War requested the Committee on Science and Arts 
 of the Franklin Institute to give their opinion on the 
 
 comparative fitness of the two rocks. P , the 
 
 chairman of the committee, placed me on the sub- 
 committee of ten, eight of whom were escorted, at the 
 expense of government, to all the quarries and to the 
 breakwater. This sub-committee was nearly filled 
 by P 's personal friends. A partial, one-sided re- 
 port was framed ; at this juncture I came in from the 
 country. Much regret was expressed that I had not 
 given them my aid as geologist. I was even told I 
 had neglected a public duty. 
 
 The chairman of the sub-committee, James W , 
 
 required me to aid him by my geological knowledge, 
 calling on me in public meeting of the big committee 
 to describe the rocks by their right names. I said I 
 would not even name them until I could go down to 
 the quarries, for I knew the bearings of names. Thus 
 drawn in, I required him to pilot me over the ground,
 
 JET. 32.] A HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY. 145 
 
 and I went to the quarries. My convictions went con- 
 trary to the majority of the sub-committee in their 
 report, for I preferred the trappean rocks. I also con- 
 vinced Mr. W , against his will, and brought over 
 
 to my views a majority of the sub-committee. I was 
 then called upon by him and the rest to draw up a 
 report for him, which I did, embodying the views 
 
 expressed in the sub-committee. Meanwhile W , 
 
 having thus shuffled off the responsibility of the report 
 on me, hangs fire, no doubt from the influence of 
 
 P , and slinks behind my back. After numerous 
 
 long sessions (some of them five hours !) in sub-com- 
 mittee, we took into general committee three several 
 reports, one being mine, the official one being only a 
 set of meagre resolutions, signed by five out of ten, 
 
 and not by W , who was for pure neutrality. For 
 
 three sessions of the general committee I had to de- 
 fend my report and views against all P 's influ- 
 ence, which is mighty, but I foiled him by a vote of 
 eighteen to fourteen. Though fairly out-voted, he has 
 to-day called the general committee together for to- 
 morrow night, in hopes of having the vote reconsid- 
 ered, and I am compelled, after losing a whole week 
 already, to remain in town and renew the fight. The 
 stake is a very heavy one, some hundred thousand 
 dollars ; my responsibility is, therefore, very painful. 
 Thus far I have stood my ground against every sort 
 of unfairness, attack and ridicule, having succeeded 
 in carrying with me nearly all the true friends of the 
 Institute. He has packed the committee, bringing 
 
 against me such men as Dr. M , whose chemistry 
 
 I very soon dissolved. I am proud to say that, by 
 abstaining on my part from all personality and keep- 
 ing cool, I have won the confidence of the leading 
 
 men of the institution, while he (Dr. P ) has made 
 
 sad work with his reputation. I know I shall have 
 his enmity and that of his adherents, but I know also 
 my strength, and therefore I do not fear. . . .
 
 146 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1837. 
 
 Robert was not in the field in 1837, but was engaged 
 as an analyst in Philadelphia, and afterwards in the 
 University of Virginia. 
 
 EGBERT TO HENRY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, July 24, 1837. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon Dr. Caldwell, of the West, 
 called upon me, asked my age, my occupation, and 
 if I had ever lectured, and then made me the offer 
 of the Chair of Chemistry in the Medical School of 
 Louisville. From his representation and that of per- 
 sons I have since seen, there seems little doubt that 
 the Louisville school will far take the lead of that at 
 Lexington. One great advantage which the former 
 will have is that it will be located in a large town (of 
 30,000 inhabitants) with ample facilities for anatomi- 
 cal instruction and an extensive hospital. The peo- 
 ple of Louisville have presented the Faculty with 
 $100,000 and land to erect a building upon. Dr. 
 Caldwell seems perfectly sanguine of its success. The 
 class at Lexington last winter was two hundred and 
 fifty. ( 
 
 I did not, however, make him a certain answer, 
 though I had little expectation of accepting, and know- 
 ing pretty well what would be the wishes of yourself, 
 William and Uncle. I told him I would consult you 
 forthwith, and when I heard from you, would give 
 him a definite answer. Please, therefore, give me 
 your views. The offer is a compliment to me, if 
 nothing else. . . . 
 
 Bishop can make for me a battery (in a few weeks) 
 of 8,000 pairs, with all the arrangements very com- 
 plete and on an improved plan, for eighty dollars. 
 Though this seems a good deal, yet it is very cheap, 
 and I want such a battery very much. What say 
 you ? Shall I have it made ? Will you and William 
 not divide with me the expense ? At any rate, had 
 I not better order it ? I think I shall be repaid by 
 the discoveries I hope to make.
 
 MT. 32.] A PROFESSORSHIP OFFERED. 147 
 
 Do not forget to answer me upon these two points 
 at once, the school and the battery. . . . 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, August 28, 1837. 
 
 ... I look forward with great pleasure to my work, 
 and hope to get through with a great deal of valuable 
 analysis in the ensuing season. 
 
 There are a great many matters of research, espe- 
 cially in galvanism and electro-magnetism, I am anx- 
 ious to pursue. The journals are teeming with arti- 
 cles on these subjects of the deepest interest. I can 
 scarcely pick up one of them without running half 
 frantic. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, September 20, 1837. 
 
 ... I learned shortly before I left that the en- 
 gineers, to whom was entrusted the breakwater ques- 
 tion, had decided and reported in favour of the 
 
 L 's rocks. Dr. Emerson told me, however, that 
 
 this decision is not at all a reversion of your report, 
 but that the question put to them was quite a different 
 one from that which the Institute had. It was not 
 which was the most suitable rock for the breakwater 
 
 purpose, but " Was the L 's rock, at its price, a 
 
 suitable material?" No comparison of the values of 
 the two rocks for the purpose was asked. You will 
 not, therefore, feel mortified at the result, as you 
 would otherwise have been. It is a great shame that 
 
 W and others who have acted so meanly in this 
 
 matter should reap the benefit of their conduct, while 
 others who would have gladly avoided the discus- 
 sion should be made the sufferers; but I trust it 
 will all speak for itself, and things turn out as they 
 should. 
 
 William has a class of seventy, very promising 
 indeed for the time, and quite as large as at this time 
 last year. . . .
 
 148 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1837. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HEXRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, September 27, 1837. 
 
 . . . The joint examination along the Potomac is 
 the thing that I most of all desire. It is the only 
 plan by which we can finally dispose of the difficult 
 question of the age of our valley coal in comparison 
 with yours. 
 
 The southwestern counties present a strange state 
 of things. I am at a loss to imagine what Troost l 
 is making of the same formations in Tennessee. There 
 is really an alternation of Limestones, Slates and 
 Sandstones dipping east nearly from the Great Flat 
 Top to the Blue Ridge ! I expect to derive valuable 
 lights from even a brief inspection of your formations. 
 We have truly a sublime work in our hands, and I 
 cannot but think that we shall bring it to a successful 
 termination, if only time enough be allowed to make 
 our labour as minute and extensive as is necessary. 
 I have the " Geological Transactions," and the " Sci- 
 entific Memoirs " which were ordered for the Univer- 
 sity Library at my instance. The " Transactions " 
 contain all the admirable papers of Sedgwick, Murchi- 
 son and Fitton of late published. I am feasting upon 
 these matters. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 4, 1837. 
 
 . . . Tell Robert that the method of analyzing iron 
 ores, which I described to him, appears thus far to 
 succeed. By avoiding much excess of the acetate of 
 potash, and by boiling the mixture for some time, the 
 liquid passes through the filter as clear as distilled 
 water, and will scarcely indicate the presence of iron 
 by the addition of ferro-prussiate. From this liquid 
 the Manganese and Alumina may be readily separated. 
 
 I from time to time enjoy a great treat in reading 
 some of the late valuable papers in the " Geological 
 Transactions." 
 
 i State Geologist for Tennessee.
 
 33T.33.] DAUBENY. 149 
 
 In one of Sedgwick's I have lately read on the 
 Magnesian Limestone, I find some interesting views 
 in regard to concretionary structure. How admirable 
 those papers are in all respects ! 
 
 What lights do the geologists of New York seem 
 to have attained ! If you can spare time, my dear 
 Henry, write me particulars. . . . 
 
 . . . Oh, how I long to be in Philadelphia ! Soli- 
 tude is, after all, no friend to Science. My chief 
 stimulus of a truly exciting kind is received from your 
 letters, and sometimes, as for instance to-day, they 
 impart new life to me, and really make me happy in 
 scientific ardour and hope. You must therefore, my 
 dear Henry, write to me as frequently as possible. 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, December 11, 1837. 
 
 . . . Dr. Daubeny 1 is in Philadelphia, and means 
 to be here two or three weeks. I have met him, and 
 exchanged pretty long conversations with him. This 
 morning he called to give me a copy for you of his 
 " Report on the Present State of our Knowledge of 
 Mineral and Thermal Waters," read last year at the 
 British Association, and now in print in the last 
 volume, which we have not yet received. He told me 
 as soon as I had read it to send it on to you ; this was 
 in consequence of mv telling him of your forthcoming 
 work on the Mineral Waters of Virginia. He wishes 
 to see you, and I offered him a letter to you. At 
 first his plan was to take the University in his way 
 going South ; but as the thermal springs of Virginia, 
 which he means to see if possible, are not easy to 
 reach in winter, he has taken my suggestion to go by 
 Norfolk and Charleston and New Orleans, thence 
 to the thermal waters of Washita if possible, and 
 to come back here by Cincinnati, Guyandotte, the 
 springs in Virginia and your University. He is likely, 
 1 Charles G. B. Daubeny, M. D., F. K. S., English geologist and 
 chemist.
 
 150 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1837 
 
 therefore, to visit you about the early part of April, 
 as he intends to sail for England on the first of 
 May. . . . 
 
 He has already told me that he agrees with me in 
 the propriety of rejecting the European names of 
 strata, and says that we shall have Greenough with 
 us also. In Whewell's work on the Inductive Sciences, 
 many sound and broad views are set forth in agree- 
 ment with our own, so that we are in the right road. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 18, 1837. 
 
 . . . You ask for my method of examining the 
 Virginia anthracites. I follow the same steps as with 
 the bituminous coal. Our anthracites all contain 
 some volatile matter, partly aqueous and partly bitu- 
 minous. This is estimated in the gross by the loss of 
 weight by heating in the perforated crucible. . . . 
 
 Bravo ! your letter of the llth has just come. You 
 are well, at least so I infer from your silence on the 
 subject. 
 
 I shall start some more analyses of coals and sev- 
 eral lignites I have. 
 
 I congratulate Robert and you on the possession of 
 a snug laboratory. I feel, had I been provided for 
 some time past as I now am, I should have done a 
 great deal more, and more accurately. Where can I 
 procure Whewell's work to which you refer ? . . . 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, December 18, 1837. 
 
 ... I see Dr. Daubeny frequently. Saturday even- 
 ing I passed at Clem : Biddle's with a small party of 
 gentlemen in his company ; to-night I am invited by 
 Isaac Lea to meet him at his house. I am getting my 
 specimens in a condition of arrangement to show 
 Daubeny, wishing to let him see what we have been 
 doing. By the spring we shall all be able to let him 
 see more ; your sections and mine will then, I hope, be
 
 ;ET. 33.] GIRARD COLLEGE. 151 
 
 all drawn. He is very amiable, and I am sure you 
 will like him for absence of all pretence. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO ROBERT. 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, January 3, 1838. 
 
 One of my buggy horses (not Billy) was taken sick 
 yesterday morning, though apparently quite well be- 
 fore, and about tea-time died in a sudden spasm. . . . 
 
 I do not know when I felt more sad than upon 
 Levi's coming into the laboratory, and in a mournful 
 and scarcely articulate voice telling me, " Jimmy is 
 dead." He was an excellent draught-horse, and not 
 bad under the saddle. Young, well-proportioned and 
 of excellent temper. Poor fellow ! how many a hard 
 pull has he made for us up the steep mountains in 
 Hampshire and Hardy during the summer and fall ! I 
 could really weep over his loss. . . . 
 
 You cannot imagine how much pleasure I have re- 
 ceived from Henry's and your late letters, in which you 
 speak of scientific matters, and mention the conversa- 
 tions with Daubeny, and the favourable impression 
 made upon him. I have never before felt so strongly 
 desirous of being with you in Philadelphia as of late. 
 
 By the bye, I shall require to renew the pot of my 
 blast furnace ere long. The anthracite is actually 
 melting it down. Such a heat ! Why, when the door 
 is opened, it dazzles like the interior of a glass or iron 
 furnace. . . . 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, February 10, 1838. 
 
 . . . Robert informed me a few days since of 
 brighter prospects for Bache. That the preliminary 
 school of Girard College will be commenced, there is 
 not much doubt, though the council is disposed to 
 hang back as far as it dare. Bache is not without his 
 troubles, but he will ultimately succeed, and with glo- 
 rious results, for his mind contemplates a noble and 
 very wise system for the instruction of the orphans.
 
 152 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1838. 
 
 The Virginia survey had now been going on com- 
 paratively smoothly for nearly three years. In 1838, 
 however, opposition began to develop in the legisla- 
 ture, and Professor Eogers henceforward experienced 
 the difficulties which beset many scientific enterprises 
 dependent on state appropriations. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIKGINIA, March 8, 1838. 
 When I wrote you two days ago, I was in high 
 spirits in relation to my various tasks, for I had just 
 heard from Mr. Brown that the printing of my report 
 in 8vo form had been determined on, and was about 
 to be commenced by Sheppard. But I fear there is 
 trouble in store for me. By yesterday's papers I see 
 that some resolutions offered by Mr. Harmon, to aid 
 the circulation and to enlarge the edition of the re- 
 ports, met with great opposition, and that a long de- 
 bate occurred, in which the merits of these documents 
 were freely discussed. This proceeding strikes me 
 as being very indelicate, at the same time that it is 
 obviously absurd. How can those gentlemen pretend 
 to judge of my reports ? I take for granted that 
 some sneers have been cast upon my labours ; and the 
 thought of a legislative body employing itself in 
 venting spleen or exercising wit upon a paper of 
 which but a very few of them have any adequate 
 comprehension, really fills me with indignation. It 
 shows, too, that I have been mistaken in confiding in 
 the good sense and good feeling of our legislature, 
 and will destroy much of the satisfaction I have here- 
 tofore enjoyed in the prosecution of my tasks. I hope 
 that, when I hear definitely of what has been done, I 
 shall find that I now exaggerate its importance. Im- 
 mediately before adjournment, it appears that Mr. 
 
 , who opposes improvements of all kinds, made a 
 
 motion to suspend further printing on the subject for 
 the present, which was carried.
 
 JErr. 33.] THE MULBERRY CRAZE. 153 
 
 The internal improvement question has lagged on 
 very tardily, and I really fear that nothing important 
 will be done, after all the talking that has occurred. 
 Had I been in Richmond, no difficulty would have 
 arisen in regard to my report, because in the first 
 place I should have prevented any doubtful or over- 
 zealous movement, and in the second I could have 
 made full explanations satisfactory to all. As it is, 
 I am at the mercy of the ignorant or the illiberal. . . . 
 
 Do not suppose I am in despondent mood. On the 
 other hand I am labouring on hopefully and cheer- 
 fully. These difficulties are only what were to be 
 expected, though from the perfect smoothness of the 
 voyage hitherto I have been ill-prepared to encounter 
 a rough sea. . . . 
 
 In 1838 many intelligent people in the Middle 
 States embarked in a speculative enterprise for the 
 cultivation of the Morus multicaulis, or mulberry, 
 with a view to the rearing of silkworms which feed 
 upon its leaves. A feverish speculation in these trees 
 developed and ran like wildfire throughout all classes 
 of the community. 1 The Rogers brothers did not es- 
 cape the infection, and suffered a heavy loss of time, 
 energy and money. Of the last William was the 
 principal loser. That they were not alone among 
 educated people in this strange infatuation, the fol- 
 lowing, concerning certain professors of the Univer- 
 sity of Virginia, shows : 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 14, 1838. 
 . . . Robert arrived just in time to aid us by his 
 counsel in planting our buds. We had not buried 
 them enough, and though they were beginning to 
 shoot, they were doing so less vigorously than he says 
 1 See article, " Silk," in Johnson's Encyclopaedia.
 
 154 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1838. 
 
 they should. Bonnycastle is wanting buds. Harrison 
 will soon be desirous of making a little venture, and I 
 suppose Griffith and Cabell will follow suit. . . . 
 
 The immediate predecessor of the present Ameri- 
 can Association for the Advancement of Science, was 
 the Association of American Naturalists and Geolo- 
 gists. The following letter from Professor Edward 
 Hitchcock, of Amherst College, State Geologist of 
 Massachusetts, to Professor Henry Rogers, relates to 
 the genesis of the parent society : 
 
 AMHERST, MASS., April 4, 1838. 
 
 ... I shall be very happy to receive a copy of 
 your forthcoming Report upon the Geology of Penn- 
 sylvania, and will forward you mine upon certain 
 points of the economic Geology of Massachusetts. 
 You will see I have been compelled, as indeed I have 
 been in all my publications on the subject, to bring out 
 many things in an immature state. The thing of 
 principal interest in my report will be a new method 
 of analyzing soils, by my friend, Dr. S. L. Dana, who 
 is unquestionably the best chemist in New England, 
 and who is well acquainted with geology. . . . 
 
 . . . But, to cut the matter short, I want that you, 
 with such other geologists as you choose to associate 
 with you in Philadelphia and New York, should forth- 
 with appoint a time and place and issue a circular 
 summoning a meeting of our geologists. And it seems 
 to me important that this should be done this spring, 
 before the state geologists take the field for another 
 campaign. Let each man be invited to bring with 
 him any specimens he may wish to be examined, and 
 let it be understood that several days will be spent 
 together, and if you think proper, that an association 
 will be formed. Perhaps one or two public lectures 
 might be given during the meeting, or some of the 
 discussions be made public. I feel so strong a hope that
 
 JET. 33.] ASSOCIATION OF GEOLOGISTS. 155 
 
 you will listen to these suggestions that I will venture 
 to name the individuals in New England whom I 
 think it would be desirable to invite ; some of them 
 I have seen within a few days past, and they express a 
 deep interest in such a plan : Professor Silliman, Pro- 
 fessor Shepard, Dr. Percival, New Haven ; Dr. C. T. 
 Jackson, George B. Emerson, President of the Nat- 
 ural History Society, Professor Charles B. Adams, 
 Boston ; Dr. Samuel L. Dana, Lowell, Mass. ; Pro- 
 fessor Cleveland, Brunswick, Maine ; Professor Hub- 
 bard, Darmouth College, Hanover, N. H. I suppose 
 that New York or Philadelphia would be the proper 
 place of meeting. It is quite customary for many 
 from New England to go to the former city about the 
 middle of May to attend the religious anniversaries, 
 and might it not be well to have the geological meet- 
 ing about the same time ? I submit the whole, how- 
 ever, to your better judgment. 
 
 The following refers to a subsequent visit of Pro- 
 fessor Hitchcock to Philadelphia, and his continued 
 interest in the new project : 
 
 HENBT TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, September 26, 1838. 
 
 . . . The chief part of to-day I have spent in com- 
 pany with Professor Hitchcock, who, making a brief 
 visit to the city, called on me. He is an engaging, 
 unpretending, and guileless man, and is an ardent 
 enthusiast in his pursuit of science. . . . He sees and 
 admits already the want of philosophy in all those 
 who, like himself, have used old names for our strata ; 
 and he said unasked that he had perceived that I had 
 found a key to the geology of the greater part of the 
 United States. He is very impatient to witness a 
 summoning of the geologists into an association, and 
 says those of New England will obey the call most 
 cordially. He thinks we should commence it here or
 
 156 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1838. 
 
 in New York. What say you to our trying it for 
 next spring and in Philadelphia? Take this into 
 grave consideration, and give me your suggestions as 
 to whether it were better to delay the movement until 
 a General Association for all the Sciences can be 
 brought about, or to make it now for geology merely. 
 Every consideration touching anticipations of the 
 future convinces me of the importance of our exe- 
 cuting this winter, you your important task on the 
 Springs, myself my Report to the British Association, 
 and both of us jointly a general essay on the Geology 
 of the Appalachian region. Whether I go abroad or 
 not, I think I can do much towards these. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENBT. 
 
 UNTVEKSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 14, 1838. 
 ... I have two noble barometers from Green, and 
 two boiling-point thermometers. All these instru- 
 ments were put to the test the day before yesterday. 
 We took them in the new buggy up to Turk's Gap, 
 leaving one of each at Harris's, low down in the 
 Gap. Aiken and I proceeded with the others to 
 Turk's Mountain, which is a very prominent point 
 to the left, and a little west of the top of the road. 
 This peak is composed of No. 1 Sandstone, full of the 
 lithodomous impressions. Its height above Harris's 
 is upwards of 1,800 feet. The thermometers gave 
 results beautifully consistent with the others. We 
 then went over into the valley and made observa- 
 tions on the South River, Hayden all the while 
 making simultaneous half-hourly observations of both 
 instruments at Harris's. The next morning we went 
 to the Black Rocks, a still higher point of the ridge, 
 composed of Sandstone No. 1 ; this gave us about 
 1,900 feet. I am delighted with the thermometers, 
 which have been admirably constructed by Green. 
 They are graduated to tenths of degrees, and will 
 admit of being read to fortieths, which corresponds to 
 about twelve feet. I made a preliminary trial, as f ol-
 
 ^ET. 33.] BOILING-POINT THERMOMETERS. 157 
 
 lows : Finding the boiling-point on the floor of my 
 laboratory, I then transferred the instrument to my 
 bedroom and marked the difference, which was easily 
 noted. I then measured the vertical distance of the 
 two, which was twenty-nine feet, while by the usual 
 rule, deduced from the boiling-point, it was twenty- 
 seven! I have great hopes that these instruments 
 will help us in approximating to the topography. 
 They are quite portable, and could be carried in a 
 girdle. . . . 
 
 Aiken has not seen the formations as they occur in 
 our two northern districts, and goes to James to study 
 them with him and Hayden. His numerous profiles 
 (more than twenty), taken last year, I have been 
 going over with him, and I think that I have clear 
 ideas of the whole Southwest. But great and rapid 
 changes of the members of the series occur, which no 
 one but ourselves could have detected. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 19, 1838. 
 MY DEAR EGBERT, Peace has come at last, but 
 not without leaving many uncomfortable recollections 
 of late scenes, which are not soon to be forgotten. In 
 my last I believe I intimated something of a riot 
 either anticipated or actually in progress. This was 
 produced in consequence of the refusal of the Faculty 
 to allow a ball on Jefferson's birthday. You must 
 know that a ball permitted on the 22d was so dis- 
 graceful in many particulars as to excite general dis- 
 gust. One of our students was within an ace of 
 perishing by mania a potu in consequence of excess. 
 Both his physicians despaired of him for some hours. 
 I therefore, with others, decidedly opposed a second 
 ball, and through some treachery, where, I know not, 
 my vote was disclosed to the students, together with 
 some expressions calculated to wound their pride, 
 which I never even dreamt of using. On the birthday
 
 158 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1838. 
 
 night, tar-barrels were burned on the lawn, the belfry 
 broken open and the bell rung nearly all night. 
 Numerous students in disguise, with firearms, paraded 
 the lawn, assailed the doors and windows of some of 
 the professors known to be unfriendly to the ball, and 
 more particularly my own. At the same time the 
 most insulting ribaldry was used, and their violence 
 was such that neither I nor those in the house con- 
 sidered their persons safe. Accordingly we prepared 
 ourselves with firearms. On the next day the Faculty 
 convened, and, in the midst of our session, the chair- 
 man was personally threatened by one of the offend- 
 ers. By my instance, the action of the Faculty on 
 the accused was suspended until the next day, and 
 then another and worse scene of violence was pre- 
 sented that night. The following morning we acted, 
 and the next night the dastards made a deliberate 
 and almost silent attack upon my house, scarcely 
 molesting any one else. They broke in my front 
 door, stoned my house on all sides, and for half an 
 hour one of them amused himself by breaking the 
 glass of my back windows. The night was dark, and 
 he skulked behind the wall, and it was impossible to 
 watch, or he would have been inevitably shot. Aiken 
 and Hayden were with me at the time. All is quiet 
 now. The body of the students, of course, reprobate 
 the transaction, but here is the evil, their reproba- 
 tion is not active, and it is only by being so that the 
 institution can be saved. Our police is worthless ; 
 two or three rowdies can with impunity stone our 
 dwellings, destroy our property, peril our lives, and 
 take from us that quiet without which the situation is 
 unworthy a man of science. Three days have elapsed 
 since the sentence, and still one and perhaps more of 
 the offenders are in the precincts. The very man who 
 doubtless broke my windows I met this morning on 
 the lawn. Can an institution be permanent thus gov- 
 erned ? or can a professor consent to the degradation 
 of such a life ? I am determined not to do it, and,
 
 ^T. 33.] A CLOSING LECTURE. 159 
 
 my dear brothers, I write to you to ask your counsel. 
 The pecuniary sacrifice of leaving the University would 
 be great, but I shall have a support left, and I can 
 doubtless ere long have more. I shall have time at 
 my command, and my reputation as a man of science, 
 which I of course have much at heart, will be more 
 promoted by having more time for research. I have 
 read Henry's Report with great pleasure. How far it 
 surpasses in true science and broad philosophical 
 views all the others I have received ! I have received 
 the Maine, Ohio and Maryland reports of this year. 
 My own I place above either of them, but it does not 
 come up to Henry's. . . . 
 
 I have this moment received Henry's letter an- 
 nouncing the happy news of his success, and by the 
 same mail a letter from Auditor Brown saying that 
 our state printer declares that the 10,000 copies of 
 my report cannot be printed. What think you of 
 that ? Business is sadly conducted with us. 
 
 Tell Henry to write to me at once, and let me have 
 the views of all. Were I able to pass the winter in 
 Richmond I could effect everything I want. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA, June 26, [1838 ?]. 
 MY DEAR ROBERT, . . . The day of my intended 
 departure was that on which my lectures were to 
 close. But with a heavy heart, and thinking only 
 of you, I went over to my lecture-room half an 
 hour before the opening of the lecture, and to my 
 astonishment I found the room already almost full. 
 Students, persons from the country and from Char- 
 lottes ville, thronged in until at length they were 
 obliged to stand, every bench, chair, etc., being 
 crowded. It was evident that high expectations had 
 been excited, and all this from my having at the 
 previous lecture announced that at the next I would 
 close my course. Valedictories are not customary 
 here, and I had not intended to give one. Thus put 
 upon my mettle, however, and feeling that there was
 
 160 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1838. 
 
 something at stake, I struck off, after briefly conclud- 
 ing astronomy, into general topics of Philosophy, 
 Education, etc., and if I ana to judge from the pro- 
 found attention of my audience, and the remarks since 
 made, I was successful. I know I have done better, 
 and had I received your cheering letter before the lec- 
 ture I should have been quite another man. Yet I 
 believe that I have gone through my course with a 
 good deal of eclat. Next year I may look for a very 
 large class. . . . 
 
 Maxwell has completed twelve of the county maps, 
 and will make a short visit to Philadelphia, after fin- 
 ishing what he is now engaged upon. . . . 
 
 . . . Mr. Maury's Navigation is briefly and moder- 
 ately reviewed in the last " Southern Literary Mes- 
 senger." You will probably be able to recognize the 
 writer of this trifling paragraph. I wish to show the 
 kind people of Fredericksburg that we apppreciate 
 their hospitality and friendship. 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 UNION-TOWN, FAYETTB Co., PA., August 29, 1838. 
 
 ... It cheers me to learn the excellent progress 
 you have made in developing your intricate Appa- 
 lachian Geology. What a noble mass of materials 
 we shall have in two or three years ! I am sincerely 
 glad that James works so well. Of Robert's fine 
 talents for practical geology I have spoken. 
 
 Earnestly do I hope that nothing has interfered 
 with your design of visiting Tennessee, for the more 
 I witness of my own region, the more confident do I 
 grow in the retentiveness of type of our several for- 
 mations. Indeed, I shall be surprised if our thirteen 
 formations do not help us through the whole Appa- 
 lachian basin. I wait impatiently to know your views 
 as to things in Tennessee. . . . 
 
 I believe nearly all your sulphur springs are in 
 Formation XI. Now only remark the uniformity of 
 things. The only spring in Pennsylvania
 
 JET. 34.] GEOLOGY. 161 
 
 bling those of Virginia is one on the Portage E. E., 
 in Formation XL, and, though less powerfully medi- 
 cinal, it has every external seen in your sulphuretted 
 waters. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 2, 1839. 
 
 . . . My experiments on the Magnesian Limestones 
 are perfectly conclusive. I have more than twenty 
 which have hardened almost into stone. Of these, 
 some contain much and some little silica, none any 
 considerable proportion of Alumina or Iron. But 
 while they have set so completely, others, containing 
 much silica with the lime but no Magnesia, show no 
 disposition to cohere under water. Thus it seems 
 proved that in our Limestones the Magnesia is the 
 water-setting agent. 
 
 I am desirous of knowing when the " Phil. Trans." 
 will come out. If it were not probably too late, I 
 would write for insertion in it an account of my mode 
 of analyzing Magnesian Limestones, and a descrip- 
 tion of the experiments on the Hydraulic Limestones. 
 I have now no doubt that good water-lime may be 
 procured in a thousand localities in Virginia and Penn- 
 sylvania, not only in No. II., but in No. VI. and No. 
 VIII. What think you of the Natural Bridge and 
 Chimney rocks being chiefly of this variety ? 
 
 Eemember me kindly to Dr. Hare and family. 
 How do I envy him the relief he is soon to have from 
 the labours of the lecture-room ! My year's task is 
 not much more than half done, while his is nearly 
 finished. To be able in about a month to mount 
 my nag and spend the spring in the mountains, or in 
 explorations anywhere, would be indeed a pleasure ; 
 and if you were along it would be beyond everything 
 else delightful. . . .
 
 162 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1839. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 2, 1839. 
 ... I have to tell you of another disgraceful out- 
 rage committed by students. Two of them, not long 
 ago dismissed, made an attack upon Dr. Harrison 
 yesterday morning as he was returning from lecture, 
 one striking him with his fists while the other ap- 
 plied the horsewhip. This ruffian deed took place 
 in the presence of nearly one hundred students, of 
 whom only two or three attempted to interpose, and 
 they not efficiently. The rest, though as they say 
 strongly disapproving the outrage, looked on with 
 folded arms ! ! . . . When they had finished the ex- 
 ploit, they mounted horse and rode towards Lynch- 
 burg, but it is hoped the officers, who are in pursuit 
 of them, will yet overtake and apprehend them. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 26, 1839. 
 ... I really forget whether I mentioned in my 
 last that the two fugitives, of whom I have written, 
 were overtaken, and that in their desperate struggle 
 to avoid being seized, while defending themselves with 
 deadly weapons, one of them was shot badly in the 
 shoulder. He is, however, recovering from the wound, 
 and it is fortunate for our peace and safety that he 
 is, for the day after the occurrence attempts were 
 making, by the exhibition of his bloody coat to groups 
 of students on the lawn, to excite sympathy, and to 
 inflame them against the officers and the Faculty. I 
 think now that quiet will be restored. . . . 
 
 In 1839 Professor Rogers encountered in the legis- 
 lature further opposition to the survey, but Virginia 
 was not alone in its attitude towards geological re- 
 search.
 
 34.] THE SURVEY UNDER FIRE. 163 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 KlCHMOND, April 1, 1839. 
 
 I was on the eve of despatching a letter three days 
 ago from the University when I learned that it was 
 necessary for me to set off at once for this place, as 
 the survey was in peril. I came with all speed, reach- 
 ing here on Friday night. I found that, after a warm 
 debate in which unwarrantable liberty had been 
 taken, by dint of the powerful advocacy of Southall, 
 Kinney, Hodges, and other talented members, the 
 suspension was voted out by a majority of seventy-six 
 to forty-eight. It has yet, as a part of the Revenue 
 Bill, to pass through the Senate, where I learn it is 
 in still greater danger. . . . 
 
 I have no time now to tell you of the absurd 
 speeches that have been made in and out of the 
 House, the old falsehoods regarding the Walton Mine, 
 the objection to my spending so small a time in the 
 field, etc., etc. An ignoramus who could not put two 
 words correctly together made an attack in which he 
 attempted to paint me as I addressed the House last 
 year, having a handful of stones before me, such 
 as he could pick up anywhere in the roads in his 
 county ; some were red and some were white, and some 
 speckled ; and I talked such an outlandish lingo that 
 he did not understand a word I said, and he doubted 
 whether I did myself. But, after this farce, Southall 
 rose, and I am told made one of the most forcible and 
 overwhelming replies to all opponents that was ever 
 heard in the House. . . . 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, April 9, 1839. 
 
 . . . The Ohio survey has been suspended ; that 
 of Maine also; and Ducatel is now quaking in his 
 shoes. Thus goes on the reaction I predicted three 
 years ago. . . . Conrad, Vanuxem, and Hall of the New
 
 164 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1839. 
 
 York survey, called on me the other day to get me to 
 move once more in getting up a Geological Associa- 
 tion. It was proposed to meet early in April next 
 year, and meanwhile to write to our friends engaged 
 in state surveys ; none others to be admitted. I con- 
 sented. I could not refuse, as I was in this quarter 
 the original mover ; we can, however, think of it. If 
 we only had time this summer to complete our Gen- 
 eral Memoir, we might join them with advantage; 
 but I fear we shall have no time. What think 
 you? . . . 
 
 In April, 1839, Mr. Eogers was thrown from a 
 carriage and seriously injured : 
 
 JAMES BROWN, JR., 1 TO W. B. R. 
 
 SECOND AUDITOR'S OFFICE, April 15, 1839. 
 ... I condole with and congratulate you at the 
 same time on account of your " unlucky accident " 
 and recovery from it. I sincerely trust you will not 
 again be in such danger of a broken neck, considering 
 how difficult it would be to mend it, and how much 
 more difficult still to find another such head upon 
 any other neck. What with your escape and your 
 victory in the legislature, your elasticity of mind and 
 body will be so great as to be productive, I hope, of 
 some thirty or forty pounds more of flesh on your 
 bones than you now have, by the time you complete 
 your summer excursions. The fact is, you overwork 
 yourself in both respects, and unless you can manage 
 to diminish your labours you will wear yourself out 
 before you get through with this job. Let me hear 
 how you get on occasionally. . . . Why do you pay 
 postage on letters of business with the public ? 
 
 1 Auditor of the Board of Public Works of Virginia.
 
 JET. 34.] GEOLOGY. 165 
 
 MB. ROGERS TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 22, 1839. 
 
 ... I have looked into Murchison and am in rap- 
 tures with the work. In many of his drawings of 
 Silurian fossils, I think I can at once recognize the 
 portraits of some of ours. . . . 
 
 Had geologists commenced their observations in 
 the United States, would they have made the distinc- 
 tion of Silurian and Secondary? Is there any evi- 
 dence of any great epoch of convulsion after the 
 deposition of our Appalachian series, more than after 
 the deposition of IV.? Do not the red rocks con- 
 tinue among the coal measures after the transitory 
 actions which produced XII. ? and do we not in X. 
 and XI. mark the gradual approach to the conditions 
 necessary for the production of the great coal seams 
 of the West? For my part, it seems as natural to 
 make three groups I. to VII., VIII. to IX., X. to 
 XII. as two. ... I believe I remarked to you 
 when here the singular coincidence in strike of the 
 older Slates in Wales, Cumberland, etc., and our 
 Blue Ridge and Appalachian series. Murchison's 
 work shows this in the Silurian rocks very remark- 
 ably. He also points out numerous cases of inversion, 
 such as occur along our Blue Ridge, in I. and II., 
 his Limestone dipping beneath his Sandstone, as ours. 
 With what delight could I labour with you in com- 
 paring the results, so beautifully put forth in this 
 work, with our own ! . . . 
 
 The end of the academic year found Professor 
 Rogers thoroughly exhausted : 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, June 20, 1839. 
 ... It seems to be the impression here that no in- 
 crease of the vacation will be granted by the Board
 
 166 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1839. 
 
 of Visitors, as several of them are thoroughly opposed 
 to it, and none would agree to it but on condition of 
 reducing the salaries and fees proportionately. We 
 are all utterly worn out, pale and emaciated. But 
 our masters think we have light tasks, and seeing us 
 at this beautiful season when all is bright and attrac- 
 tive around, and when our duties have terminated, 
 they are unable to appreciate the amount of our 
 toil. . . . 
 
 The vacation of 1839 was spent largely in the field 
 in prosecuting the survey of Virginia, and the autumn 
 passed without special incident. Already, in the minds 
 of the brothers (Henry and William) those ideas of 
 the great Appalachian System which they afterwards 
 developed with so much success, were taking practical 
 
 WILLIAM TO- HENRY. 
 
 . . . S is a capital fellow in the laboratory, 
 
 and will make a first-rate analyst. B is, I am 
 
 sorry to say, very far his inferior in mind and in 
 application. So much for the difference between 
 being schooled in the Appalachian and the Alleghany 
 Geology. . . . 
 
 How fully and deeply does my heart respond to 
 the wish that we could be together in our travels 
 and in all our labours ! What is interesting to me in 
 Science loses half its power to charm because my dear 
 brothers are not by to share in my enjoyment. But I 
 have acquired the habit of late, whenever I feel de- 
 spondency creeping over my thoughts (and this not 
 unfrequently occurs), to look forward to the cheerful 
 prospect of our happy reunion ere long ; and when I 
 dwell upon this cherished theme I find my spirits 
 never fail to be braced and enlivened. 
 
 Robert's method of peroxidating manganese is beau- 
 tifully simple. This would at once place the manu-
 
 JET. 35.] ILL-HEALTH. 167 
 
 facture of chloride of lime on a sure foundation, and 
 render it immensely profitable. . . . 
 
 Reference has often been made in the foregoing 
 pages to an uncle, Mr. James Rogers, a merchant in 
 Philadelphia. Reverses in business, the sequel of the 
 dark days of 1837, now led to the removal of this 
 uncle to Charlottesville, where he found a warm wel- 
 come and a home with his nephew William. 
 
 JAMES ROGERS, ESQ., TO ROBERT. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 8, 1840. 
 
 DEAR ROBERT, I arrived at this delightful spot 
 on Tuesday morning before breakfast. William re- 
 ceived me with great kindness and affection : he had 
 a room comfortably fitted up for my accommodation, 
 which I now occupy, surrounded with books, pam- 
 phlets and newspapers. I ride frequently, and walk 
 several miles daily, often accompanied by your bro- 
 ther when he has a leisure hour. 
 
 I have, since my arrival here, enjoyed the change of 
 scene and charming weather of the past week in a 
 degree far beyond my expectations, and the influence 
 on my spirits is very great. I have really had com- 
 parative composure and happiness since I left the 
 scene of my pecuniary misfortunes. . . . 
 
 Throughout this year (1840) Professor Rogers was 
 in feeble health. He writes : 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA, March 18, 1840. 
 MY DEAR HENRY, . . . My only trouble now is 
 on the score of health. My throat is pretty well, but 
 I am gnawed continually by dyspepsia. How many 
 days has this vile tormentor caused me to lose ! But 
 I trust I shall be able to shake it off by care in diet 
 and by active exercise. . . .
 
 168 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1840. 
 
 TO JAMES BROWN, JR., ESQ. 
 
 April (?), 1840. 
 
 . . . My health is now rapidly improving, and I 
 hope that in a week or two I shall be in my usual condi- 
 tion. This fine weather has invited me out among the 
 flowers, and I have been planting the seed with which 
 I was so kindly furnished by the ladies. When I go 
 down again, I shall be tempted to beg for more mat- 
 ters to ornament my garden. 
 
 I hope my good friend is quite well, and that Mrs. 
 B. and the ladies are enjoying the sweet air and bright 
 verdure of the season. Oh, that I could rest for a 
 week or two with kind friends in Richmond! I 
 should be worth a dozen of what I am now. . . . 
 
 FROM H. C. WILLIAMS, ESQ. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., May 26, 1840. 
 
 DEAR SIB, We have recently organized a Soci- 
 ety l here, the object of which is to form cabinets of 
 
 1 "In 1840 two important national societies were founded, the 
 National Institution for the Promotion of Science, and the American 
 Society of Geologists and Naturalists, the one an association with a 
 great membership, scientific and otherwise, including a large number 
 of government officials; the other composed exclusively of profes- 
 sional naturalists. 
 
 " The purpose of each was the advancement of the scientific interests 
 of the nation, which seemed more likely to receive substantial aid, 
 now that the money bequeathed by Smithson was lying in the Treas- 
 ury vaults waiting to be used. 
 
 " The National Institution, under the leadership of Joel R. Poinsett, 
 of South Carolina, then Secretary of War, assisted by General J. J. 
 Abert, F. A. Markoe, and others, had a short but brilliant career, 
 which endured until the close of the Tyler administration and had an 
 important influence on public opinion, bringing about in the minds of 
 the people and of Congress a disposition to make proper use of the 
 Smithson bequest, and which also did much to prepare the way for 
 the National Museum. The extensive collections of the National In- 
 stitution, and those of the Wilkes Expedition and other government 
 surveys, were in time merged with those of the Smithsonian Institu-
 
 2ET.35.] A NEW SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 169 
 
 Natural Science. We shall take in every branch, 
 and the specimens received from the Exploring Ex- 
 pedition, those collected by Dr. Owen in Wisconsin 
 and Iowa, together with those now in the possession 
 of the Department, will make a very handsome be- 
 ginning. You will be written to officially on the sub- 
 ject, as we shall address a circular to the scientific 
 gentlemen of this and foreign countries, to the Ex- 
 ecutive of the several States, and to the governments 
 in friendly correspondence with ours, requesting their 
 aid. The Society was formed under the auspices of 
 the Secretary of War ; it will be a governmental mat- 
 ter, but private individuals, for a while, will have 
 charge of it on their own account. By next winter 
 we anticipate such a fine collection that Congress will 
 be induced to make a handsome appropriation to 
 carry on the enterprise. Gentlemen of all political 
 parties are active members of the Society, among 
 whom may be mentioned Mr. Adams, Colonel Benton 
 and Dr. Linn. One of the professors from Princeton 
 College took an active part in forming the Society, 
 his name I can neither spell nor pronounce, Colonel 
 Totton, Colonel Abert, Mr. Markoe, Professor Hall, 
 and some second-rate scientific men, with a lower 
 order made up of myself. General Patton and some 
 
 tion, and, having been greatly increased at the close of the Centennial 
 Exposition, began in 1879 to receive substantial support from Con- 
 
 " The Society of Geologists was not so prominent at the time, but it 
 has had a longer history, for in 1850 it became the American Associa- 
 tion for the Advancement of Science. Although it dated its origin 
 from 1840, it was essentially a revival and continuation of the old 
 American Geological Society, organized September 6, 1819, in the 
 Philosophical Room of Yale College, and in its day a most important 
 body. Its members, following European usage, appended to their 
 names the symbols, ' M. A. G. S.,' and among them were many dis- 
 tinguished men, for at that time almost every one who studied any 
 branch of science cultivated geology also." G. Brown Goode, 
 Origin of the Natural Science and Educational Institutions of the 
 United States, pp. 66, 67. 1890.
 
 170 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1840. 
 
 others are the working members. Mr. Markoe has 
 a splendid collection. Dr. Hall's ranks next, then 
 Messrs. Abert's and Totton's ; these gentlemen will 
 make large deposits in the cabinet of the Society so 
 that it will be complete in the first instance in Min- 
 eralogy, and very full in Geology. We indulge very 
 sanguine hopes of being able to perpetuate the Soci- 
 ety ; the government will have so large an interest in 
 it that it must remain, and if we can keep up the 
 spirit in twenty persons, there will be no danger of a 
 premature death, as in the case of the Columbian In- 
 stitute. When you again pass this way, it is to be 
 hoped that we shall have enough to engage your at- 
 tention for a day at least, and, as I live within forty 
 yards of the building we shall temporarily use, you 
 will be pleased to make my house your stopping-place. 
 It will afford me infinite pleasure to show you our 
 collection, and introduce you to such of our members 
 as you may not be acquainted with. 
 
 On August 22, 1840, Professor Eogers was in- 
 formed of his election to membership in the National 
 Institution for the Promotion of Science, and the fol- 
 lowing is his letter of acknowledgment : 
 
 TO H. C. WILLIAMS, ESQ. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, September 8, 1840. 
 DEAE SIR, The hurry of our first collegiate week 
 must be my apology for having delayed replying to 
 your gratifying letter, and tendering my acknowledg- 
 ment for the honour of being enrolled among the mem- 
 bers of your new Institution for the Promotion of 
 Science. Though from the number and urgency of my 
 other scientific engagements it may not be in my 
 power to contribute such aid to the Society as to ren- 
 der me really deserving of membership, I heartily 
 promise you whatever help it may be in my power to 
 give, and I hope that the early completion of some
 
 JEx. 35.] A NEW SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 171 
 
 of my present tasks will enable me ere very long to 
 become a more efficient auxiliary. 
 
 Not knowing exactly the scope of the Institution, 
 more particulary as relates to your meetings and pub- 
 lic exercises, if any, I take the liberty of suggesting, 
 as likely to prove useful in giving greater publicity to 
 your proceedings, the delivery of occasional or regular 
 lectures on subjects of natural science during the win- 
 ter. A few able discourses of this kind, by the inter- 
 est they would excite in the enlightened minds then 
 assembled in Washington, might conduce more to 
 your prosperity than, even with your observations of 
 the effects produced by analogous means in regard to 
 other matters, you would be inclined to suppose. From 
 my own experience I can confidently say that in this 
 country a most ready sympathy is always accorded 
 to the aspirations of those devoting themselves to 
 practical science, whenever its claims are justly and 
 adequately set forth. Probably you have already 
 projected such a plan of public discourses. If so, as 
 the only means at present in my power of forwarding 
 your views, and in token of my sincere desire to pro- 
 mote the highly laudable objects to which you propose 
 devoting yourselves, I will promise to take a part in 
 these discourses, at some convenient time during the 
 winter, to the extent of one or two lectures. 
 
 I am much pleased with the Address you have been 
 kind enough to forward to me, and send you a copy 
 of my last Report, for the Society. As soon as I can 
 procure copies of my other Reports, I will send you 
 an entire set. 
 
 With best wishes for your health, and for the suc- 
 cess of the Society, I remain, dear sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WILLIAM B. ROGERS.
 
 172 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1840. 
 
 FROM H. C. WILLIAMS, ESQ. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., October 10, 1840. 
 
 DEAR SIR, A variety of engagements has pre- 
 vented my acknowledging the receipt of your letter and 
 last annual Report. I took the liberty of showing your 
 letter to Mr. Secretary Poinsett, who expressed him- 
 self highly pleased with your suggestions. We have 
 contemplated the delivery of lectures, but that will 
 depend upon our receiving the Smithsonian bequest. 
 An effort will be made this winter to blend the two 
 Institutions, and as the dividend of the bequest now 
 exceeds thirty thousand dollars, there is an income 
 sufficient to compensate several professors, and the 
 sum already accrued can be applied to the purchase 
 of a library and philosophical apparatus. Mr. Adams's 
 project l stands in our way, but that obstacle is not 
 regarded as insurmountable. Mr. Poinsett asked me if 
 I thought that you could be induced to accept of one 
 of the professorships. My reply was, that I believed 
 you were much attached to the University, but if the 
 National Institution was established on the broad basis 
 that had been contemplated, the liberal salaries to the 
 professors, together with the disposal of their time 
 during the recess of Congress, being inducements, as I 
 thought, you might regard an offer of the kind in a 
 favourable point of view. Should this scheme succeed, 
 the professors will have to be taken from the colleges 
 and universities of this country ; the most distin- 
 guished gentlemen will be selected, and we shall have 
 to propose larger salaries than a state institution can 
 afford. I think the Secretary has his eye on you for 
 Geology or Natural Philosophy. I think it right to 
 put you in possession of this conversation. Mr. Poin- 
 sett will deliver an oration before the Society some time 
 during the winter. Now we are busily employed in 
 preparing to make a good show by the meeting of 
 Congress ; from that body we have received the favour 
 1 See Pop. Science Monthly, January, 1896, p. 294.
 
 2Er. 36.] A NEW SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 173 
 
 of $500, and at the ensuing session some further ap- 
 propriation will be asked. In a few days Dr. Owen's 
 collection will arrive ; but the specimens sent home 
 by the Exploring Expedition will remain untouched 
 until the squadron returns. 
 
 FROM J. K. POINSETT, SECRETARY OF WAR. 
 
 WASHINGTON, December 28, 1840. 
 
 SIR, At the last monthly meeting of the "Na- 
 tional Institution for the Promotion of Science," it 
 was unanimously resolved that an effort should be 
 made to have a course of lectures delivered during 
 the present season on the several subjects which oc- 
 cupy the attention of the Institution, as the best means 
 of promoting its designs, securing the favourable 
 notice of Congress, and procuring the cooperation of 
 men of science throughout the Union. The duty was 
 assigned to me, as senior director, of soliciting for 
 this purpose the services of the members of the Insti- 
 tution, and of professors and gentlemen in the neigh- 
 bouring cities and States. 
 
 The high opinion entertained by the members of the 
 Institution, and my own estimate of your attainments 
 and qualifications, induce me to address myself to you 
 with the hope that it may be consistent with your in- 
 clination, and with other engagements, to deliver one of 
 the series of lectures at as early a period as may suit 
 your convenience. 
 
 Should it be in your power to confer upon the In- 
 stitution the favour of complying with this application, 
 it will be left entirely to your judgment to select such 
 a subject as you may think best adapted to promote 
 the objects of the Institution. 
 
 With respectful consideration, I have the honour to 
 be, sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. R. POINSETT. 
 PROFESSOR W. B. ROGERS, 
 
 University of Virginia.
 
 174 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1840. 
 
 In 1840 Mr. Rogers made the important discovery 
 that large deposits of " infusorial earth, 1 " now so-called, 
 occur in Virginia. His first reference to this subject 
 appears in a letter to his brother Robert. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, July 1, 1840. 
 
 DEAR ROBERT, . . . What do you think? The 
 light white earth from the Rappahannock Cliffs, which 
 you thought some years ago might be carb. of magne- 
 sia, but which we proved to be very pure silex, turns 
 out to be a mass of Infusoria. This is a discovery, 
 I find also that the light and very white silicious earth 
 contained in our iron ore in the hollow nodules, etc., 
 is largely composed of Infusoria of a different de- 
 scription. 1 
 
 During the summer of 1840 William and Henry 
 met in Philadelphia, and proceeded northwards as far 
 as Canada and New England. They started on Au- 
 gust 21 " with the double view of geological inquiry 
 and wholesome travel." Mr. James Rogers (the uncle) 
 remained in William's house at the University. The 
 part which he played in the bachelor housekeeping 
 became more and more important, and the arrange- 
 ment was clearly of mutual benefit. 
 
 MB. ROGERS TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, September 14, 1840. 
 ... Be assured, my dear Henry, I shall avoid tax- 
 ing myself with all unnecessary labour. I am as yet 
 lecturing but three times a week, and will at no time 
 meet my classes more than six times. The remem- 
 brance of my prostration last session would be of itself 
 sufficient motive to avoid excessive labour, for I have 
 not yet recovered from the shock I then sustained. 
 1 See Geology of the Virginias, p. 438. ^
 
 JErr. 36.] DISCOVERY OF INFUSORIAL EARTH. 175 
 
 With less power to make strong temporary exertion, 
 my health is certainly better than it was last autumn. 
 Uncle has greatly improved my household arrange- 
 ments, and with far more comfort and retirement, we 
 are living much more economically than heretofore. 
 I have found him so judicious in managing, that I 
 commit all these matters to his direction. He will, 
 of course, continue with me this winter, and will be 
 the only guest I shall have. I am making a study of 
 my large room upstairs, where I am now seated, and 
 using the room below exclusively as a dining and re- 
 ceiving room. With a stove instead of the Franklin, 
 and the front windows boarded up, I shall make myself 
 quite snug. 
 
 You ought all to seek agreeable society as often as 
 possible. I hope James will not continue so recluse 
 as he has been, nor ought you, my dear Henry, to 
 omit frequent if not daily social relaxation. Most 
 heartily do I wish society were on a footing to render 
 the cost of its enjoyment less. But at all costs it 
 should to some extent be enjoyed. . . . Tell James, as 
 soon as he has time, to make out the details of his 
 analaysis of the meteorite and send it in a letter. 
 I will draw up a little account in our joint names 
 which he may read before the Society, or dispose 
 of otherwise as he may think proper. Would it 
 not be well for me to give a brief account of the 
 infusorial beds of Virginia, which you might present 
 to the Society along with some of the specimens which 
 you have ? 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, November 9, 1840. 
 . . . Uncle has become quite the oracle of the 
 neighbourhood on the subject of the elections. He has 
 shown far more knowledge and sagacity as regards 
 the results than any other person here. He is quite 
 well and cheerful. . . .
 
 176 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1840. 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, November 9, 1840. 
 
 ... I fear the death of your able colleague (Bonny- 
 castle) 1 may a little embarrass your own course. But 
 bear in mind how small is your stock of strength, how 
 heavy the tasks you have already set yourself to do. 
 I like Goethe's motto, " Be like a star that never 
 resteth, but hasteneth not." The best portion of life 
 is surely yet before us ; not, however, if by over-toil 
 we lose the capacity to enjoy it. Do take these hints 
 well to heart. You know how much I would wish to 
 say on this topic if I had the space. . . . 
 
 A perusal of letters already given in this chapter 
 will suffice to show that a dangerous spirit of insubor- 
 dination existed in the student body of the University. 
 The climax was reached on November 12, 1840, the 
 fourth anniversary of the so-called "Military Rebel- 
 lion," when the Chairman of the Faculty and Pre- 
 siding Officer of the University, Professor John A. G. 
 Davis was, unhappily, murdered by one of the stu- 
 dents. Professor Kogers's comments upon this affair, 
 made two days later in a private letter, indicate the 
 prevailing sentiment of the Faculty. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 UNIVEKSITT OF VIKGIKIA, November 16, 1840. 
 MY DEAR BROTHERS, This morning I assisted 
 in laying another of my colleagues in the grave. My 
 kind friend, and long my bosom companion, Davis, 
 died on Saturday evening of a wound received on the 
 preceding Thursday night ! He was shot in cold blood 
 in front of his own door while watching the movements 
 of a student who, disguised and masked, was making 
 
 1 Charles Bonnycastle. Professor of Mathematics in the University 
 of Virginia.
 
 ^ET. 36.] A PROFESSOR SHOT. 177 
 
 riotous noises and firing a pistol on the lawn. The 
 assassin retired a few paces from Mr. Davis before 
 firing, and then deliberately discharged his pistol, the 
 ball from which penetrated the abdomen obliquely, 
 and, passing through to the hip bone, terminated its 
 course about half an inch beneath the skin. At first, 
 and indeed until after his death, the wound was not 
 considered of a mortal character, but supposed to be 
 rather superficial. He died a Christian hero, blessing 
 his family and his weeping colleagues and friends 
 assembled around his bedside. 
 
 Those engaged in the atrocious murder have been 
 arrested, and he who fired the fatal ball, as well as 
 his chief and perhaps only accomplice, are in confine- 
 ment. The students to a man joined in the pursuit 
 of the villains, and it was by their efforts they were 
 secured. They have also been active in collecting the 
 evidence, which, as it now exists, convicts the princi- 
 pal of murder in the first degree, probably. Not the 
 smallest provocation is urged in extenuation of the 
 deed. No violence was attempted by Davis, but he 
 was mildly exercising the proper supervision which 
 appertained to his duty as Chairman. The murderer, 
 quite a youth, so reckless of consequences, remained 
 in the University the next day until arrested by his 
 fellow-students. He has since been tried by a Court 
 of Magistrates, who found the chain of evidence irre- 
 sistible, and committed him to prison. The bullet 
 was extracted after the death of Professor Davis, and 
 its peculiar form and marks were distinctly recognized 
 by one of the students, who, on the morning of the 
 fatal day, had lent the pistol to the assassin, little sus- 
 pecting the horrid tragedy of which it was to be the 
 instrument. It appears that the perpetrator of the 
 crime, from all accounts a heartless though determined 
 villain, had no particular grudge against Davis, but 
 was determined, as he had before been heard to say, 
 that he would shoot any professor who attempted to 
 discover him while engaged in a riot. . . . The con-
 
 178 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [184(X 
 
 duct and feelings of the students on this occasion have 
 shown that they are entirely worthy of the high opin- 
 ion the Faculty had formed of them. 
 
 Of the afflicted family of poor Davis I cannot speak 
 without weeping. Mrs. Davis was for some time 
 bereft of reason. . . . 
 
 Bache has written to me in behalf of Courtenay for 
 the Mathematical Chair. I shall reply to-morrow. I 
 should like Courtenay as a colleague very much. How 
 disastrous has been the history of this session, the 
 death of two of our professors, and that in the latter 
 instance under circumstances so peculiarly afflicting. 
 But I trust the event will prove a salutary warning, 
 and in the end be a public benefit. 
 
 I am quite well. To-morrow we shall resume our 
 lectures. . . . 
 
 The University gradually became calm once more, 
 and Professor Rogers returned to his scientific studies. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 3, 1840. 
 ... I wish much to have a talk with you about 
 scientific matters. Could I have obtained a sight of 
 Ehrenberg, I would have drawn up a paper for the 
 " Transactions " in relation to our infusorial forma- 
 tion. You know I found that potash is absent from the 
 ashes of coal and lignite and mineral charcoal. I am 
 inclined to believe that this is due to the solvent 
 action of water, and am now trying to determine 
 whether common charcoal, largely washed with hot 
 water, does not lose all or part of its potash. The 
 last number of the " Philosophical Magazine " is quite 
 interesting. I am impatient to see the Memoirs of 
 Murchison and Sedgwick on the Devonian rocks. I 
 suppose you have them in the last number of the 
 " Geological Transactions." . . .
 
 ^T. 36.] COST OF THE SURVEY. 179 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, January 5, 1841. 
 
 ... As for my tasks, they are indeed making but 
 slow progress. I have, however, begun my Report in 
 earnest, though I have not the time, were I inclined, to 
 devote many hours to it daily. My time is so broken 
 up by other concerns that continuous writing for 
 more than an hour, or at most two hours, is imprac- 
 ticable. I am determined to make my Report a short 
 one, and to endeavour, if possible, to hand it in by the 
 last of this month. It is supposed by some persons 
 here that the Legislature may adjourn early next 
 month, but of this, having heard nothing official, I 
 feel quite doubtful. As yet nothing has appeared in 
 the papers, or otherwise reached me, to indicate the 
 temper of the Legislature. I am not without strong 
 hopes, by my personal interview with some of the 
 members in Richmond, of obtaining the full appropri- 
 ation for another year, and I am proceeding with the 
 early part of my Report upon the assumption of being 
 thus permitted to continue. Thus far we have ex- 
 pended about 36,000 dollars, and have been a little 
 less than five years at work upon our new organiza- 
 tion ; whereas, when the appropriation was solicited, I 
 calculated upon expending about 50,000 dollars, and 
 requiring six years for the completion of our opera- 
 tions. This you see, makes quite a strong case when I 
 refer, as I am now doing, to my Report of 1836. . . . 
 
 In showing the infusoria, you ought to use both 
 Raspail's and the other microscope. The former 
 shows you the whole mass of fine particles as portions 
 of an exquisite gauze-work of rotifer-like fossils. Use 
 the next to the highest power. The other best dis- 
 plays the rings. These rotifer objects form by far the 
 greater portion of the substance, and are, I think, 
 quite peculiar. They do not occur in Ehrenberg's 
 Tertiary, and mark, I think, the older character of 
 this, approaching the chalk. ... I find the specific 
 gravity of the infusorial earth from the Rappahannock 
 to be only 0.334 ! ! . . .
 
 180 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, January 8, 1841. 
 
 . . . Our communication was well received. Next 
 time I shall introduce your discovery of the infu- 
 soria. There will be a copy of Ehrenberg here in 
 two months. Goddard has now a superb microscope. 
 I shall examine your specimen, and if I can, but not 
 just yet, will send you drawings. The first treat you 
 allow yourself should be one of these splendid instru- 
 ments. If I could get a sale for my magnetic instru- 
 ment, it would go far to get us a microscope. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, January 18, 1841. 
 . . . My delay in Richmond was made necessary 
 by the interests of the Survey, which could only be 
 fairly represented by myself. . . . The Legislature is 
 mainly composed of liberal gentlemen, though of little 
 knowledge in matters of science, and I have little 
 doubt of their making a sufficient appropriation for 
 publishing next winter. One of the members, who 
 on Friday last made an incidental attack upon the 
 Survey, came to me yesterday, and after seeing the 
 map and sections, and conversing with me for an 
 hour, stated his determination to give his active sup- 
 port to the bill, and has made the same statement to 
 Southall, Dorman and others. Thus, you see, I have 
 been quite as successful in my visit as I could have 
 hoped, indeed more so than I hoped. But I had 
 much anxiety and toil, and I am very glad to be 
 again quietly at home. . . . Though much occupied 
 during the day, I enjoyed most of my evenings at 
 Richmond, and most heartily did I wish that all of 
 you could partake of the music, etc., which I enjoyed 
 at Stannard's, Cabell's, Lyon's, etc. How I sighed 
 for leisure ! So many kind, engaging friends, to be 
 merely looked at for a day or two and then left !
 
 -ET.36.] RICHMOND FRIENDS. 181 
 
 Such attractive young lassies, whom I wished to know 
 better, but was compelled precipitately to leave ! 
 Really, my dear Henry, you ought to see the female 
 society of Richmond just now. I know you would be 
 charmed by it, as I am. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 DEAR ROBERT, . . . My sojourn in Richmond was 
 full of pleasure. My many dear friends there, Mrs. 
 Empie and Mrs. Guathmay especially, did everything 
 to make me comfortable and happy. The favourable 
 prospects of the survey, at first not anticipated, and 
 the success I met in my public lectures there and in 
 Petersburg, all prepared me to enjoy with a keen rel- 
 ish the kind hospitalities of my numerous acquaint- 
 ances, whose invitations awaited me every day. But 
 how sad the contrast experienced here I The stupid 
 dulness and unvaried monotony of the University 
 never before weighed so heavily upon my spirits as 
 they have for the last ten days. I feel that I am but 
 half-alive here, and am more than ever resolved, when 
 able, to quit the scene for one more congenial to my 
 tastes and more likely to promote my happiness. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS BROTHERS. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 5, 1841. 
 
 MY DEAR BROTHERS, I forget to whom I wrote 
 last, but it makes no difference. My letters are for 
 all. 
 
 We are as dull as a mill-pond in a deep hollow 
 where no breeze can touch it. My heart longs for 
 the cheering impulses of society with my brothers 
 and with the busy world. ..."
 
 182 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER JAMES. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 8, 1841. 
 
 . . . Matters here are as usual, too dull, almost, 
 
 to engender a pun, though Mr. makes the effort 
 
 now and then. Like a busy hen, he cackles when- 
 ever he feels the inward motion towards wit, but he 
 does not always produce the egg. 
 
 Kiss both the boys for their uncle, and tell Rachel 
 I long again to see her and them. 
 
 The fate of the Geological Survey of Virginia was 
 now determined by the Legislature, and commented 
 upon by the Director in a letter to Judge May of the 
 House of Delegates : 
 
 TO JUDGE J. F. MAT. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 13, 1841. 
 DEAR SIR, By this morning's papers I find that 
 the appropriation to the Geological Survey is to be 
 discontinued on the 1st of January next. It is prob- 
 able that you in proposing this, and the other friends 
 of the work in acceding to it, were not aware that the 
 geological year, as we call it, commences on the 1st 
 of April, and that in making this appropriation the 
 Legislature is in reality only appropriating for nine 
 months, and not, as I presume they supposed they were 
 doing, for another year. In stating to you and Dr. 
 Leyburn by letter that one more year would enable 
 me to bring the work to a close, or so near it that I 
 could myself carry it to completion, I had in view 
 keeping all my assistants busily occupied in analysis 
 and arranging the cabinet during the whole of next 
 winter. The bill recently passed will entirely pre- 
 clude this, as, soon after their return from the field, 
 they will leave me, and the mass of chemical and 
 other details which would devolve upon me would 
 compel me to abandon the writing of my final Report,
 
 JET. 36.] FATE OF THE SURVEY. 183 
 
 upon which at that time I designed to be exclusively 
 engaged. Indeed, without the assistance of the corps 
 in the laboratory and at the drawing-table, and in ar- 
 ranging the cabinet, during the whole of next winter 
 until the expiration of the geological year, I should 
 feel incompetent to perform the task of drawing up 
 my Report without great additional delay. 
 
 As I imagine it was the intention of the Legislature 
 to continue the appropriation for another year, I hope 
 that the bill recently passed may be either so modified 
 or explained as that it may not cease in January next, 
 and my assistants may be continued throughout the 
 winter, so as to complete another geological year. 
 
 FROM JUDGE MAY. 
 
 RICHMOND, March 16, 1841. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Yours of the 13th was received this 
 evening only. The appropriation bill is beyond the 
 reach of the House of Delegates, and probably now of 
 the Senate. If I had not offered the order in the form 
 in which it is, one for an immediate repeal of your law 
 would have been offered and carried. Even after it 
 was engrossed, when the House for the first time per- 
 ceived its true character, there was a motion and a 
 large vote to reconsider it, in order to strike out the 
 words " from the 1st of January next," so as to make 
 the repeal forthwith. If the work be nearly completed 
 by the 1st of December next, the next Legislature 
 might perhaps make some further appropriation for 
 its completion, but nothing can be done in favour of 
 it at this session. 
 
 In great haste, I am, dear sir, 
 
 Very much yours, 
 
 J. F. MAT. 
 
 With this state of affairs and the slender hope of 
 a continuance of the survey as a result of an appeal 
 to the next Legislature, Professor Eogers had to be 
 content.
 
 184 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA, March 22, 1841. 
 MY DEAR HENRY, ... In regard to my survey, 
 I think I told you in yesterday's letter that I have but 
 small hope of procuring any further appropriation. I 
 think, therefore, I shall call in my assistants early in 
 the fall, say the middle of September, and give them 
 work to do in the laboratory and among the minerals. 
 But on these points I wish to consult you. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 2, 1841. 
 
 . . . By the 10th of this month my corps is to mus- 
 ter at the University, and by the 15th I hope all will 
 be in the field. Slade, Briggs and Bidgway will 
 remain, but I am very doubtful in regard to Samuel 
 Lewis. . . . 
 
 I find that my Infusorial stratum is growing more 
 and more important. It forms a heavy bed in the 
 Stratford Cliffs on the Potomac, where, however, it 
 is far less pure than on the Bappahannock or near 
 Bichmond. The finer and purer mass is a first-rate 
 polishing material, equal to rottenstone. You will see 
 some account of it in my Beport for this winter, of 
 which I send you several copies by Mr. Briggs. . . . 
 Should you attend the meeting (of the Geologists and 
 Naturalists), if you think it worth while you might 
 mention my discovery of the infusory stratum in the 
 Tertiary, and the other curious fact of the absence of 
 potash from the ashes not only of coals but lignite 
 and mineral charcoal. 
 
 The Second Annual Meeting of the Association of 
 American Geologists and Naturalists was held April 
 5-10, 1841, at the Academy of Natural Sciences, in 
 Philadelphia. In the absence of the chairman, Pro- 
 fessor Silliman of Yale, Professor Henry Bogers 
 presided at the opening session. The official report
 
 2Er. 36.] SECOND MEETING OF GEOLOGISTS. 185 
 
 of the proceedings may be found in the "Transac- 
 tions" of the Association, pp. 11-41. 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER JAMES. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, April 10, 1841. 
 
 ... I can only say one word respecting the meet- 
 ing of geologists. It was pretty fully attended, and 
 its deliberations were conducted with much spirit and 
 were highly interesting. . . . 
 
 You can well understand how pleased I am to have 
 it in my power to inform you that I have not been 
 altogether neglected, but that a few days ago the 
 Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, in the most 
 prompt and complimentary manner, appointed me 
 Professor of Chemistry in the Summer Institute, and 
 Robert as my assistant. This place, you recollect, 
 was occupied by Mitchell. . . . We regard the position 
 as a highly favourable one, as it places us in the best pos- 
 sible road to something better here, and associates us 
 with such men as Jackson, Chapman, Horner, Hodge, 
 Ball and Hare, and makes me Hare's representative 
 during the summer, in fact identifying us with the 
 interests and character of the University. In a pecu- 
 niary point of view, it can prove but little serviceable 
 the present year, as I believe the class does not num- 
 ber more than thirty or forty. But all connected with 
 it are devoted to its success as the child of the Uni- 
 versity, and assure me that next summer the class can 
 be made to reach one hundred. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO ROBERT. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 14, 1841. 
 MY DEAR ROBERT, Your letter was read by 
 myself and uncle at tea this evening with a relish 
 I cannot describe. How truly does my heart re- 
 joice at the opening now afforded to James and 
 you ! . . . There are several important subjects in a
 
 186 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 chemical course which I think are generally passed 
 over for want of simple and accurate methods of 
 exposition. Among these may be mentioned the 
 computation of the specific gravities of the compound 
 gases; the calculation of the quantity of vapour in 
 air or a gas under given circumstances of tempera- 
 ture, pressure, etc. ; the laws of atmospheric pres- 
 sure ; and in fact most of the exact subjects relating 
 to general physics. I think no chemical course in 
 a medical school ought to dispense with an exposi- 
 tion of the fundamental principles of mechanics and 
 hydrostatics, although they are scarcely ever referred 
 to. Undoubtedly they are of more importance to the 
 physician than magnetics, electro-magnetism, much of 
 electricity, and the theory of chemical forces, as well 
 as a great deal of what is treated under the head of 
 caloric or thermotics. This year, perhaps, it would 
 be too late to make any innovation in this respect; 
 but I would certainly recommend hereafter, as add- 
 ing interest and value to the course, the introduction 
 of a few lectures on these important principles in 
 mechanical science. When I go on in the summer, 
 if you ask me, I will give your class two or three lec- 
 tures of this kind, embracing such topics as are pro- 
 fessionally most useful. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER JAMES. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 18, 1841. 
 ... I have been greatly occupied for the last two 
 days in looking over the papers handed in at our 
 English examination, and, together with Dr. Harrison 
 and Professor Howard, was engaged in the comple- 
 tion of this troublesome task until eleven o'clock last 
 night . . . Our English examination embraced seventy 
 students, of whom twenty-nine failed to pass for want 
 of a moderate acquaintance with spelling and gram- 
 mar. Of those unsuccessful, five or six are candidates 
 in the medical school.
 
 ^T. 36.] INFUSORIAL EARTH. 187 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, Sunday, April 18, 1841. 
 . . . James delivered his introductory on Friday 
 last. It was really very fine, mostly extemporaneous ; 
 the best part, indeed, was entirely so. He will very 
 soon win for himself the reputation of being the best 
 lecturer in the city. . . . 
 
 The following concerning Professor Rogers's dis- 
 covery of " infusorial earth," already referred to 
 (pp. 174, 184), is from the well-known microscopist, 
 Professor J. W. Bailey, of the United States Military 
 Academy at West Point : 
 
 WEST POINT, April 25, 1841. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Please accept my thanks for your 
 Report for 1840, and my hearty congratulations on 
 your important discovery of the Infusorial Stratum. 
 This discovery may justly be considered as the most 
 interesting which has been made in the country for a 
 long time, and I can fully sympathize with you in the 
 joy you must have experienced in making it. I feel 
 some private pleasure in the discovery, as it confirms a 
 prediction I ventured to make (in an article on fossil 
 infusoria, published in Hitchcock's final Report for 
 Massachusetts), "that, as we have vast quantities 
 of living marine species of silicious infusoria upon 
 our seacoast, it is probable that they may be found 
 abundant in our tertiary deposits when properly ex- 
 amined." It had long been my desire to have an 
 opportunity to visit a tertiary region of the United 
 States to look for these things, but you can well un- 
 derstand that a professor of chemistry, mineralogy 
 and geology, who has to hear two sections a day ten 
 months in the year, has little time for original re- 
 search. So the prize of discovery has fallen to other 
 and far more worthy hands, and I rejoice with you at 
 the good fortune you have had. . . .
 
 188 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 A paper by Professor Bailey, giving many refer- 
 ences to the Virginia infusoria discovered by Mr. 
 Rogers, afterwards appeared in the " Transactions of 
 the Association of American Geologists and Natural- 
 ists," 1840-42. 
 
 FROM ROBERT TO HENRY AT HARRISBURG. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, April 28, 1841. 
 
 We have no news since I last wrote. James is 
 even improving in his lectures, if there were room for 
 improvement. The students appreciate his enthu- 
 siasm and clearness. I am sure it is the shortest hour 
 of learning they have in the twenty-four. I could 
 not but remark the other day the strong expression 
 of satisfaction upon all their countenances as he fin- 
 ished his explanation of electric attraction. I am 
 looking with anxiety to the action of the Senate [re- 
 garding the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania]. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS BROTHERS. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 1, 1841. 
 MY DEAR BROTHERS, I am delighted to hear 
 that James is so rapidly winning his way to fame as 
 a lecturer, and I doubt not, my dear Robert, that you 
 will find the task easy and pleasant. You ought to 
 have an ample blackboard, or other equivalent space, 
 for chemical formulae and drawings. I presume you 
 will make use of brief heads of your lectures as re- 
 minders. Do not attempt to crowd too much in 
 a single lecture, and avoid the common error of ex- 
 perimenting for the eye and not for the understand- 
 ing. Every experiment ought to be accompanied by 
 a full and clear explanation, and this cannot be ren- 
 dered too explicit and elementary. Cultivate a delib- 
 erate and distinct enunciation without sacrificing earn- 
 estness and animation of manner. Above all, do not 
 attempt to be over choice in your phraseology, but
 
 -SJr.36.] ON PUBLIC SPEAKING. 189 
 
 use the language suggested at the moment. I believe 
 that many an one has failed in making an interesting 
 speaker from being thus fastidious at the beginning. 
 There is nothing in which habits are sooner formed 
 and more difficult to remove than public speaking. 
 In my view, the very first thing to be sought is a feel- 
 ing of ease and confidence, and this, when the subject 
 is thoroughly understood, you cannot fail to secure at 
 the outset by giving play to some enthusiasm, and, as 
 Rutledge advised, " speaking right on," even though 
 at times your phrase may be obscure, inelegant or 
 even incorrect. But I need not give you counsel, as I 
 know you will soon learn to satisfy yourself, and that 
 will be your best criterion of success. As you are 
 now commencing a career in which you may expect 
 to be professionally engaged (I hope hereafter in a 
 more productive sphere) for many years and perhaps 
 for life, it will be well, as soon as you have leisure, to 
 devote some time systematically to a course of general 
 as well as chemical reading. I think we have all of 
 us erred in reading too little, though for the most 
 part this has been in consequence of our engrossing 
 and laborious pursuits. The highest eminence as a 
 lecturer cannot be attained without a general culture 
 of mind. 
 
 I am anxious to learn the results of Forbes's ob- 
 servations on internal heat as detailed to the last 
 British Association, and I believe reported in a con- 
 densed form in the "London Athenaeum." I wish 
 one of you would examine that, or any other full 
 account you can find of the proceedings, and give me 
 an abstract of the numerical results, if they are an- 
 nounced. . . . 
 
 The fate of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania 
 was still uncertain :
 
 190 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 HAKRISBUKG, April. 25, 1841. 
 
 MY DEAR WILLIAM, To give you some idea of 
 the tribunal to which I have to bow, one Senator, who 
 a few days ago told me the survey ought by all means 
 to be finished, uttered himself thus : " Mr. Speaker, I 
 shall vote against this appropriation, on the ground of 
 its unfairness to other sciences of like nature with 
 this geology. The bill, sir, makes no provision for 
 phrenology, physiognomy, animal magnetism, and 
 the highly important science of water-smelling ; it is 
 partial, and I will vote against it." This was his 
 whole speech. I anticipate a long debate to-morrow, 
 but the chances are in my favour. If it is annexed 
 to the big bill in the Senate to-morrow, there is but 
 little doubt of its becoming a law. 
 
 I forgot to mention Mr. Boye as one of my assist- 
 ants, who would most gladly enter your corps. . . . 
 
 Think not, my dear William, that being indolent 
 with my pen, I am not constantly by your side in my 
 thoughts. As I travel, though behind you, the same 
 path of care, I grow daily more convinced of the ex- 
 tent and worth of your sacrifices and undeviating love 
 for your brothers. 
 
 HAKBISBUKG, May 4, 1841. 
 
 After many fluctuations of anxious hope, I am at 
 last relieved by the final passage of the bill embrac- 
 ing the provision for completing the survey. The 
 whole revenue bill had been vetoed by the Governor, 
 but has passed each House by the constitutional ma- 
 jority of two thirds, as the papers will show you. I 
 am now ready to go home and engage my thought 
 once more upon my professional business. ... It re- 
 joices me to think that we may yet complete our sur- 
 veys. I shall now have leisure and spirit to give you 
 my aid during the next eighteen months in bringing 
 out your final Report, if you desire assistance. . . .
 
 #T. 36.] ARRIVAL OF LYELL. 191 
 
 The session at the University of Virginia ended un- 
 eventfully, and the summer appears to have been spent 
 to a large extent in geological excursions to Canada, 
 New York and New England, as the following letter 
 indicates : 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS UNCLE JAMES. 
 
 HUDSON, N. Y., August 20, 1841. 
 
 I have travelled so far, seen so many sights in 
 New York, Canada, etc., that I cannot think, even did 
 time permit, to enter upon a sketch of our movements. 
 Henry, who made a rapid trip to Philadelphia, joined 
 me at Albany yesterday, and brought me the letters 
 you so kindly forwarded as well as your own. . . . 
 
 Lyell, the geologist, arrived in this country a few 
 days ago, and we met with him this morning in 
 Albany. He is at present in the keeping of some of 
 the New York geologists, but will be in Philadelphia 
 with Henry, and in Virginia with me, in the autumn. 
 
 Robert, who made a short trip with us to the West 
 as far as Niagara, is in Philadelphia, and quite well. 
 James had not returned from Virginia when Henry 
 left Philadelphia, but had been lately heard from by 
 his family, and was well. The letters from my assist- 
 ants were all satisfactory, and relieved me of much 
 anxiety which I had begun to feel. ... I have not 
 been much upon the highways, and have not met a 
 soul whom I knew from the South in all my ramblings. 
 
 You see John Tyler has been true to his old prin- 
 ciples, but the veto l is producing a wonderful hubbub 
 in New York. In the main, I think it will render the 
 President more popular than before. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA, September 11, 1841. 
 . . . Since my summer's rambles with Henry I 
 have been unable to shut out the contrast between 
 
 1 Of a bill to incorporate a national bank.
 
 192 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 the region in which I live and the highly cultivated 
 nature and society of glorious New England. I have, 
 therefore, felt less than usual the pleasure of return- 
 ing to my home. I have been mortified and provoked, 
 too, at finding so much illiberality among a portion 
 of the community here on the subject of religion, as 
 displayed in the bigoted publications which appeared 
 during the summer respecting the appointments of 
 Sylvester and Kraitzer. Would you believe it, that a 
 series of essays has been published condemning the 
 Visitors for the appointment of a Jew and a Catholic, 
 and sweeping charges at the same time made against 
 the character, literary as well as moral, of the Uni- 
 versity ! These have been chiefly published by two 
 of the religious papers, but have not passed without 
 eliciting the sympathy of some of the other prints, 
 though in the main condemned by them. . . . 
 
 By recent accounts from Sylvester, 1 we learn that he 
 will not leave England until the middle of October, and 
 will, therefore, not assume his duties here until early 
 in November. This I most deeply regret, for I fear it 
 may prevent my absenting myself during October. 
 Such long and serious interruptions have occurred of 
 late years in the studies of the students that they are 
 beginning to complain. But do not suppose I have 
 given up the intention of being absent in October. 
 ... I have had a long conversation with Jefferson 
 Randolph to-day, who says that he does not think 
 the University will be injured by the fanatical publi- 
 cations referred to. He and the professors are in 
 good spirits as to our prospects, though they do not 
 expect a class of more than two hundred this year. 
 I trust that in another year better times will favour 
 all our plans, and I do most ardently desire, my dear 
 brothers, that we should all cultivate a spirit of cheer- 
 ful confidence in the future. . . . 
 
 1 J. J. Sylvester, English mathematician, afterwards Professor in 
 Johns Hopkins University, and finally in Oxford.
 
 . 37.] CHARLES LYELL. 193 
 
 FROM MB. (AFTERWARDS SIR) CHARLES LYELL TO PRO- 
 FESSOR HENRY D. ROGERS. 
 
 SCHOHARIE, N. Y., September 19, 1841. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, As I promised to let you know 
 something of my movements before I reached Phila- 
 delphia, I now write to say that I hope to be there 
 to spend five or six days with Mr. Conrad about the 
 24th inst., and if about the last day or two of this 
 month I could join you, and find you at leisure to start 
 me, at least, on a tour of ten days, so as to see some 
 good section of Pennsylvania, I should be very glad. 
 I ought to see the higher grounds as much as possible, 
 because I might attack the less elevated ones in De- 
 cember after the snow is on your mountains. I must 
 be at Boston on the 13th of October, and hope to be 
 fairly in the field again the beginning of December, 
 after giving some lectures, which perhaps you may 
 have heard I promised to deliver at the Lowell In- 
 stitute. I am much pleased with what I have seen 
 of your geology in the Blossburg coal down to the 
 sandstone below the Trenton limestone. Certainly, 
 the history of things which preceded the Coal and 
 Old Red is far more fully written here than in Eu- 
 rope, and it will take years before justice can be done 
 to it. 
 
 Have the goodness to let me find a letter from 
 you at the post-office, Philadelphia, to say when and 
 where we could meet after the 29th of September. 
 Believe me, my dear sir, 
 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 CHAS. LYELL. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, October 3, 1841. 
 ... I entirely concur with you in the plan of your 
 proposed journey and your scientific intercourse with 
 Mr. Lyell. My own reflections for a week past on
 
 194 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 this subject have impressed me with the importance 
 of securing his good will, and if possible his friend- 
 ship, by showing to him the high philosophical import 
 of our labours, and informing him frankly of all our 
 scientific plans. I also feel as much or more than 
 ever, the necessity of devoting some time this fall to 
 the preparation of a memoir setting forth our leading 
 views and discoveries, and am determined, if possible, 
 to join you in Philadelphia for that purpose. ... I 
 confess I have been pained at the smallness of my 
 class, but this has now ceased to give me concern. No 
 students have arrived for ten days past save two or 
 three in the professional schools, so that I remain in 
 statu quo, being still below forty. . . . 
 
 My great cause of concern in regard to this year's 
 classes is produced by my wish to have command of 
 funds for our common purposes. From present pros- 
 pects I am likely to fall short by f 1,000 of my usual 
 income from the University. . . . 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, October 13, 1841. 
 
 MY DEAR WILLIAM, ... I returned to town yes- 
 terday after a tour of eleven days with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Lyell and Mcllvaine. We went by the way of 
 Reading to Pottsville, Mauch Chunk and Beaver 
 Meadows, returning by Easton and the Delaware, 
 through Trenton. If Lyell has been half as well 
 pleased and satisfied with me as Mcllvaine and I 
 have been with him and his accomplished wife, I shall 
 congratulate myself. I deem him a man quite too 
 high-minded to encroach on the literary rights of 
 others, and have many kindly feelings toward him for 
 the friendly interest he has shown in our future scien- 
 tific progress. Lyell came over at the invitation of 
 Mr. Lowell, and intended to return in December, but 
 now means to remain a year. This of itself shows 
 how much our geology, and of course the exploring
 
 .ET. 37.] GEOLOGY. 195 
 
 of it, can interest the Europeans. His plan is to go 
 South through the Tertiary after his course of lec- 
 tures, and in April to return North and proceed at 
 once to Canada and Nova Scotia, where he will be 
 at work until July. One grand object with him will 
 be a comparison of our Atlantic Tertiary with the 
 European, to test the applicability of his nomenclature 
 to this country. Having seen so much of the Tertiary 
 of Europe, spending one entire summer in the Crag 
 of England and all last summer in the South of 
 France, he is perhaps, of all the English geologists, 
 the best fitted to establish the true relationship of our 
 tertiary beds to those of the old hemisphere. To this 
 delightful task Conrad has shown himself unfitted by 
 his preference of the closet to the field. It will gratify 
 you to hear that Lyell already pronounces the beds 
 we have always named Miocene to be truly such. 
 After his return to Europe he will probably read a 
 paper on this whole subject, and I gather has an in- 
 tention of reading a memoir also on the Geology of 
 Canada and Nova Scotia. Speaking of the latter, he 
 expressly told me he would avoid describing the or- 
 ganic remains which might be common to the New 
 York lower rocks until Conrad's labours were pub- 
 lished, unless, indeed, these were so delayed as to im- 
 pede the progress unnecessarily of all research. . . . 
 Lyell thinks there is a close and even remarkable re- 
 lationship between the silurian and our Appalachian 
 fossils ; also between the coal formations of the two 
 countries. Now, as to the gradations from the silurian 
 fossils into the coal fossils, perhaps the most inter- 
 esting problem of all, we may take this, if we are 
 diligent, into our own hands by collecting largely 
 from the marine limestones of our Western coal-fields, 
 and from the silurian beds in For. XI. and that por- 
 tion of the series. In order to do this, Lyell recom- 
 mends us to procure the new work just published by 
 Phillips on the Devonian fossils, in which he has been 
 aided by the English government. Having Murchison
 
 106 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 on the Silurian and Phillies on the Mountain Lime- 
 stone, we have only to procure this last and collect 
 largely and we shall have the whole subject before 
 us. ... 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, October 16, 1841. 
 
 MY DEAR WILLIAM, I entertain a strong hope 
 of seeing you in a little more than a week. With 
 what we have to guide us in the way of specimens, we 
 may succeed in determining the true paleontological 
 relations of For. XI. This once done, we shall, I 
 think, be prepared to attempt a subdividing of our 
 eleven marine formations. What think you of the 
 following classification ? l 
 
 Call all our rocks below the bottom of XII. the 
 Appalachian System. Make a triple subdivision of 
 these thus : from the bottom of For. I. to the top of 
 V. one group or series ; from the top of V. to the top 
 of VIII. an other ; and from the top of VIII. to the top 
 of XI. the third ; designating the first by some Greek 
 compound, the Appalachian morning, the second 
 the midday, the third the evening. According to this 
 scheme, the morning of the Appalachian epoch would 
 coincide almost precisely with Conrad's lower Silurian 
 series ; the Appalachian midday with his Middle and 
 Upper Silurian series (for he terminates the upper 
 with the top of the olive slate, For. VIII.) ; and the 
 Appalachian evening would embrace the Devonian 
 period, and perhaps a great part, or all of the moun- 
 tain limestone, or marine carboniferous. Now my 
 chief hesitation is in regard to cutting off For. XI. 
 from the coal measures so abruptly ; and yet, as the 
 latter are chiefly terrestrial and all our eleven lower 
 rocks are marine, it seems proper enough for purposes 
 of classification. By this plan we can find a designa- 
 tion for each of our formations exempt from the dif- 
 ficulties of either numerical or geographical reason- 
 ing. What think you, then, of attempting, with the 
 
 1 For a note on the geological nomenclature and classification 
 adopted by the brothers, see Appendix to vol. ii.
 
 fr. 37.] GEOLOGY. 197 
 
 assistance of Dr. Harrison, to compound three words 
 equivalent to " morning of day " before the coal, or 
 simply " ancient morning," etc. ? 
 
 I have now by me all the late parts of " Geological 
 Transactions of London," in which are some good fig- 
 ures of Devonian fossils. I think in the space of one 
 year, with proper method, we can conquer this whole 
 subject. In the meanwhile, if we deem it inexpedient 
 to commit ourselves to a nomenclature before studying 
 our fossils better, we have plenty to do with our pens 
 at the grand dynamic questions of our geology. I did 
 not state in my last how greatly I astonished Lyell at 
 the breadth of some of our results and doctrines con- 
 nected with structure. Though incredulous for the 
 first day or two, even as to the thickness of our rock, 
 I quite made a convert of him before we parted. 
 
 Collect your recollections and notes in regard to 
 slaty cleavage ; for as a part of structure we ought to 
 treat of it, and I think we can do it in a manner 
 to make even Sedgwick consent to become a learner. 
 For example, I see in this State no exception to this 
 law, that the cleavage planes have a dip and strike 
 closely coincident with what I want termed the anti- 
 clinal and synclinal planes, the deviation being some 
 coefficient of the resistant to the cleaving presented 
 by the stratification of the rocks. . . . 
 
 Your affectionate brother, 
 
 HENRY D. ROGERS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, October 22, 1841. 
 
 . . . With less than a month at our disposal we 
 can hardly perfect a memoir so as to be ready for 
 the press, and I think that whatever we do now we 
 ought to do well, cost what time it may. It is my 
 firm resolve to occupy two years on my final Report if 
 necessary, rather than further impair my health, or let 
 my six years of toil in the field tell for nothing. I 
 shall, therefore, ask nothing this winter of the Legis- 
 lature in aid of publication, but report myself as hav- 
 ing begun my final report. This I can present nearly
 
 198 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 ready in January, 1843, and while it is going through 
 the press employ a few more months upon it. The 
 public will be better satisfied in the end, and it is for 
 the end we ought to exert ourselves. I hope you will 
 prevail on your Governor to make fit allusion to 
 your survey ; but have a care that he does not commit 
 you by promises in your name, as I was treated by 
 Governor Pennington, of New Jersey. 
 
 I am, at a moderate rate of diligence, setting my 
 house to rights ; that is, opening the specimens you 
 and I gathered and placing them temporarily in 
 drawers, thus saving you two or three entire days 
 when you come. Opening the things you got at Scho- 
 harie, I readily understand your exultation at getting 
 such a prize. In truth, our summer's work tells well, 
 even in the way of specimens, when one reflects upon 
 the quarters from whence they are derived. 
 
 We shall be able to set in a clear light some essen- 
 tial points in the Lake Erie geology, but to adjust the 
 whole of the Western stratification is not for us to at- 
 tempt yet. Hall will probably try it. From what 
 Lyell told me I looked to see a paper from Hall in the 
 October number of Silliman. We shall probably see 
 his conclusions in the January number. He says that 
 Niagara limestone expands westward until it becomes 
 in Iowa twelve hundred feet thick. If he has gone 
 much by the organic remains, there will be much for 
 others to revise in his work before many years ; but 
 let us await patiently his paper. The establishment of 
 the true order of succession of organic remains of the 
 Appalachian rocks will be a work of years and by many 
 hands, and none will come to sound results but those 
 that go upon an independent stratigraphical basis. 
 You will be cheered and delighted, when you read the 
 proceedings of the British Association at Plymouth, to 
 notice the views of Phillips and especially of Sedgwick 
 on this subject. We are on safe ground, and shall 
 have the support of the best of the European geolo- 
 gists in defence of our methods of research. Lyell is
 
 JEr.37.] NOMENCLATURE. 199 
 
 rather too much for identification by organic remains, 
 but he also would admit us to be right if we were to 
 set forth our whole opinions in a clearly reasoned 
 paper. But it is in the department of dynamic geology 
 that, being foremost, we ought to be especially prompt 
 in publishing. Reading Darwin on volcanic phenom- 
 ena in the Andes in " Geological Transactions," I have 
 been particularly struck with confirmatory evidence 
 of the soundness of our idea of a pulsation having 
 caused anticlinal axes. I am sure the doctrine will 
 meet with acceptance. . . . 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, October 29, 1841. 
 
 MY DEAR WILLIAM, . . . The grand point to 
 establish at the very outset is our nomenclature, and 
 to render this acceptable, I know we ought to be very 
 sure of our ground in the grouping of the formations. 
 A slight readjustment of the groups need not mar the 
 permanency of the classification. 
 
 I am now strongly inclined to a five-fold division, 
 there being as gradual a passage into the coal period 
 as into that of any of the other groups. Two periods 
 are wanted, I think, for the rocks below the bottom 
 of VIII., one for those in VIII. and IX., one for X., 
 Cambrian limestone, and XL, and one for the coal 
 rocks. But instead of the five names proposed by 
 Parke, I have another set to suggest offered by Mc- 
 Ilvaine. They are, Eoan, Ante-meridian, Meridian, 
 Post-meridian, and Hesperian, some of them having an 
 analogy in origin to your own. Mcllvaine, for whose 
 judgment in such matters I entertain a high respect, 
 advocates his own more Latin set of terms, on the 
 ground of their being not altogether strange to our 
 language, and of their being readily understood and 
 remembered. I like them myself, but wish to hold 
 the whole matter over until you are here to consult. 
 If we had but taken the precaution to collect during 
 the past season a full suite of fossils from the rocks 
 above VEIL, we should have felt ourselves at this time
 
 200 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 prepared to propose definitely the boundaries for our 
 upper groups, and I am, even as it is, in hopes that 
 your own collection from the Greenbrier limestone, 
 with the few I have, may avail us much. The organic 
 remains of the upper part of VIII. and of IX. are 
 of still more consequence to us as forming the ground- 
 work with Conrad for his American Devonian. Please 
 bring with you all fossils bearing on our researches ; 
 we can do much when together in determining their 
 relations. Do not forget the subject of cleavage, and, 
 if you do not find it too troublesome, put your sec- 
 tions and colored maps in your trunk. . . . 
 
 Anticipating the arrival of Professor Sylvester, 
 Mr. Rogers went to Philadelphia for a visit. 1 
 
 FROM JAMES ROGERS, ESQ., TO HIS NEPHEW WILLIAM. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, November 17, 1841. 
 ... I found it would be very difficult to dispose 
 of your gray geological horse, except at a price 
 much below his value. ... I am much gratified to 
 learn you are all well, and I can hardly express the 
 satisfaction I feel at James's success as a lecturer, 
 and have no fears but erelong something more lucra- 
 tive will present itself as the reward of talent and 
 industry. . . . For several days we have been anx- 
 iously looking for the arrival of Professor Sylvester. 
 We learn he lost all his baggage in Boston ; this 
 may have detained him. Perhaps you may have met 
 him in Philadelphia on his way hither. My love to 
 all. 
 
 I am, dear William, your affectionate uncle, 
 JAMES ROGERS. 
 
 The joint paper referred to in the foregoing let- 
 ters was read on December 3, 1841, before the Phi- 
 
 1 The Chair of Mathematics had been filled by Mr. Rogers since the 
 death of Mr. Bonnycasde.
 
 ^T. 37.] PROFESSOR J. J. SYLVESTER. 201 
 
 losophical Society of Philadelphia, and is entitled, 
 " Observations on the Geology of Western Peninsula 
 of Upper Canada and the Western Part of Ohio. By 
 William B. Rogers, Professor of Natural Philosophy 
 in the University of Virginia, and Henry D. Rogers, 
 Professor of Geology in the University of Penusyl- 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS BROTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 6, 1841. 
 
 Late yesterday evening I got home, after a rather 
 uncomfortable ride. . . . All my colleagues, except 
 Emmet, are well, and the faculty, students and others 
 attached to the University are all greatly pleased with 
 Mr. Sylvester. He was terribly embarrassed at his 
 first lecture, indeed quite overwhelmed, but has been 
 doing better since. He has a good deal of hesitation, 
 is not fluent, but is very enthusiastic and commands 
 the attention and interest of his class. ... On Sat- 
 urday I saw in Richmond Mr. Southall, Mr. Lynn 
 and other members, who all appeared to think that 
 the Legislature will accede to my proposition. I shall 
 to-morrow set to work to draw up two or three pages 
 by way of report, and will send it down by the close 
 of the week. I think that by a strong representation 
 thus made, and by letters to several influential mem- 
 bers in both Houses, I shall be able to secure my 
 object. . . . 
 
 As I am about to have my sections all made out 
 by Ridgway, I write to you to tell me what scale we 
 fixed upon when we talked on this subject. I have 
 forgotten. . . . 
 
 Your devoted brother, 
 
 WILLIAM B. ROGEES.
 
 202 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HEXRY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, December 11, 1841. 
 
 ... I greatly interested him (Lyell) by telling 
 him of your discovery of the oolitic date of the Eich- 
 mond and Fredericksburg strata. The fishes which 
 he and Silliman lately got in Connecticut show, he 
 thinks, an early New Ked period. This agrees with 
 my doctrine in " New Jersey Report," that our red 
 shales began directly after upheaval of the coal. Can 
 you not send a sketch of your fish scales from the 
 Middle Secondary ? The Teneopteris in Brogniart 
 agrees well with your sketch. . . . 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, December 13, 1841. 
 
 ... I am just now working at an abstract of our 
 paper for the Bulletin, and retouching two or three 
 pages of the memoir itself. On second thoughts I 
 felt I had gone too far in giving it as our opinion 
 that the limestone over the pitted rock is the equiva- 
 lent of the Onondaga. I am much more inclined 
 to regard it as a new interpolation, and to view the 
 Onondaga as thinning out in Canada before we reach 
 Goderich. This is borne out by the fossils, which 
 are not those of the Onondaga any more than those 
 of For. VI. Nor do they appear to be those of the 
 Seneca limestone, though more allied. All this is far 
 more in accordance with our general doctrines, and 
 is the safest ground to take. I have found new evi- 
 dence of the identity of the Sandusky and Goderich 
 rocks in laying open a part of a trilobite in the latter, 
 identical with a tail you perhaps recollect we have in 
 the former. I took several specimens to Conrad, and 
 think they are nearly all new to him, and this is 
 another inducement to modify somewhat our manner 
 of setting forth our notions of the relations of the 
 Western rock to the Limestone at Buffalo. . . . 
 
 Do you not think it our wisest course to give our- 
 selves first to those chapters of the memoir which treat
 
 JST. 37.] GEOLOGY. 203 
 
 of structure ? In this way, working on with our sections 
 and maps at the same time, while our assistants are by 
 us ; we can do the other portions at a later time, even 
 in the spring, if necessary, with the advantage of 
 seeing such publications as may issue this winter. 
 The classification, especially all from For. VII. to For. 
 IX., is a critical part of our work, and we ought to 
 have Phillips's new book on Devonian fossils by us 
 first. It ought soon to arrive, two copies. Lyell, who 
 has it, says he thinks, by the analogies of the fossils, 
 the whole of our For. VIII. ought to go into the Silu- 
 rian. He does not know what we are at. ... 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 21, 1841. 
 
 ... I have received a letter from Redfield in reply- 
 to some inquiries^I wrote on the subject of fossil 
 fishes. The fish of the New Red coal is very nearly 
 allied to, though not the same as, one of those in the 
 Middle Secondary. It is described in the July num- 
 ber of " Silliman " under the name of Catopterus 
 macrurus. I incidentally mention in my present re- 
 port my belief that, while the Fredericksburg sand- 
 stone refers itself to the Oolite period, the Richmond 
 coal appertains to that of the Lias. From the occur- 
 rence of the Posidonomya in our Middle Secondary, 
 I should infer its being, at least in part, quite late 
 in the New Red, or about the period of the Keuper. 
 This shell, I think, ranges from the Keuper to the 
 Bunter sandstone. I believe that our shell, and that 
 figured by Lyell and Brogniart, are identical. 
 
 Lyell in his letter expressed a wish to go with me 
 into the Richmond coal district for a day or two. . . . 
 
 FROM CHARLES LYELL, ESQ. 
 
 CHARLESTON, S. CAROLINA, December 28, 1841. 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your letter was forwarded from 
 Richmond to me here. I took for granted, from the
 
 204 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1841. 
 
 non-arrival of the mail from Charlottesville two suc- 
 cessive days, in consequence, as they told me at the 
 post-office, of the snow, that it would be impossible 
 that we should arrange a meeting. 
 
 Guided by your Report, I collected sharks' teeth 
 and casts of Crassatella in the Eocene greensand of 
 Shockoe Creek; saw well the infusorial bed, and the 
 impressions of leaves and casts of several shells in the 
 overlying sands, Miocene ? I should have been glad 
 to learn from you how to feel sure that the lowest 
 sandstone and coarse gravel at the bottom of the 
 ravine were really Secondary, that the infusorial bed 
 was Eocene and not Miocene, though I have no rea- 
 son for preferring the latter. . . . 
 
 I shall be glad of your letters about the Wilming- 
 ton district, and shall order them to be forwarded 
 here immediately. 
 
 I have nearly determined not to return South till 
 after the Meeting of Geologists at Boston at the end 
 of April. If you could then go South with me and 
 show me the Richmond coal, and show me the way 
 over your mountains of Western Virginia, I would 
 then take that route to Ohio. I shall be glad to find 
 a letter from you at Philadelphia, where I shall be 
 the first week in February, mentioning whether this is 
 possible. I am going by Augusta down the river to 
 Savannah. So far as I have gone, the fossils strongly 
 confirm the correctness of your identification of the 
 Williamsburg marls with the Miocene groups of 
 Touraine and the Suffolk Crag, according to the 
 results of my tour in France last year. See " Geolo- 
 gical Society Proceedings." The analogy of forms is 
 very satisfactory, even independently of the per- 
 centage of recent species. 
 
 Believe me, my dear sir, 
 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 CHAKLES LYELL.
 
 ^T. 37.] APPALACHIAN GEOLOGY. 205 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, January 14, 1842. 
 
 MY DEAE WILLIAM, By this time you will prob- 
 ably have got our abstract in the " Proceedings of the 
 Philosophical Society," and also Silliinan's, containing 
 Mr. Hall's paper. I think he is wrong in calling the 
 limestone at head of Lake Erie the Niagara limestone, 
 the pitted rock appearing to be the lowest stratum 
 there exposed. Still his paper covers a great amount 
 of ground. I am making the Blue Limestone of Cin- 
 cinnati an equivalent of the Salmon River and Pulaski 
 group, and he staggers me, and still more in half 
 admitting, as he does, the rock at the water level of 
 Cincinnati to be the Trenton Limestone. I shall not 
 be satisfied until I go there myself ; a few fossils are 
 hardly enough. He clearly recognizes the Oolitic 
 Limestone in Indiana and Missouri to be the equiva- 
 lent of Carboniferous Limestone, but he ought to have 
 mentioned, as we do, that Troost had already estab- 
 lished it to be such. The perusal of his paper has 
 confirmed me in my purpose of visiting Tennessee 
 and Alabama this spring, if possible. Let us once 
 fairly trace your S. W. types into those States and 
 unite them with the rocks on the Ohio, and we shall 
 have material for a general treatise and map on the 
 Appalachian System. If we were to resolve to clear 
 up this Southern work during the coming spring and 
 summer, we might get certain portions of our work, 
 say that treating of the structure of the mountain 
 chains, ready to read to the Association in April, and 
 leave the rest for a season of more leisure, to be all 
 incorporated into a special volume. What think you? 
 Pressed as we shall be, I hardly see how we can get a 
 general memoir ready by June for the British Associa- 
 tion. If we could spend two months together, we might 
 accomplish much. . . . 
 
 Conrad has actually read descriptions of all his 
 new species to the Academy, and the plates are soon
 
 206 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1842. 
 
 to be put to press. I rejoice at it; now we shall have 
 something to go upon. I am on the committee on his 
 paper. He proposes now this classification : From 
 bottom of the series to Tully Limestone inclusive, 
 Silurian, our Silurian. The Lower Silurian ends with 
 the Clinton group. Middle Secondary commences 
 with Niagara shales and terminates with Oriskany 
 sandstone, which, he says, is well developed in Penn- 
 sylvania, Kentucky and North Alabama. Tully 
 Limestone, and the Upper Secondary, Ithaca and 
 Chemung groups and Blossburg Old Eed he calls 
 Devonian. Onondaga Limestone he finds at Falls of 
 Ohio. 
 
 I think that Hall is not far wrong in his views of 
 the western strata, if we accept what he says of the 
 Trenton Limestone, etc. 
 
 Ought we not to get something ready for the spring 
 meeting, and would a chapter on our anticlinal axes, 
 etc., be appropriate ? We could take time to study 
 the organic remains next summer and mature our 
 classification, the foundations of which ought to be 
 weU laid. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, February 5, 1842. 
 . . . We have just had a large meeting of the 
 students to form a Temperance Society, and quite a 
 respectable number have taken the teetotal pledge for 
 the college course. This I deem the happiest move- 
 ment for the University that has ever been made, and 
 I make no doubt that a large proportion of the stu- 
 dents, if not all, will eventually join. If so, we shall 
 have no further riots or other serious violations of 
 law, and our places will be infinitely more desirable 
 than they ever have been. Besides, the effect upon 
 the community of such a society being known to exist 
 here will dissipate the unjust prejudice which exists 
 against us, and I look for a very large increase of 
 numbers. You will smile at my earnestness, but
 
 MT. 37.] ON PUBLIC SPEAKING. 207 
 
 in truth I know that 99-100ths of all our troubles 
 spring from drink, and that too, generally wine. . . . 
 
 I am glad that you are paying more attention to 
 your lectures in the University. Nothing but practice 
 is wanting with any of us to excel in this offhand 
 kind of composition. In fact, I think that it is the 
 genius of the family, and depends upon a peculiarity 
 of temperament in which we all share. For my own 
 part, I find that when I am strong, as I have been 
 this winter, I absolutely revel in some of my better 
 themes. . . . 
 
 I suppose Mr. Lyell's course is now under way. 
 How happy would I be could I be present at his lec- 
 tures ! Please tell him for me that I greatly regret 
 not to hear him, and remember me very kindly to him 
 and Mrs. Lyell. 
 
 If possible, in the spring I would spend a week or 
 two with him geologizing in Virginia. Whether this 
 will be in my power I shall better be able to say by 
 and by. 
 
 Give my and Robert's and Uncle's love to dear 
 James and Rachel and the children, and do both he 
 and you write soon to 
 
 Your devoted brother, 
 
 WILLIAM B. ROGEES. 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, February 13, 1842. 
 
 ... I conveyed your message to Lyell. He seems 
 much to wish for an excursion with you. He talks of 
 crossing Virginia to Guyandotte, going to Cincinnati, 
 then North to Lake Erie, to get into Western New 
 York and Canada, after the Boston meeting, and he 
 would, I think, be glad of your escort through Vir- 
 ginia. I am not satisfied with the published abstract 
 of his letter to the Geological Society, describing the 
 results of our visit to the anthracite region in October. 
 He told me he had sent it as our joint work ; now he 
 has taken, or is made to get, the lion's share. . . .
 
 208 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1842. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS BROTHERS. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, February 21, 1842. 
 
 MY DEAR BROTHERS, . . . Tell James that Robert 
 and I were delighted to-day with Graham's mode of 
 showing the decomposition of fluosilicic acid by pass- 
 ing through water. Each bubble, as it rose through 
 the liquid, became encased in a film of silica. Prob- 
 ably he has made the experiment, which I never did 
 before. If not, he should present it to his class when 
 next on that subject. . . . 
 
 Your devoted brother, 
 
 WILLIAM B. ROGERS. 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, February 22, 1842. 
 
 . . . The great point to settle is the best line of di- 
 vision between the meridian and post-meridian series. 
 Conrad now makes it the top of the Tully Limestone, 
 but this is too local for us. 1 think with us the 
 question is nearly reduced to this : shall we take the 
 bottom of VIII., or shall we divide VIII. ? Phillips's 
 book on Devonian fossils has not yet arrived. . . . 
 
 As has been already stated (p. 183), the Geological 
 Survey of Virginia was to have come to an end on 
 January 1, 1842, but after many delays a bill was 
 passed extending the time for its completion to April, 
 and making for it a further appropriation of $4,000. 
 
 The third annual meeting of the Association of 
 American Geologists and Naturalists convened in 
 Boston, April 25-30, 1842, and the brothers Wil- 
 liam and Henry Rogers were present. It was at 
 this meeting, on the 29th of April, that one of the 
 most important papers ever published by them was 
 read. It was entitled, "On the Structure of the 
 Appalachian Chain, as exemplifying the Laws which
 
 Mrr. 37.] THIRD MEETING OF GEOLOGISTS. 209 
 
 have regulated the Elevation of Great Mountain 
 Chains generally," and appeared in the "Trans- 
 actions " already refered to. 
 
 After the death of Professor Rogers in 1882, among 
 the notices which appeared in the public prints was 
 the following, by one who was present, referring to 
 this meeting : 
 
 EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF JOHN L. HATES, ESQ. 1 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, MASS., June 4, 1882. 
 
 In April, 1842, I enjoyed the privilege of attend- 
 ing, as one of the youngest members, the meeting of 
 the Association of American Geologists and Natural- 
 ists, held in the city of Boston, at the rooms of the 
 Boston Society of Natural History. This association 
 was remarkable from the circumstance that nearly all 
 its members were practical geologists, actually en- 
 gaged in conducting the geological surveys then in 
 process in the different States. The discussions were 
 of the gravest character and of profound interest, as 
 all were seekers for instruction from each other, for 
 guidance in conducting the surveys and completing 
 the reports. The meeting in Boston, as compared 
 with three others which I attended elsewhere, was a 
 particularly brilliant one. Its President was Dr. 
 Morton, of Philadelphia, so distinguished for his re- 
 searches in anthropology. Its appointed orator was 
 the venerable Professor Silliman, the father of Amer- 
 ican geology. Not less distinguished among the 
 associate members present were the admirable State 
 Geologist of Massachusetts, Professor Hitchcock ; the 
 almost inspired observer of natural phenomena, our 
 own Dr. Charles T. Jackson ; Emmons, of New Jer- 
 sey, the expositor of the Taconic System ; the brilliant 
 French astronomer Nicollet ; the mineralogist Beck ; 
 the paleontologist Hall ; the microscopist Bailey ; the 
 zoologist Gould ; the philologist, as well as naturalist, 
 i An amateur geologist of Cambridge, Mass.
 
 210 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1842. 
 
 Haldeman ; the eminent merchant, and promoter of 
 New England industries, Nathan Appleton, to whose 
 munificence is due the publication of the proceedings 
 of the association ; and the brothers William B. and 
 Henry D. Rogers, the former (the elder) then the 
 State Geologist of Virginia, and the latter of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and each a representative, as professor, of the 
 principal university in the respective States. To com- 
 plete this brilliant circle, Sir (then Mr.) Charles 
 Lyell, the recognized head of English geology, was 
 present, an interested listener and active participant 
 in the debates. 
 
 Notwithstanding the able address of Professor Silli- 
 man, the elaborate paper of Professor Hitchcock, and 
 the frequent and interesting remarks of Mr. Lyell, 
 the marked feature of this meeting, which continued 
 for a week, was the reading of a joint paper by the 
 brothers Rogers upon the physical structure of the 
 Appalachian chain, as exemplifying the laws which 
 have regulated the elevation of great mountain chains 
 generally. The expression " reading a paper " con- 
 veys a most inadequate idea of what was a remarkable 
 oratorical effort. The brothers, William and Henry, 
 who must always be associated together, as there was 
 an absolute unity of effort in the great work of their 
 lives, their geological observations and deductions, 
 had been for several years studying, respectively, dif- 
 ferent sections of the same great geological field, the 
 Appalachian chain, the one in Virginia, and the other 
 in Pennsylvania. With the natural desire of the rep- 
 resentatives of the South to make a favourable im- 
 pression on the occasion of their first appearance in 
 New England, they selected the meeting in Boston for 
 giving the grand results of their labours in the pecul- 
 iar field of American geology which it had fallen to 
 them first to explore. A grander geological theme 
 could hardly be imagined. It related to the physical 
 structure of a mountain chain 1,300 miles in total 
 length, extending from Vermont to Alabama, and 100
 
 JEft. 37.] A NOTABLE ADDRESS. , " 211 
 
 miles in its greatest breadth, consisting of beds of Silu- 
 rian, Devonian and Carboniferous formations (adopt- 
 ing terms applied to similar formations in England), 
 arranged in elevated parallel and narrow ridges, some- 
 times 100 miles in length, but with strata so folded, 
 warped, contorted, fractured and eroded that science 
 had sought in vain to find a key to their original 
 structure. Yet the genius of the brothers Rogers had, 
 like the Egyptologist with the papyrus roll, unfolded 
 the inverted and contorted strata, spread and smoothed 
 them out, as it were, in an open book, and showed 
 them to the eye of science as originally horizontal 
 deposits, continuous with the rocks of the great west- 
 ern coal-fields. But I can hardly even glance at the 
 scientific conclusions of this paper, as my simple 
 object is to describe the manner of its delivery, and 
 the impression it made upon its hearer. 
 
 The brothers, by their happy and amiable faculty 
 of thinking and working in concert, more than dupli- 
 cated their individual power. In making their joint 
 exposition for the " paper," as delivered, was purely 
 an oral statement William Rogers took upon him- 
 self the more modest but really more difficult part, 
 of describing the phenomena, leaving to his brother 
 the part of explaining the theory of the phenomena. 
 Nothing could be more pleasing than the working to- 
 gether of these two minds toward the same end. 
 Both were in the heyday of manhood, with the enthu- 
 siasm of youth and the fervour of their section still 
 unabated. Their ambition, it is true, was hardly 
 concealed, but it was an ambition which produces 
 noble efforts. Those who know the elegance of dic- 
 tion and manner which, characterized the later address 
 of the elder Rogers can partially conceive of the 
 effect he produced by the fluent and graceful oral 
 statement of the complicated phenomena of this 
 hitherto mysterious mountain chain, a statement in 
 which there was not one moment of hesitancy, nor 
 a word which was not the most fitting. But they
 
 212 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. [1842. 
 
 cannot conceive of the delight which was given to the 
 admiring hearers by the restoration of these disturbed 
 formations to their primitive symmetry, and by the 
 revelation of the laws of structure which determined 
 the conformation of the vast and singular mountain 
 range. 
 
 This paper, or what purports to be the same, is 
 
 r Wished in the " Transactions " of the Association, 
 have frequently read it since. To me it is now 
 comparatively tame in expression. It lacks the in- 
 spiration of the scene and the men, the illustrative 
 diagrams, the emphasis of voice and finger pointing 
 out the distinguishing phenomena, and the fervour of 
 spontaneous utterance. The impression I have of this 
 exposition, as delivered, is that, next to the Phi Beta 
 Kappa oration of Wendell Phillips at Harvard, it 
 was the most lucid and elegant effort of oral state- 
 ment to which I ever listened. It may be true that 
 eloquence is but a secondary quality in the philoso- 
 pher but, in respect to the matter of this memoir and 
 the general researches and deductions of the brothers 
 Rogers here named, in their peculiar field of explora- 
 tion, it may be safely asserted that they have made 
 the most original and brilliant generalizations re- 
 corded in the annals of American geology, and have 
 thrown light upon the structure of mountain chains 
 generally, which entitles them to a place by the side 
 of the great expositor of this subject, filie de Beau- 
 mont, of France.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND FOR ONE 
 YEAR CHAIRMAN OF THE FACULTY IN THE UNI- 
 VERSITY OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 1842-1846. 
 
 Robert appointed Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica in 
 the University of Virginia. His Marriage. Henry presides at 
 Fourth Annual Meeting of Geologists and Naturalists in Albany. 
 He lectures on Geology in Boston. Fifth Meeting of Geologists 
 and Naturalists in Washington. William and Henry elected For- 
 eign Members of the Geological Society of London. Henry gives 
 a Course of Lowell Lectures in Boston. William Chairman of the 
 Faculty of the University of Virginia. Attack upon the Univer- 
 sity in the Legislature. His Defence of the University. An 
 Educational Document. Student Riots. Ill-health. A Visit to 
 Lake Superior. Henry removes to Boston. Second Visit of 
 Lyell to America. James and Robert edit " Turner's Chemistry." 
 
 Plans of William and Henry for a Polytechnic School in Boston. 
 
 A Summer Journey in New England. 
 
 ON the return of the brothers from the Boston 
 meeting of the Society of American Geologists and 
 Naturalists, they resumed their academic duties and 
 their regular correspondence. By the munificence of 
 Nathan Appletou, Esq., and other gentlemen of Bos- 
 ton, the proceedings of this meeting of the Society, 
 together with those of the two preceding meetings 
 held in Philadelphia, were published hi a single 
 volume. In this was included the joint paper of 
 the Rogers brothers " On the Physical Structure of 
 the Appalachian Chain," as well as their individual 
 contributions.
 
 214 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1842. 
 
 TO ROBERT. 
 
 Pmr.ApRT.pHiA, May 9, 1842. 
 
 . . . Lyell and Nicollet have been sounding Wil- 
 liam's praise among our few confidential friends in a 
 manner that has delighted me. Let us all stick to 
 science in good earnest and we shall not repent the 
 toil it costs. 
 
 Mr. Lyell afterwards induced the brothers to send 
 an abstract of their paper on the Appalachian Chain 
 to the British Association. 
 
 CHARLES LYELL TO HENRY ROGERS. 
 
 MARIETTA, May 19, 1842. 
 
 DEAR ROGERS, Being here in the coal with Dr. 
 
 Hildreth, I was curious to see the report of L 's 
 
 paper given in the number of the " Athenzeum " which 
 I received by post at Wheeling yesterday. As it con- 
 tains much attributed to L on the structure of 
 
 the Appalachian which you told me at Pottsville, and 
 which I withheld in my Stigmaria letter to the Geo- 
 logical Society as being still your private property, I 
 feel sure that you will not read the abstract without 
 the same very uncomfortable feelings which I did. I 
 could have wished that in your last short Report you 
 had given two or three pages on your grand gen- 
 eral results, which are now so widely ventilated (as 
 Brougham would say), and are becoming such com- 
 mon property, to which others . . . may add original 
 observations, mixing them up together so as no longer 
 to know how much is their own, that if you do not 
 take some steps in a periodical, or through some other 
 channel, you will be involved in endless reclamations, 
 as the French call them. No one can stand quiet and 
 see others make off with the fruits of his labours, 
 but the effect of having frequently to call out " Stop 
 thief ! " would be anything but desirable. It will be
 
 JErt. 37.] LYELL. 215 
 
 long before I shall be in London, where I could explain. 
 The British Association meets some day in June at 
 Manchester. I hardly know whether a letter from 
 you to them would be in time. If so, I believe it 
 would not shut you out from a detailed paper at the 
 Geological Society, with sections, etc. 
 
 My wife sends her kind regards, and believe me, 
 dear Rogers, 
 
 Ever truly yours, 
 
 CHARLES LYELL. 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, May 30, 1842. 
 
 . . . The remarks of Lyell set me to pondering 
 as to my best course. I drew up a clear, condensed, 
 careful abstract, which when copied filled two fools- 
 cap sheets as close as James could write it. This I 
 despatched this afternoon with a separate letter to 
 Professor Phillips at Manchester, requesting him to 
 read it and show it to Sedgwick before presenting 
 it. ... 
 
 On June 12, 1842, the brothers William and Henry 
 were notified of their election as honorary members 
 of the Boston Society of Natural History. Robert 
 had been appointed to fill temporarily the chair of 
 Chemistry in the University of Virginia in the place 
 of Dr. Emmett, who was absent on account of ill- 
 health. 
 
 WILLIAM MoILVAINE TO HENRY ROGERS. 
 
 BUKLINGTON, N. J., August 23, 1842. 
 
 ... I give you an extract from a letter just re- 
 ceived from Mr. Lyell at Halifax, dated the 16th 
 instant, as follows : 
 
 " When you see H. D. Rogers tell him that early 
 attention was paid to his and his brother's paper at 
 Manchester, which gave rise to a full and animated
 
 216 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1842. 
 
 debate, ... in which Sedgwick, Murchison, De la 
 Beche, and Phillips took a part." 
 
 Kobert was now appointed to the professorship in 
 the University of Virginia made vacant by the death 
 of Dr. Emmett. 
 
 WILLIAM TO ROBERT. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, September 20, 1842. 
 
 MY DEAR ROBERT, You have heard from Henry 
 by yesterday's mail of your appointment. I have 
 never seen so general a rejoicing as has been shown 
 on hearing of your appointment. All the profes- 
 sors, Cabell, Howard, Harrison, Kraitzer and George 
 Tucker, showed the greatest pleasure. You owe much 
 to Cabell and Howard. The former, besides coming 
 over expressly to help your cause, previously wrote to 
 General Cocke about you. 
 
 As the Materia Medica is only once a week, you 
 will have no difficulty in preparing in that depart- 
 ment. Bring on two copies of Liebig's " Animal 
 Chemistry." 
 
 You have the right to Mr. Bonnycastle's house. 
 The Visitors have formally accorded it to you. I need 
 not say how happy we all are, and how much happi- 
 ness we look forward to. 
 
 McKennie is writing to you about text-books. 
 Turner, he says, cannot be procured. You had best 
 make inquiry on this point. Good-by, Professor ! ! 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA, October 2, 1842. 
 MY DEAR HENRY, I reached this place late on 
 Saturday night, having endured the discomfort of a 
 crowded stage all the way from the White Sulphur. 
 The tri-weekly arrangement having just been estab- 
 lished, I found upon arriving at Callahan's that by 
 giving up my seat I would be almost certain of deten-
 
 JET. 38.] ROBERT APPOINTED PROFESSOR. 217 
 
 tion for several days, as there were then persons enough 
 waiting to fill a stage. I thereupon, after a painful 
 struggle, relinquished my plan of pausing there to 
 complete the examination of Dunlap's Creek. I can- 
 not tell you how much regret this disappointment 
 occasioned me. Indeed, so anxious was I to examine 
 V. in that quarter that I would have been willing 
 to take the chance of getting on. This leaves an im- 
 portant blank in my summer's observations. . . . 
 
 On my way from Callahan's to the Hot Springs, on 
 the road, I found in a neat cutting of the slate a new 
 locality of the Orthoceras limestone. It occurs below 
 the black wafery slate at which we commenced our 
 observations near the Hot Springs, and is near the 
 cement layers ; several other fossils, all small ones, 
 are associated with it. I feel pretty certain that there 
 must be a narrow band, perhaps ten or twenty feet 
 thick, in that region, which should be regarded as the 
 representation of the Hamilton. I also found near the 
 top of the North Mountain, in walking up the western 
 slope, five or six bands of highly f ossilif erous sandstone 
 and slate, containing a great variety of shells. They 
 were considerably below the base of IX., and are no 
 doubt Chemung. I brought one home with me. ... I 
 have written this in great haste to be ready for the 
 Staunton mail, and shall have to send it to Cocke's 
 by the driver. I am quite well. 
 
 JAMES TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, December 24, 1842. 
 
 MY DEAR BROTHER, ... In a day or two I will 
 write to you both respecting the plan of a contem- 
 plated work of chemistry, with an outline of the ar- 
 rangement which might be adopted. This I want to 
 submit to you both for such suggestions as you may 
 think proper to make respecting it, but more of this 
 in my next. . . .
 
 218 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1842. 
 
 TO WILLIAM. 
 
 I have opened James's letter, with his permission, 
 to send you a hasty copy of a letter just received from 
 Professor Phillips, of England, on the subject of our 
 paper to the British Association. . . . Here is his 
 letter : 
 
 FROM THE CENTRE OF THE WOOLHOPE DISTRICT, 
 November 15, 1842. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I am tardy in sending to you 
 some account of the presentation of your paper on 
 Elevation of Mountain Chains, at Manchester to the 
 British Association, but in fact, my life is now that 
 of a mere paleontologist, who has no proper notions 
 of anything more recent than the chalk. My engage- 
 ment with the Ordnance Geological Survey requires 
 the devotion of a larger portion of my days and nights 
 in active field hammering and closet reasoning, and 
 there is yet a month of the former duty before I re- 
 visit my dearly loved home at York. But to return 
 to your paper. I received it just before the Man- 
 chester meeting, at which my official occupations were 
 excessive, and then commended it to the President of 
 the Section, Mr. Murchison, Professor Sedgwick not 
 having arrived. Against my expectation the paper 
 was appointed for reading on the first day, when I 
 was so entirely engrossed with my duties as not to 
 be able to appear. Sedgwick, however, had arrived, 
 and there was a lively and continued discussion. The 
 opinions of the geologists present were apparently at 
 variance with you, but I am very much of the opinion 
 that, had your views been put en grande carte, with 
 large diagrams to show the mechanical reasoning, the 
 result might have been different. There were several 
 points in your argument which I approved and wished 
 to advocate, but unfortunately my absence could not 
 be prevented. I don't think the account of the dis- 
 cussion in the " Athenaeum " very exact (so I heard 
 from others), and in the Association reports, you
 
 JEx. 38.] ROBERT'S MARRIAGE. 219 
 
 know, we never introduce any statements but those of 
 the authors of the papers. There will be a pretty 
 full account of it in our next volume. . . . 
 
 On March 13, 1843, Robert was married to Miss 
 Fanny Montgomery, a daughter of Mr. Joseph S. 
 Lewis, of Philadelphia. 
 
 As the time appointed for the fourth annual meet- 
 ing of the Association of American Geologists and 
 Naturalists (at Albany) drew near, Henry, who had 
 been elected at the Boston meeting in 1842 Chairman 
 for that of 1843, wrote concerning it to William : 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, March 30, 1843. 
 
 MY DEAR WILLIAM, . . . Dr. David Dale Owen l 
 writes me that he will attend the Association at Al- 
 bany, with papers on Western geology and a system of 
 colouring geological maps, etc. I shall rejoice to see 
 him, and hail his coming as a good sign. Is it not 
 time for us to consider what we shall present? I 
 presume it will be a fit occasion to come forward with 
 our nomenclature and count on a discussion of its 
 principles and details. We may derive profit from 
 a timely discussion of it. What think you ? If you 
 agree, then we must soon each of us refresh his mem- 
 ory upon and turn over the various arguments of a 
 general kind we have from time to time thought of 
 in its defence. Of course we shall have to carry the 
 war into Africa, and show the flimsy foundation upon 
 which existing systems rest. What other matters 
 shall we propose? . . . 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, April 8, 1843. 
 
 . . . Should you join me, I think we can essentially 
 strengthen our present good position by presenting the 
 outlines and principles of our nomenclature, which I 
 1 Chief of the Geological Survey of Wisconsin.
 
 220 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1843. 
 
 am not, however, impatient to see produced. I have 
 been looking rather extensively into the subject of 
 earthquakes, with a view to its bearings upon all parts 
 of our theory of flexures, and the grand fundamental 
 doctrine of an interior fluidity ; and I think we may 
 in a joint paper, as a sequel to our former one, greatly 
 strengthen our positions, and incite anew the attention 
 of geologists to our views upon the broadest grounds. 
 Such a paper I am collecting materials for indus- 
 triously, in the hope that it may meet your consent 
 that we send it this summer to the British Associa- 
 tion, the leading members of which will have an 
 opportunity at the same time to read our printed 
 memoir. What say you to this notion ? I fear it 
 might be premature to send over our nomenclature 
 until we have at least seen its fate here. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENBT. 
 
 UNIVEESITT OF VIBGINIA, April 18, 1843. 
 
 MY DEAR HENRY, I have for the last three days 
 been in doubt as to my attendance at Albany, and at 
 last, though with no little reluctance, I have made up 
 my mind to deny myself this gratification, that we 
 may be the better able to secure our other objects the 
 coming summer. We shall both wish to travel a part 
 of the time for geological purposes, and I find that 
 our means will be much restricted if I incur any more 
 than necessary expenses now. By that time I shall 
 receive a part of what is due from Davis's estate, some 
 of which, however, I wish to hold in reserve for future 
 occasions. 
 
 I could not attend the meeting without an absence 
 of about two weeks, and, though Robert could very 
 well supply my place with the junior class, my seniors 
 would be idle, and in their present stage of study this 
 would be a serious matter. 
 
 As James's classes are likely for the present to be 
 quite small, I feel the more urged to economy in all
 
 Mi. 36.] INFUSORIAL DEPOSITS. 221 
 
 things. We shall soon, I am sure, feel the influence 
 of better times, and then I shall have coffers better 
 supplied. You can imagine with what reluctance I 
 have relinquished my intention of being at the meet- 
 ing. Ever since the Boston Association, I have been 
 looking forward with much pleasure to it. But I 
 think I have decided prudently. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 23, 1843. 
 
 MY DEAR HENRY, ... I write to request you to 
 make a verbal communication to the Society in my 
 behalf to the following effect : 
 
 "Since my first discovery of the infusorial struc- 
 ture on the Rappahannock and at Richmond, as re- 
 ferred to in my Report for the year 1840, I have suc- 
 ceeded in finding a similar deposit at numerous other 
 localities, extending from the Potomac River to near 
 the southern boundary of the State. Among these 
 points may be enumerated the Stratford Cliffs, on the 
 Potomac, the vicinity of Westmoreland Court House, 
 and a great number of localities between the Potomac 
 and Rappahannock rivers, the southern bank of the 
 latter, the vicinity of Newcastle on the Pamunkey 
 River, the James River below City Point, Petersburg 
 on the Appomattox River, and a tract above Dupre's 
 bridge on the Meherrin River. Further search will, 
 I am convinced, greatly multiply these localities, and 
 the observations already made are quite sufficient to 
 prove the wide horizontal extension of this interesting 
 division of our Tertiary series. Although in some of 
 the localities, as at Richmond, the structure reposes 
 upon beds containing Eocene impressions, and alto- 
 gether beneath the Miocene strata, at other places, as 
 for example the Stratford Cliffs and Petersburg, it is 
 underlaid by unequivocal Miocene, and hence at these 
 places, if not generally, is to be referred to a position 
 in the geological series within and near the bottom of 
 the Miocene division of the Tertiary. I am, however, 
 inclined to the opinion that these strata are not all
 
 222 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1843. 
 
 upon exactly the same horizon, and that some of them 
 lie in a higher part of the formation. Mr. Tuomey, 
 of Petersburg, who has recently observed the deposit 
 at that place, estimates the thickness at thirty feet. 
 (See his paper in ' Silliman's Journal,' April num- 
 ber). 
 
 " In connection with these statements, it may be 
 interesting to add that accompanying the infusorial 
 material, I have found vegetable remains at some 
 localities in great abundance. They are all imper- 
 fectly carbonized, still preserving their form and their 
 fibrous texture, and they seem to be all referri- 
 ble to creeping and apparently cryptogamous plants. 
 From the specimens I am now collecting, I hope to 
 be able to decide with some certainty as to their true 
 character." . . . 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 ALBANY, April 30, 1843. 
 
 . . . Thus far I have done little in our own behalf, 
 my time having been greatly engrossed by my duties 
 as chairman and on committees. The attendance is 
 nearly or quite as slender as it was at Boston, there 
 being a poor turn-out from this region ; but there pre- 
 vails an excellent spirit, and there has thus far been 
 decidly more solid work performed than last year. 
 As to filling the chair, I find it laborious, but not at 
 all embarrassing. The attendance at our discussions 
 is very slender, this being a city of almost no taste 
 for such matters. . . . Morton has failed to come 
 with his address, and Silliman Sr., Gould, Ducatel, 
 Locke, Taylor and yourself being absent, we were 
 very much disheartened at first, as we have derived 
 but a small contingent from this quarter. Lately 
 we have been much more cheerful, and, as we talk 
 seriously of going next year to Washington, we feel 
 that we may yet reach a respectable point as regards 
 numbers. ... I think we shall meet in double the 
 number at Washington, and we have cut out a first-
 
 JET. 38.] FOURTH MEETING OF GEOLOGISTS. 223 
 
 class deal of work. You and Robert are on com- 
 mittee to report on the chemical relation of the Coals 
 of this country, and James and Jackson, of Boston, as 
 a committee on Greensand. The large committee of 
 nine on Drift having done nothing, we have assigned 
 the task anew, New England and New York to 
 Emmons, the West and Far West to Nicollet, and 
 the Southern boundary to you. I am on a committee 
 on coal plants. 
 
 The Governor has not yet signed the bill including 
 an appropriation for my survey ; some doubt exists 
 as to his intention. I am to give bond for completing 
 the work, which I am willing to do if I can procure 
 it. But if, as some who heard the debate supposed, 
 I am also required to finish my report by next win- 
 ter, I shall not accept the appropriation. . . . Coming 
 from New York in the same car with John Pickering, 
 of Boston, I had much delightful conversation with 
 him. He gave me to believe that I should certainly 
 succeed in Boston as a lecturer. ... I would propose, 
 if it were possible for me to visit you (and I fear I 
 cannot for some weeks at least), that we should get 
 ready a brief paper conjointly, embody my investiga- 
 tions on earthquakes, and send it to the British Asso- 
 ciation for their approaching meeting. We could thus 
 strengthen our theory, and take occasion to reply to 
 the arguments of Sedgwick and others to the exten- 
 sion of the structural laws to Europe, and also on the 
 dynamics of the question. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 27, 1843. 
 MY DEAR HENRY, I am quite anxious for an 
 opportunity of replying to Sedgwick and the other 
 objectors to the theoretical views of our paper. Judg- 
 ing from the report of what he said, as republished 
 in " Silliman," I do not discover anything formidable 
 in his opposition. Indeed, both his and De la Beche'g
 
 224 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1843. 
 
 objections are already in a great degree met in our 
 extended paper. 
 
 De la Beche's comments appear to me to be feeble 
 and without point. Thus when he says that, " while 
 contortions of the strata sometimes assume the char- 
 acter of mountain chains, at others they occupy large 
 tracts of low ground," he seems to have overlooked 
 the effects of ulterior general subsidence as well as 
 denudation.^ In adverting to our criticism of the 
 theory of Elie de Beaumont, he has not rightly con- 
 ceived the extent of deviation of the various parts of 
 the chain he describes from a common direction, a 
 deviation greater than that referred to by the French 
 philosopher in some cases, as marking differences of 
 epoch. In asserting that " the only force necessary 
 for the production of flexures and contortions, such as 
 he describes, is the lateral or tangential pressure," he 
 has evidently failed to appreciate the evidence derived 
 from the laws of flexures we have established. His 
 reference to the structure of Russia, though well 
 enough as a proof that our subterranean forces have 
 not acted there, does not at all affect the question of 
 their operation in Europe and this country. We have 
 not pretended that our pulsations were propagated all 
 around the hemisphere. 
 
 It would seem that Sedgwick does not regard the 
 steepening of the flexures on the N. W. side as " fa- 
 vourable to our view of the origin of the contortions," 
 and, from the language in which he is reported, he 
 appears to think that the greater steepness, being 
 ''farthest from the centre of disturbing forces," is 
 just what should not be the result according to our 
 theory. What notions he entertains of subterranean 
 waves I cannot imagine, but to me nothing in me- 
 chanics is more clear than the connection of such a 
 force with a great progressive wave. 
 
 In reasoning from the form of the flexures and 
 other phenomena presented by strata of such high 
 antiquity, I do not see that much importance should
 
 MT. 38.] GEOLOGY. 225 
 
 be attached to the present level of the region in which 
 they exist. The operation of an elevating as well as 
 tangential force in other words, of a wave does 
 not seem necessary to imply a permanent uplift of 
 the whole surface. Besides, in the Liege to which he 
 refers, we know not to what extent denudation or 
 subsidence may have depressed the ancient level of 
 the land. Sedgwick's idea of the mechanism of earth- 
 quake movement, which Dr. P in the Philosoph- 
 ical Society reproduced, is no better than any other 
 guess. The comparison of phenomena, and the actual 
 tracing of the movement with which you have lately 
 been occupied, is the true mode of discovering what 
 an earthquake is. . . 
 
 The Report of the Proceedings of the British Asso- 
 ciation for July 24, 1843, contains an abstract of the 
 joint paper on the Physical Structure of the Appala- 
 chian Chain. 
 
 The summer of 1843 passed without special inci- 
 dent, and another academic year began. October, 
 with its crisp coolness, came once more and brought 
 fresh inspiration for the new year. 
 
 WILLIAM TO JAMES. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, October 14, 1843. 
 MY DEAR JAMES, This clear, invigorating weather 
 reminds me of our October rambles together when you 
 were with me in the Survey, and I am still more for- 
 cibly reminded of them in pursuing my present task 
 of writing out the notes I took some weeks ago in 
 Rockbridge, Allegheny, and Greenbrier counties, 
 among the scenes of some of your most pleasing geo- 
 logical labours. My late tour has thrown new light 
 upon some important points in the development of cer- 
 tain formations there, and has enabled me to make a 
 useful collection of fossils. What think you of find-
 
 226 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1843. 
 
 ing the fossil ore on top of the North Mountain, 
 beyond McCorkle's, and above the arch at Clifton 
 Forge ? I earnestly wished that you could have been 
 with me in this journey, as much for my advantage as 
 for that of your health. 
 
 From what I have observed of late, and what 
 Henry has more than once mentioned in affectionate 
 anxiety, I am fearful that you are destined, unless you 
 practice the greatest caution, to suffer as seriously as 
 even I have done from hoarseness and feebleness of 
 the throat. This apprehension gives me many an 
 uneasy hour, and makes me ardently desire that I 
 were with you to persuade you to adopt every means of 
 protection or care. I trust, my dear James, that you 
 provide yourself in due time with flannels and thick 
 winter-proof boots, and that you never venture out 
 unprotected by these and by a good cloak or great- 
 coat. My experience here has shown me that with 
 these and warm gloves I may defy the cold and wet, 
 and that frequent exposure thus arrayed is, even in 
 bad weather, salutary rather than hurtful. . . . 
 
 Our classes have increased steadily though not very 
 rapidly since I last wrote. We are much ahead of 
 last season, and may, I think, reasonably count upon 
 one hundred and sixty in all. Robert, who has been 
 particularly lucky this year, has now sixty-six, and 
 may calculate upon seventy-five. I have forty-two, 
 and look for fifty. In these moderate expectations, 
 however, we may be disappointed, but, should the ratio 
 of increase with the time be the same as last year, 
 these must be the results. From our numbers must 
 always be deducted some two or three non-paying 
 students. Between us, at all events, we may count 
 upon one hundred and fifteen fees, which is a handsome 
 improvement upon last session. From the character 
 of our present students, I augur not only a quiet and 
 successful course, but a great improvement in num- 
 bers and respectability for future years. Every one 
 is struck with the very superior tone and breeding of
 
 ^T. 38.] INFUSORIAL DEPOSITS. 227 
 
 the great mass of the new-comers of this season. 
 Among those are a son of Watkins Leigh, of our 
 good friend John Wickham, and of Bishop Johns. . . . 
 
 The occasional letters which passed between Pro- 
 fessor Kogers and Professor J. W. Bailey, of West 
 Point, reveal a pleasant scientific intercourse and the 
 warm friendship which ever existed between them. 
 Two such letters belong to this period. 
 
 TO PROFESSOR J. W. BAILEY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, October 22, 1843. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have been anxious for the last three 
 weeks to inform you of an important extension of our 
 infusorial formation, and to inclose you a small speci- 
 men for your microscope. You will, I am sure, be 
 pleased to learn that I have ascertained the existence 
 of this deposit in Maryland, where I have long felt 
 pretty confident it would be discovered, and that it 
 is thick and probably widely diffused. Its geological 
 position, as at many of the Virginian localities, is 
 near but above the junction of the Eocene and Mio- 
 cene. The specimen sent you is from the neighbour- 
 hood of Piscataway. . . . 
 
 Though disappointed in my hope of meeting you in 
 Albany last spring, and still later in my design of 
 paying you a short visit at West Point, I trust I shall 
 enjoy many pleasant interviews next spring in Wash- 
 ington, and by way of further recommending myself 
 I shall take on specimens of all things worthy of your 
 microscope that I can collect. We who are in colle- 
 giate harness may well envy the lot of those happy 
 fellows who, free from all such restraints, can go 
 whithersoever the love of research impels, and can 
 devote all their hours of vigorous thought to extend- 
 ing the boundaries of knowledge. . . .
 
 228 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1843. 
 
 FROM PROFESSOR BAILEY. 
 
 WEST POINT, October 31, 1843. 
 
 One of your ever-welcome letters reached me yes- 
 terday, and its contents, visible as well as invisible, 
 have afforded me much pleasure. I am glad to find 
 that in spite of the harness you can still take flight 
 into the fields of discovery. This new extension of 
 our little pets into Maryland is truly interesting. I 
 think we may now challenge the world to produce in- 
 fusorial deposits equal in extent to those of which you 
 made the truly " splendid " discovery. In America, 
 in spite of old Buffon, Nature has done all her work 
 on a scale commensurate with our immense territory. 
 . . . As most of the forms in question are more abun- 
 dant in the Petersburg specimen than in any others, I 
 will now proceed to describe and figure some from that 
 locality, that you may understand what I mean when I 
 refer to them in mentioning the species in the Mary- 
 land specimens. First then, the gem of the whole, the 
 most splendid animalcule ever discovered, is one which 
 belongs to a genus which Ehrenberg called Tripodis- 
 cws, in consequence of his noticing three feet-like pro- 
 jections on the disc ; but as our species has from three 
 to seven of these feet, I propose to change the name 
 to Podiscus, and our elegant species I shall take the 
 liberty of calling Podiscus Rogersi. Ehrenberg's 
 species was discovered by him in a living state in sea- 
 water ; he does not appear to have noticed it in the 
 fossil state. Our species, which presents several 
 points of difference from Ehrenberg's figure, is the 
 largest animalcule in the Petersburg deposits ; to the 
 naked eye, it is as large as this circle, O. Its surface 
 is so elaborately marked that no engine-turning can 
 surpass it in elegance, and it bids defiance to all my 
 graphic powers to make a good figure of it. 
 
 I wish I could have you here for a while to have a 
 long talk with you, and receive from your active mind 
 that stimulus which sympathy in our pursuits and
 
 -Ex. 38.] SCIENCE AT WEST POINT. 229 
 
 feelings never fails to impart. I am about the sole 
 representative here of the natural sciences, and have 
 to live in an atmosphere where all that is not mathe- 
 matical is considered as unscientific. Of course, then, 
 I meet with little sympathy or encouragement in my 
 pursuits. Nevertheless, these studies carry their own 
 reward, and render many an hour pleasant that would 
 otherwise be tedious. I am amused, and at the same 
 time pleased, to see how some of our American geolo- 
 gists are working up to views which you and your 
 brother Henry advanced years ago, and which have but 
 just been caught up with by some of our savants. 
 
 I close for want of room, but with feelings of most 
 cordial regard. Yours truly, 
 
 J. W. BAILEY. 
 
 Professor Henry Rogers, at the suggestion of Mr. 
 George B. Emerson of Boston, and other friends, was 
 at this time preparing to give in that city a course of 
 popular lectures on geology. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, November 5, 1843. 
 I have nothing whatever of local or scientific inter- 
 est to tell you, but write simply from the impulse of 
 the most affectionate sympathy in your present plans 
 and prospects. You are now approaching the com- 
 mencement of your course, for which no doubt you 
 are by this time very amply prepared. And it is im- 
 portant that from the very beginning you should 
 entertain the fullest confidence in your entire success, 
 and suffer no misgivings to damp for a moment that 
 animating sense of power which it is your right to 
 feel. My own experience in popular lecturing has 
 taught me how much the highest degree of success is 
 dependent upon the extent to which this sense of con- 
 fidence is felt at the opening and in the progress of 
 the lecture ; and hence it is my habit now, when on
 
 230 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1843. 
 
 such occasions I find anxiety or timidity creeping upon 
 me, to rouse my energy and, so to speak, new-nerve 
 my thoughts by a strong voluntary effort like that 
 which you witness in sprightly, imaginative children 
 in their heroic reveries. This curious effort of the 
 will, though hard to describe, you no doubt compre- 
 hend and have yourself resorted to. ... 
 
 On Saturday last I delivered the annual address to 
 the Agricultural Society of Albemarle. It was all 
 improvised, and was intended to point out the true 
 dignity and the intellectual requirements of agricul- 
 tural pursuits, and hence the demand for a high 
 grade of education in the training of those who are 
 to become farmers. . . . 
 
 FROM THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER, 1843. 
 LECTUKES ON GEOLOGY. 
 
 Professor Henry D. Rogers will deliver the first 
 regular lecture of his course on American Geology at 
 the Masonic Temple, on Tuesday, December 5, 1843, 
 at 7 o'clock. The lecture will treat of, Means of 
 Geological Investigation ; Different Classes of Rocks ; 
 Series of Stratified Formations ; Scale of Geological 
 Time ; Central Heat ; Fluidity of the Interior of the 
 Globe ; Thinness of the Earth's Crust, etc. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA, December 18, 1843. 
 MY DEAR HENRY, In regard to our Oolite coal 
 and superior rocks, my views, though not carefully or 
 finally made up, are briefly the following : I conceive 
 these materials to have been accumulated in a chain 
 of shallow lagoons and lakes extending some dis- 
 tance east of the present limits of the formation, 
 while the great primary surface to the west was, as 
 now, dry land. Supposing a subsidence of this tract 
 to have commenced in the region of the Chesterfield
 
 -ffir. 39.] HENRY LECTURES IN BOSTON. 231 
 
 Basin, we should in the earlier stages of the change 
 have the physical causes favourable to the production 
 of the coal, which, as you know, lies at or near the 
 base of the formation. This earliest-formed lagoon, 
 filled up with a rank growth of reeds, Tceneopteris, 
 etc., gradually sinking as the vegetable matter accumu- 
 lated, would at length contain an immense thickness 
 of these exuvia3 only requiring to be sealed in by 
 the overlying beds to form the coal. A more sudden 
 shifting of the level must now have occurred, attended 
 with violent wearing and transporting action of water, 
 by which the coarse grits above the coal were rapidly 
 accumulated. To this succeeded a gentler action, 
 giving rise to the fine micaceous sandstones which 
 lie above. During all this time I conceive that the 
 region now occupied by the Fredericksburg sandstone, 
 extending to the South Anna River, had not yet been 
 brought within the limits of the sedimentary action. 
 But now, a second more sudden subsidence occurring, 
 and operating chiefly in the northern portion of the 
 tract, the belt from the South Anna to the Potomac 
 was overspread with coarse primary and Appalachian 
 pebbles, which at the same time mantled over the 
 Chesterfield and Henrico coal-fields ; and to this suc- 
 ceeded the more gentle actions, which, as the tract 
 gradually subsided, accumulated the materials of the 
 felspathic sandstone, with its lignities, silicified wood, 
 and other relics of vegetation. As we cannot be cer- 
 tain of the absence of this formation beneath the 
 Tertiary even at a considerable distance to the south- 
 east, and as we know of its presence on the Appo- 
 mattox, James, Rappahannock, and Potomac rivers 
 between the Gneiss and the Eocene, we cannot pro- 
 nounce with confidence as to the extent of area over 
 which the sediment was originally spread towards the 
 east. Having found no decidedly marine forms in 
 any of these rocks, I cannot suppose it to have been 
 a coast deposit, although I am inclined to think that 
 the lagoons or the long inlet were but little removed
 
 232 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1844. 
 
 from the sea, even in the region of Chesterfield, and 
 approached it still more closely towards Fredericks- 
 burg. I have no doubt that the formation prior to 
 denudation was far more extensive than now, having 
 seen traces of it far south of Appomattox. 
 
 In May, 1844, the annual meeting of the Associa- 
 tion of American Geologists and Naturalists was held 
 in Washington. James was a member of the Stand- 
 ing Committee and William and Henry attended and 
 read papers, but no account of these appears in the 
 correspondence of this period. 
 
 In a letter dated May 14, 1844, Mr. J. A. Lowell, 
 Trustee of the Lowell Institute, proposed to Professor 
 Henry Rogers to give a course of lectures on Geology 
 before the Lowell Institute in Boston. The letter 
 was addressed to the "Care of Professor W. B. 
 Rogers, University of Virginia," and upon it William 
 penned these lines : 
 
 DEAR HENRY, I have opened this most delight- 
 ful letter, having a presentiment of what it contained, 
 and I now close it to send it by this evening's mail. 
 My heart rejoices with you over its contents. 
 Your devoted and happy brother, 
 
 WILLIAM B. ROGERS. 
 
 WILLIAM TO JAMES. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 19, 1844. 
 
 We missed you, my dear James, at the Association. 
 Next season you must arrange your affairs so as to be 
 present. The place of meeting, 'New Haven, is, I 
 think, well selected, and we may anticipate a larger 
 session than we have yet had and a general interest 
 of the community in our proceedings. 
 
 Why, my dear James, do you not write to us ? We 
 are desirous of knowing all particulars connected with
 
 ^T. 39.] JAMES'S FAMILY. 233 
 
 the Institute and other medical schools, what Dr. 
 Hare is now about ; how Frazer succeeds in his new 
 place ; whether he intends retaining the place in the 
 Franklin Institute, and other items of local and per- 
 sonal interest. 
 
 You have not told us anything about the little 
 darling, what is to be her name ; whom is she 
 most like ; and many other inquiries which we would 
 make in the first breath after seeing you, and which 
 you can easily answer by pen. I trust dear Rachel 
 has quite recovered. Tell her I think daily with 
 brotherly affection of her and the children. I wish 
 William and Henry could be here to enjoy our deli- 
 cious strawberries and cream. The early fruits are 
 unusually good and abundant, and we have straw- 
 berries, which cost only 6^ cents, a quart, twice or 
 three times a day. Before the yeay is out I shall re- 
 order my household, fitting up my room to the exclu- 
 sion of the cumbrous cases of minerals. Then I shall 
 be able to have the boys with me in the spring when 
 you can let them come to enjoy the fresh air, freedom 
 and rustic pleasures of this region of verdure, fruits 
 and flowers. 
 
 What are you now lecturing on, and what new 
 arrangements have you made in your laboratory? 
 Robert is just closing inorganic chemistry. I am 
 beginning the imponderables, having allowed myself 
 too little time to treat them as fully as I have been 
 used to do. Tell me of any scientific news that has 
 come to your knowledge. . . . 
 
 Your devoted brother, 
 
 WILLIAM B. ROGERS. 
 
 I hope you still continue to gather materials for 
 your book. Depend upon it, you might do great 
 things by such a work. 
 
 On June 1, 1844, Mr. Rogers and his brother 
 Henry were informed, by the Foreign Secretary (De
 
 234 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1844. 
 
 la Beche) of the Geological Society of London, that 
 they had been unanimously elected Foreign Mem- 
 bers of that Society; and in August, 1844, Mr. 
 Eogers was notified of his election to membership in 
 the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, having its 
 headquarters at Copenhagen. 
 
 On the opening of the University in the autumn 
 Professor Rogers was chosen by his colleagues Chair- 
 man of the Faculty, an event of great importance as 
 it proved in the demonstration and the development 
 of those administrative powers which afterwards char- 
 acterized his life and labors in Boston. Reference is 
 made to this appointment in the following letter : 
 
 TO GEORGE TICKNOR, ESQ. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, October 10, 1844. 
 
 . . . From the number of matriculates already en- 
 rolled, we have reason to anticipate a much fuller 
 session than we have had for several years, and are 
 encouraged to expect for the future a nearer attain- 
 ment of that wider and higher usefulness which the 
 great founder of the University had in mind in its 
 establishment. 
 
 Nothing would please me more than a short visit 
 to Boston during my brother Henry's course. But 
 although I have sometimes indulged myself in dream- 
 ing of it, my additional duties for the present session, 
 as Chairman, debar me of all hope of such a gratifica- 
 tion. Perhaps early in May, during or after the meet- 
 ing of the geologists at New Haven, I may steal a day 
 or two to look in upon my friends in Boston and Cam- 
 bridge, and at all events I console myself with the 
 confident expectation of seeing them soon after the 
 close of my duties here. You thus see how much my 
 plans of literary and social enjoyment have been in- 
 fluenced by the impressions received during my late
 
 JET. 39.] A VISIT TO NEW ENGLAND. 235 
 
 brief but happy sojourn among you, and what antici- 
 pations of pleasure, before undreamed of, have been 
 awakened by the kind hospitalities of which I was a 
 sharer while in Boston, and more especially beneath 
 your roof. Be assured, my dear sir, that the pleasant 
 incidents of this visit recur often to my thoughts. . . . 
 In my heart I daily thank you and Mrs. Ticknor for 
 the cordial kindness that gave me the sense of home 
 in the midst of almost strangers, and proffered to me 
 the friendship which it will be my happiness to de- 
 serve and cultivate. And with a yet deeper gratitude, 
 let me add affectionately, I thank you for the interest 
 you have evinced in my dear brother's welfare and 
 scientific success, an interest that has won his warm- 
 est affection and contributes daily to his happiest 
 thoughts. . . , 
 
 From this letter and the next, it appears that dur- 
 ing the summer of 1844 the brothers William and 
 Henry paid a visit to New England : 
 
 TO PROFESSOR JOSEPH LOVERING. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP VERGINIA, November 1, 1844. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have of late often thought of the 
 promise I made you during my happy visit to Cam- 
 bridge, but the academic harness presses too heavily, 
 thus early in the session, to allow me time for more 
 than a brief note in token of remembrance, and as 
 the vehicle of a small request. Erelong I shall have 
 greater freedom, and will most gladly do what I can 
 to continue by letter the intercourse begun so pleas- 
 antly during our interviews in Cambridge. Disliking 
 elaborate correspondence, I enjoy with the heartiest 
 relish a free, unreserved epistolary talk with the 
 friends I esteem. And such, I am sure, is your taste 
 also. Shall we not, then, indulge ourselves from time 
 to time in little friendly colloquies through the post- 
 office? It will be pleasant to interchange thoughts
 
 236 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 
 
 about science, or society, or any other topics that may 
 arise, running "from grave to gay, from lively to 
 severe," and, although my poor counters will form but 
 a sorry equivalent for the good coin you may send, 
 they will always have the heart stamp of sincerity to 
 commend them to your regard. Among the items of 
 your first letter be sure to include a mention of your 
 lady, whose cordial kindness in word and manner 
 made me forget that she was not a friend of many 
 years. Please present me to her with earnest good 
 wishes and regards. 
 
 Dr. Schele tells me that Mr. Putnam's Phi Beta 
 address l has been published. I rejoice at it. Many 
 a worthless oration is preserved in the amber of typo- 
 graphy, but this, far excelling the dead flies thus en- 
 tombed, is amber itself in transparency. I beg of you, 
 therefore, to send me a copy at your earliest conven- 
 ience ; and I will be obliged to you also for one of 
 your catalogues for this year, in return for which I 
 will send you ours when published. 
 
 Our new colleague, Dr. Schele, 2 has made the most 
 favorable impression upon his classes, as well as our 
 little social circle, and is now quite domesticated 
 among us. 
 
 Begging to be very kindly remembered to Professor 
 Peirce, and hoping soon to hear from you, 
 
 I remain, dear sir, with sincere regard, 
 Your friend, 
 
 WILLIAM B. KOGERS. 
 
 FROM PROFESSOR LOVERING. 
 
 BOSTON, February 9, 1845. 
 
 MY DEAR ROGERS, . . . You have probably 
 heard before this of your brother's success [with his 
 Lowell Lectures on Geology] in Boston. He has 
 
 1 Rev. Dr. George Putnam, of Roxbury. 
 
 2 Schele de Vere, Professor of Modern Languages at the University 
 of Virginia.
 
 -ZET. 40.] PROFESSOR JOSEPH LOVERING. 237 
 
 only left us a few days since, much to our regret, and 
 I hope not without some long and lingering looks on 
 his part, back upon the city where he has made so 
 many sincere friends, and where he is so much loved. 
 I heard half of his lectures, and should have been 
 glad not to have missed any. He found a docile and 
 attentive audience, and a large one, too ; and it is not 
 strange that his winning style of lecturing, his calm 
 eloquence, his chaste and beautiful language, and his 
 comprehensive views of his vast subject, should have 
 riveted the attention that was freely offered to him, 
 and stormed hearts that were by no means closely 
 sealed against him. The dignity of his thoughts and 
 the tasteful drapery in which they were enrobed were, 
 I assure you, fully appreciated, and produced their 
 full effect. Among the numerous acquaintances of 
 your brother I was but an humble individual, and, 
 although he gave me my share of his time, I only 
 regret that I did not see more of him. . . . 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 JOSEPH LOVERING. 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BOSTON, January 2, 1845. 
 
 DEAR WILLIAM, ... A gentleman of this town, 
 Horace Gray, a highly respected and rich merchant, 
 interested largely in the iron manufacture, has re- 
 quested me to undertake, some time in the summer, a 
 survey of a district near the Hudson, and ascertain 
 the practicability of starting furnaces there. It rests 
 with me to assent. 
 
 Kraitzer 1 gave a gratuitous lecture last night to 
 about one hundred and fifty persons of education. 
 They seemed greatly surprised, amused and struck by 
 his doctrines, which he expounded in a very able man- 
 ner. He is certainly an extraordinary man; I am 
 
 1 .For a short time Professor of Modern Languages at the Univer- 
 sity of Virginia.
 
 238 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 
 
 more than ever a convert to his grand generalizations 
 concerning the organic genesis of language. Since 
 he left the University his views have obviously settled 
 into a more thoroughly compact and systematical 
 theory, which to me is a truly sublime one. 
 Kindest love to Robert, Fanny and Uncle. 
 Your truly devoted brother, 
 
 HENRY D. ROGERS. 
 
 P. S. I am concerned to notice by your letters 
 that you are not at ease in relation to the Univer- 
 sity. Surely nothing can be done detrimental to its 
 progress. 
 
 BOSTON, January 24, 1845. 
 
 MY DEAR WILLIAM, ... A week since, I lectured 
 before a Lyceum in Portsmouth to one thousand peo- 
 ple, and on Monday and Wednesday of this week to 
 a private class of about two hundred only. . . . 
 
 My friend, George S. Hillard, 1 whose Phi Beta 
 Kappa address I believe you have read, insisted last 
 week upon my making my home in his house, and 
 here I am in his choice library, resting myself after 
 my fatigue. . . . Among those whom I have met is 
 Miss Sedgwick the authoress, who has just returned 
 to her winter home in New York city, after a visit to 
 her niece here for three weeks. I saw her frequently 
 at Mrs. Minot's, and was greatly charmed by her be- 
 nevolence of character and her highly cultivated and 
 liberal mind. 
 
 . . . Have you seen a new work just republished 
 by Wiley and Putnam, " Vestiges of the Natural His- 
 tory of Creation " ? It contains many of the loftiest 
 speculative views in Astronomy and Geology and 
 Natural History, and singularly accords with views 
 sketched by me at times in my lectures. 
 
 Write next to Philadelphia, where I shall be about 
 this day next week. You know not how I pine to be 
 
 1 George Stillman Hillard, author of Six Months in Italy, etc.
 
 JET. 40.] THE UNIVERSITY IN DANGER. 239 
 
 with you and Robert and Fanny for a season. Kind 
 love to you all. 
 
 Most affectionately, 
 
 HENRY D. ROGERS. 
 
 On December 22, 1844, the Committee on Schools 
 and Colleges of the House of Delegates of Virginia 
 was instructed to investigate " the past history and 
 present condition and influences of the University of 
 Virginia, with a view of forming their opinion upon 
 the question of repealing the Act of Assembly grant- 
 ing an annuity of 115,000 to that Institution." This 
 was the attack upon the University referred to by 
 Henry on the previous page. William makes as light 
 as possible of his anxiety on this account, at the end 
 of a long letter on scientific matters. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, January 5, 1845. 
 DEAR HENRY, . . . We are quiet and comfortable, 
 but my neighbours think and talk of nothing but the 
 possible results of legislation upon our endowment. I 
 presume there is danger of a reduction, if not entire 
 withdrawal, of the annuity, but in my mind the prob- 
 ability is the other way. Still Robert and I give our- 
 selves as little anxiety as possible. 
 
 To this Henry, writing to Robert, replies : 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, February 11, 1845. 
 
 Things here look dismal enough to me after Boston. 
 There my mind and my heart had scope to unfold in ; 
 here, like a frightened coral, I draw myself within my 
 stony shell. I am determined, however, not to give 
 way to the depressing influences which here beset me, 
 but to enter as soon as possible on a course of lec- 
 tures. ... I trust William has got home again with- 
 out harm to his health. I fear he has been working 
 too hard. What you mentioned in your letter was
 
 240 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 
 
 truly gratifying. I trust lie will continue to maintain 
 his high ground respecting the University. Its sys- 
 tem needs only to be understood and carried out. Do 
 you notice how they are stirring in Harvard an incipi- 
 ent reform? They have much to do there. What 
 is to be the true extent of the lectureship department 
 in the Smithsonian Institution ? . . . 
 
 It devolved upon Mr. Rogers as Chairman of the 
 Faculty to prepare a memorial to the Legislature of 
 Virginia in defence of the University and its annual 
 appropriation. There is evidence that he gave much 
 time and thought to this work, and the lengthy Report 
 of- the Committee of the House of Delegates on Schools 
 and Colleges " Against the expediency of withdraw- 
 ing the fifteen thousand dollars annuity from the 
 University " (Document No. 41, Session of 1844-45) 
 was prepared by Mr. Rogers. This Report is of 
 the highest interest, and of great importance in the 
 history of American education. It is easy to detect 
 in it abundant proofs of that educational breadth and 
 insight which afterwards became so conspicuous in 
 the foundation of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
 nology in Boston. It is especially interesting to the 
 student of the development of state universities, which 
 have not infrequently had to meet and overcome 
 attacks of philistinism similar to that which now 
 menaced the prosperity of the University of Virginia. 
 For these reasons, and because of its intrinsic interest, 
 we give lengthy extracts from this document in the Ap- 
 pendix. 1 It should be observed that the annuity which 
 it was now proposed to withdraw had constituted a 
 prominent feature of the University's income ever 
 since its foundation by Thomas Jefferson in 1818. 
 
 The next letter hints at some of the grounds of the 
 
 i Page 399.
 
 ^T. 40.] AN EDUCATIONAL DOCUMENT. 241 
 
 attack upon the University, and suggests a union with 
 the Virginia Military Institute : 
 
 FROM WILLIAM B. JOHNSON. 
 
 STAUNTON, February 14, 1845. 
 
 I have just returned from a visit to the Military 
 Institute at Lexington, and write to suggest to you a 
 scheme which occurred to me during that visit, and 
 which might be useful to the University. 
 
 It is to engraft upon the University, the Military 
 Institute, so as to avail the University of the appro- 
 priation, the cadets, the popularity, the popular fea- 
 ture of the free cadets, and the excellent system of 
 order and economy of the Institute. This seems to 
 me desirable when I consider some of the sources 
 of the prejudices against the University, her real or 
 apparent want of discipline and economy, or when I 
 look only at the frequent abuse which has been of 
 late unjustly heaped upon her, and the strong feeling 
 of hostility manifested in the present Legislature. . . . 
 
 This seems to me a favourable time to effect this 
 measure, if it be a desirable one. Some change in the 
 organization of the University, if not its total destruc- 
 tion, seems to be meditated by its enemies, on the 
 ground or the pretext of its expense and disorder ; 
 the military system seems to be the favourite of the 
 day. 
 
 I hope you will attribute my interest in the subject 
 to its true and main source, my ever warm attachment 
 to my Alma Mater, and accept for yourself my affec- 
 tionate regard. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 WILLIAM R. JOHNSON. 
 
 To this Professor Rogers replied : 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 15, 1845. 
 MY DEAR SIR, ... As regards the feasibility and 
 success of the organic changes suggested in your let-
 
 242 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 
 
 ter, it would be impossible for me at this time to 
 present my views and that of my colleagues in detail. 
 We all feel the importance of some system of police 
 capable of securing permanent good order and dili- 
 gence among the students, and, consulting our own 
 feelings merely, would sincerely rejoice in a liberation 
 from the anxieties and annoyances of college disci- 
 pline. Yet, when we compare the conduct and prog- 
 ress of our classes, and our relations to them, with 
 the like particulars in other leading institutions of 
 this country, we are far from being discouraged by 
 the result, and are still strongly hopeful of steady 
 and increased success, notwithstanding the ungenerous 
 enmity of those who, from prejudice or ignorance, are 
 labouring for our overthrow. . . . 
 
 Mr. Rogers had once more appealed to the Legis- 
 lature for the means with which to publish his final 
 Report, but in vain, as the following shows : 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER JAMES. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, February 28, 1845. 
 
 . . . Next winter, I have little doubt, by timely 
 application and personal attention to the matter, I 
 can procure the appropriation for my Report which 
 has recently been denied. Mr. Brown writes that, 
 had I been able to devote one week to personal effort 
 with the members, he is sure I would have succeeded 
 this winter. But I am quite well pleased that I did 
 not, though I give no thanks to the Legislature on 
 that account. 
 
 We are just now enjoying comparative quiet within 
 the precincts; and as many of our most turbulent 
 spirits have been sent away, or have withdrawn, I 
 look for more comfortable times for the rest of the 
 session. My position as Chairman has devolved upon 
 me many unpleasant duties, and has kept me, until 
 now, in a state of almost unceasing anxiety. . . .
 
 JET. 40.] THE COMING OF SPRING. 243 
 
 When will your lectures in the Institute terminate ? 
 The medical courses are, I suppose, now closing, and 
 the great doctors' mill is making its last revolution 
 preparatory to the process which is to send abroad 
 the manufactured product stamped wholesale by the 
 University branding-iron. 
 
 A renewal of the disturbances by the students of 
 the University now caused the Chairman of the Fac- 
 ulty great anxiety, and marked the beginning of a 
 new series of " riots " which finally became so serious 
 as to cause the suspension for a week of all Uni- 
 versity exercises. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 5, 1845. 
 
 . . . How heartily you must have enjoyed the con- 
 fidence and society of Hillard, and how much pleas- 
 ure you must reap from corresponding with him! 
 Lucian Minor is the only person in all my acquaint- 
 ance with whom I can have the luxury of free literary 
 communion. He spent part of a day and a night with 
 me and Robert lately, and did us both good by carry- 
 ing us for a while away from our common subject of 
 thought into the enticing realm of purifying and cheer- 
 ing letters. 
 
 Minor proposes making an abstract of my Report 
 on the University, with his own comments, for the 
 next " Messenger." 1 He says it is triumphantly con- 
 vincing. 
 
 Spring is now fairly setting in. The lawn is grow- 
 ing green, the maples and poplars are in bloom, the 
 lilac leaves are rapidly unfolding, and the violets shed- 
 ding their tea-like fragrance in our gardens. Varia- 
 ble and blustering though generally mild weather 
 has thus far marked the month, and we are anticipat- 
 ing a very early spring. Among the changes of the 
 -- * Southern Literary Messenger.
 
 244 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 
 
 season, nothing pleases me so much as the lengthening 
 of our daylight hours, and the exemption this usually 
 brings from the annoyances and troubles among our 
 students. . . . 
 
 TO LUCIAN MINOR. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 6, 1845. 
 . . . With my ten-toe equipage, as Bonnel Thorn- 
 ton calls it, I journeyed to town this morning ex- 
 pressly to see you, and was sadly disappointed on 
 learning that you had taken French leave of us and 
 gone home. We were in hopes of enjoying another 
 evening with you at my house and Robert's, when we 
 might have looked into the grand tableau of Miche- 
 let's History, of which I spoke, and which I have 
 since found, and might have indulged in many cheer- 
 ing and heart-refreshing literary rambles. . . . My 
 pursuits of late years have been so entirely scientific 
 that I have had little time or opportunity for gratify- 
 ing the ever-present longing of my heart for the sweet 
 recreations of general literature. There was a time 
 when I could enjoy the luxury of pleasant journeyings 
 amid those charming realms of flowers and fragrance 
 and refreshing shade that spread in magic beauty 
 around the slopes of old Parnassus ; and, while listen- 
 ing with wrapt ear to the music of " Helicon's harmo- 
 nious Springs," I have even fancied that I had a spirit 
 within me that might some day respond to the divine 
 minstrelsy of its swelling waters. But the muses, then 
 but unwilling guides, have now, I fear, entirely for- 
 saken me. You smile, no doubt, to hear that I should 
 ever have indulged the conceit of mingling my triangle 
 music with the harmonies of the poetic choir, but, to 
 be candid, though I did not hope to win even a dry 
 leaf of that laurel which first shaded the brow of the 
 " blind old man " of whom the world disputes, and 
 which has since enwreathed the temples of all the 
 masters of the lyre, I did imagine that I might one 
 day claim a homely garland of cedar for my song, and
 
 Mt. 40.] LOVE OF POETRY. 245 
 
 this I felt would be amaranth for me. But it was 
 well that I was early turned from poetasting, and that 
 severer guides pointed me to pursuits better suited to 
 my capacity. Yet in the walks which I take through 
 nature in quest of truth and demonstration, I recog- 
 nize a poetry in earth and sea and sky, ruled hi their 
 cycles of harmonious actions, deeper and more sublime 
 than ever muse untaught in science could inspire. . . . 
 
 Mr. Kogers's reference to "severer guides" will 
 remind the reader of Matthew Arnold's lines : 
 
 " For rigorous teachers seized my youth, 
 And purged its faith and trimmed its fire, 
 Showed me the high white star of truth, 
 There bade me gaze, and there aspire." 
 
 As long as he lived Mr. Rogers kept fresh and 
 keen his love for poetry, to the reading of which he 
 was fond of listening for hours at a tune. 
 
 On the day when he wrote the last letter, he wrote 
 to Professor Bailey, of West Point : 
 
 . . . " It is a sad truth that the studies of men of 
 science, fraught as they are with ennobling and fra- 
 ternizing influences, are often perverted from those 
 higher uses, and pursued mainly as the instruments of 
 paltry gain and grasping ambition. When this is the 
 case we witness the mortifying spectacle of a mind at 
 once the abode of various knowledge, and of envy, 
 malice and all uncharitableness ; and we cannot but 
 lament the insensibility of the unworthy priests of 
 Nature who, while ministering at her shrines, are un- 
 penetrated by her gentle lessons of kindness and 
 world-embracing liberality." 
 
 The following concerning the " spoils system " is of 
 contemporary interest :
 
 246 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 
 
 LUCIAN MINOR, ESQ., TO W. B. ROGERS. 
 
 LOUISA C. H., VA., March 31, 1845. 
 
 Help me to help Mr. Polk from doing a great 
 wrong, nay (as Talleyrand says) much worse, a 
 great blunder. They say he will remove Blackford. 1 
 If he do so, where can proscription stop ? It will be 
 the most palpable and outrageous application of the 
 spoils principle yet known in our government. The 
 decapitation of Jonathan Roberts was a trifle to it, for 
 he was old, and Mr. Tyler may have found him in- 
 competent. But B.'s imperturbable temper, winning 
 manners, shrewd knowledge of men, and tact in get- 
 ting at their thoughts and at their blind sides, fit him 
 preeminently for diplomacy, while he has a straight- 
 forward honesty that puts to shame and to rout the 
 old-fashioned belief that the affairs of nations are to 
 be successfully managed only by jobbery. 
 
 Whatever is done must be done quickly. I have 
 merely drawn the hint of an address to the President, 
 which I hope you will throw into such form as it 
 ought to have, get it signed by all of the Faculty who 
 supported Mr. Polk (including yourself), and send to 
 him. If he go on with this spoils system, his political 
 school will break down at the end of four years, or 
 eight at all events. Then we shall have Bank, etc., 
 all upon us, and they will not be half so bad as that 
 system. 
 
 In April the " rioting " of students at the Univer- 
 sity of Virginia was resumed and carried to such a 
 pitch that the civil authority had to be invoked for its 
 suppression. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 4, 1845. 
 . . . Since our last letter to you we have had some 
 renewal of our college disorders, consisting chiefly in 
 1 Charge" d' Affaires of the United States at Bogota.
 
 &T. 40.] STUDENT RIOTS. 247 
 
 displays of indignation from students who had in- 
 curred punishment, and resulting two nights ago in a 
 most signal exposure by Robert of one of the band 
 of horn-blowers. 
 
 A number of the students turned out with horns 
 and drum, as they had often done this session, to sere- 
 nade the Professors and particularly the Chairman, 
 and in passing up Robert's alley some one of them 
 tapped upon the window shutters of his parlor, where 
 Fanny and a friend were seated. Robert was out at 
 the time, but on his return he found Fanny very much 
 agitated; and soon after, hearing the party again 
 approaching, he went out and took his station behind 
 one of the columns in the little alcove in front of his 
 house. As the musicians passed on, making their 
 infernal din, one of the marauders approached the 
 door, and was about placing his foot on the mat, when 
 Robert seized him by the cloak, and, allowing him a 
 little rope until he reached the grass, actually picked 
 him up in the presence of the whole crowd and car- 
 ried him into the parlor, where the full blaze of the 
 lamp disclosed to us and the ladies who he was. None 
 of the bystanders attempted to interpose after being 
 warned by Robert that he was armed, and that if they 
 approached him it should be at their peril. 
 
 The young man thus apprehended, though occa- 
 sionally noisy, has been rather a good student, though 
 very much of a coward. Adam Empie acted a very 
 manly part in arresting the excitement which this 
 bold exploit of Robert created among the students, 
 and in giving them a true account of all the circum- 
 stances. . . . 
 
 We have so large an admixture this year of cow- 
 ardly rowdies amongst us that some signal demonstra- 
 tion of the proper mode of dealing with them cannot 
 help being salutary, and it will be useful for them to 
 learn that we are prepared to punish their insults on 
 the spot. I think that we are not likely to have any 
 more of these very annoying occurrences. Certainly
 
 248 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 
 
 the history of the session thus far has been most dis- 
 creditable to the character of the students. Yet we 
 have a large number of very well-disposed, correct 
 young men, but no one among them of that moral 
 weight and energy of character which might effectu- 
 ally resist and break down the organized band of the 
 idle and mischievous. 
 
 Almost every Faculty meeting witnesses a suspen- 
 sion or dismission, and this had of course created 
 much heart-burning, and awakened some vindictive 
 feeling. Unfortunately, we have no way of compel- 
 ling dismissed students to go home, and hence those 
 from the far South linger for months about the tav- 
 erns of Charlottesville, rioting in dissipation and 
 tempting away their former associates at the Univer- 
 sity. But enough of this. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 29, 1845. 
 
 It gives me real pain to be compelled to forego the 
 pleasure I have been long anticipating in meeting my 
 scientific friends and brethren at New Haven. Though 
 I well know that the official duties which would de- 
 volve upon me, were I there, will be far more satisfac- 
 torily discharged by the member who may be chosen 
 to fill my place, I would most gladly have embraced 
 the opportunity of this meeting to evince my hearty 
 zeal in the purposes of the Association, and my anxiety 
 to extend still more widely the sphere of its scientific 
 activity. 
 
 Public rumour and the newspaper have already 
 spread far and wide the reports of our riots, and my 
 professional brethren, who have doubtless all had 
 some unpleasant experiences of this kind, can readily 
 understand the urgent causes which compel my ab- 
 sence from the meeting. The peculiar responsibility 
 of my position as Chairman of the Faculty increases 
 the necessity of my presence here ; for although per- 
 fect tranquillity has been restored, I am yet in the 
 midst of a laborious correspondence connected with
 
 Mr. 40.] RIOTS. 249 
 
 the action of the college authorities, and the inquiries 
 and applications of the friends and parents of our 
 pupils. . . . 
 
 We are now enjoying peace, the lectures are pro- 
 ceeding as usual, and some of those who in alarm 
 retreated from the scene when the riots were at their 
 height are beginning to return. . . . 
 
 Robert and Fanny have given you some of the de- 
 tails, and I am too much exhausted by anxiety and 
 toil, and too sick of the disgusting scenes through 
 which we have passed, to enter upon a history of the 
 disorders. The annals of college disturbances could 
 hardly furnish another narrative as disgraceful to the 
 character of the youth of the country as the history of 
 this would be. On such occasions generally the dis- 
 orderly and rebellious have some real or supposed 
 cause to allege as the provocation of their open de- 
 fiance of the law. But in this instance, although many 
 were questioned on the subject, no one attempted, 
 until within the last day or two of the disorders, 
 to assign any reason whatever for their systematic 
 progress in disorder and outrage. The newspaper 
 reports, ascribing the outrages to censures pronounced 
 by myself and others in the lecture-room, are utterly 
 untrue. The remarks made there by us were subse- 
 quent to nearly all the attacks, and after they had been 
 continued with increasing violence for weeks. So, 
 also, the statement that my severe enforcement of the 
 regulations had produced general resistance. If I 
 have committed any fault in my administration, it 
 has been that of over-gentleness and not rigour. 
 
 We are now preparing a circular which will be sent 
 to all the parents and guardians and printed in some 
 of the papers. I drew up such an one as I thought 
 most suitable, containing a brief narrative of facts, 
 and an earnest setting forth of the importance of the 
 step by the Faculty in calling in the civil power. 
 My colleagues seemed to think that it was too earn- 
 est in manner, and are now, I believe, trying to
 
 250 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 
 
 freeze it down to suit their own timid notions of pro- 
 priety. 
 
 We have now, at least, the comfortable assurance 
 of quiet for the remainder of the session. But I con- 
 fess, my dear Henry, that I feel so little sure of ex- 
 emption from like humbling and disgraceful disorders 
 in future that I intend earnestly to look about me for 
 some other and more tranquil home. . . . 
 
 Of our prospects I am not very hopeful. Perhaps 
 the Legislature may be induced to make some provi- 
 sion for our future police by establishing a Judge on the 
 precincts, and exempting us from all duties but those 
 of instruction. This is rather a dream than a hope. 
 
 The " circular " referred to above as having been pre- 
 pared by Mr. Rogers is given in full in the Appendix. 1 
 
 On May 27, 1845, Mr. Rogers was elected a Fellow 
 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 
 Boston. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, June 6, 1845. 
 . . . New schemes of organization are likely to 
 occupy the Visitors, and among them one greatly 
 talked of abroad, and I understand very popular with 
 several of the Board, is the making the Chairmanship 
 permanent, or perhaps appointing a President as at 
 other colleges. Every one you know has his nostrum 
 for college evils, and this seems to be in great favour 
 just now. Some of the professors seem inclined to 
 favour the plan, but I believe a majority object to it. 
 The want of uniformity of administration is the ob- 
 jection to the present system upon which the friends 
 of this scheme place their great reliance. This is, 
 doubtless, a serious evil, but they have not adverted 
 to the evils of the plan they advocate. Could we, by 
 having a permanent Chairman, be spared individually 
 the harassing cares and disquietude of our present 
 system, I should almost be disposed to welcome the 
 
 i Page 413.
 
 JET. 40.] VISIT TO THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 251 
 
 new plan with all its risks. But with no such relief 
 from odious and onerous duties of discipline, the pro- 
 fessors could reap no advantage from the change 
 commensurate with the evils it might inflict. 
 
 What we want most of all is some effectual legal 
 means of enforcing discipline by compelling evidence, 
 and this can only be secured by legislation directed to 
 that end. It seems, however, to be generally thought 
 that the difficulties in the way of such an organiza- 
 tion are too serious to justify the hope that with any 
 recommendation of the Board the Legislature would 
 be induced to frame a series of laws for the purpose. 
 
 You thus see we are on the eve of interesting dis- 
 cussions, if not momentous events. . . . 
 
 It may easily be imagined that Mr. Rogers needed 
 rest and relaxation after his year of arduous and diffi- 
 cult service as Chairman of the Faculty, especially 
 as this service was added to the regular duties of his 
 professorship. He therefore turned his face north- 
 ward and, after a brief stay in Philadelphia, made 
 with his brother Henry a journey through the White 
 Mountains of New England. It was on this journey 
 that the brothers found themselves fellow-travellers 
 with the family of Mr. James Savage, of Boston, whose 
 eldest daughter afterwards became Mr. Rogers's wife. 
 
 Later in the season the brothers William and 
 Henry visited the shores of Lake Superior, which 
 Henry was under engagement to explore for Boston 
 friends with a view to the location of copper. 
 
 The following incident is taken from Mr. Rogers's 
 note-book of this tour : 
 
 ..." Here I found a congregation of eager travel- 
 lers, preparing, some of them, to enter upon their lake 
 rambles, others to return to winter on the inhospitable 
 shores of the great inland sea.
 
 252 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 
 
 " One of these persons especially excited my curiosity 
 and conduced to my inward mirth. He had scarcely 
 seen me landed when with oiliest speech imaginable he 
 propounded question after question with a delibera- 
 tion and searching personality quite overwhelming. 
 He was accompanied by an oldish, plain, blunt man, 
 who, without knowing the difference between a copper 
 vein and a weathercock, had no doubt been selected 
 by one of the countless mining companies of New 
 York to explore and report to them, on the ground of 
 his perfect honesty and singleness of purpose. The 
 good, simple-hearted old gentleman told me an amus- 
 ing story of one of his co-representatives of the min- 
 ing corporation. This worthy, sent to the mining 
 country to explore and secure proper locations, 
 stopped on the way at Detroit, and was there found 
 by my informant, quietly writing a detailed report of 
 the location, with the contents and character of all of 
 the veins, the whole material of his long document 
 being derived from verbal reports communicated to 
 him in Detroit. When the old gentlemen expressed 
 surprise at his pretending to give a detailed account 
 of the country without even looking at it, he promptly 
 answered that he was quite certain of being able to 
 furnish a much fuller and more accurate account of 
 the company's location by availing himself of the 
 information accessible in Detroit than by visiting 
 and exploring the location in person. The report, 
 drawn up by one who is, I suppose, an expert law- 
 yer, I forget his name, will no doubt appear in 
 print, and make quite a sensation on Wall Street." 
 
 When the time came for Mr. Eogers to return to 
 the University, he left Henry at Lake Superior and 
 travelled to Virginia by the lakes and Albany. 
 
 In his farewell letter to Henry the following 
 occurs :
 
 #h\ 40.] GEORGE S. HILLARD. 253 
 
 SATJLT DE STE. MABDE, September, 1845. 
 MY DEAR HENRY, ... I shall be almost contin- 
 ually thinking of you, my dear brother, and shall 
 never lie down at night without sending from a full 
 heart my anxiously affectionate wishes towards you. 
 While painting the wild scene around you, on the 
 heaving waters, along the pebbly or the rocky coast, 
 in the mazes of the entangled swamp, or upon the fir- 
 spread couch of the tent, brightened and warmed by 
 the blazing log-fire, I shall long earnestly that I were 
 still the companion of your wanderings and toils, and 
 the helper of your researches. . . . 
 
 On the lake steamer he addressed to Mr. George S. 
 Hillard, of Boston, a friendly letter, to which the fol- 
 lowing was the reply : 
 
 FROM GEORGE S. HILLARD, ESQ. 
 
 BOSTON, October 18, 1845. 
 
 I am much indebted to you for your kind and 
 warm-hearted letter and the friendly interest it ex- 
 presses. In making the acquaintance of you and 
 your brothers, I feel that I have added much to my 
 stores of social wealth. A man does not easily make 
 new friends after thirty, at least a man so reserved 
 as I am; but you and your brothers seem like old 
 friends, and my nature flows into yours as readily 
 as one stream into another. It is a great pleasure to 
 me to have the opportunity of contributing to Henry's 
 comfort, and to give him the refreshments and satis- 
 factions of home. He is like a brother to me, and I 
 look forward to a happy winter in his society. . . . 
 You belong here, in dear Massachusetts, dear in 
 spite of its stormy coast and barren soil, and were I 
 a dictator, I would transplant you at once. And an- 
 other thing would I do for you, persuade you to sur- 
 render to the silken yoke of matrimony. You have 
 too warm a heart and too domestic tastes not to twine
 
 254 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 
 
 some gentle being's name with yours. So pray, set 
 your face northward and wifeward. 
 
 Our social life is relapsing into its usual winter 
 channel. The season promises to be very gay, the 
 natural consequence of a very prosperous year. Every 
 interest in New England is in a palmy state of suc- 
 cess ; whether we are not, morally speaking, waxing 
 fat and kicking, may be doubted. The native Ameri- 
 can party in this State is pursuing a most unprincipled 
 and mischievous course, and I fear the most disas- 
 trous consequences from them. There is no greater 
 evil in our country than the formation of parties 
 upon collateral and immaterial issues, for the end is 
 always to throw power into the hands of that party 
 which pursues its ends with an arrow-like directness, 
 which always presents an unbroken front, and which 
 has a polypus-like power of reunion whenever it is 
 severed. There are and can be only two parties hi a 
 country like ours : the conservatives and the destruc- 
 tives ; I do not like this latter word, but you know my 
 meaning, the antagonism of conservatism. Mr. Caleb 
 Gushing delivered a lecture here, a night or two ago, 
 which (as I learn, for I did not hear it) was very 
 pernicious in its tendency. It was a glorification of 
 our country and an abuse of all others, and an ex- 
 hortation to do everything to advance the physical 
 greatness of the country, to get all the land we can, 
 and make ourselves as formidable as possible, but not 
 one word of warning, or rebuke, no vibration of a 
 moral chord. I have no patience with a public man 
 who thus panders to the worst passions of the multi- 
 tude, instead of elevating and improving them. . . . 
 
 The Savages are all well and hold you in fresh re- 
 membrance. . . . 
 
 The Lyells l are at the Tremont House, but I have 
 not seen them. . . . Our new house will be finished 
 before your next summer's flitting, and I shall depend 
 
 1 Mr. Lyell had come to Boston to give another course of lectures 
 at the Lowell Institute. : *
 
 ^T.41.] TURNER'S CHEMISTRY. 255 
 
 upon a long visit from you. We shall always have a 
 " chamber in the wall " for any of your name. 
 
 As may be gathered from Mr. Hillard's letter, it 
 had already been arranged that Henry should leave 
 Philadelphia and make his home in Boston in the 
 house of Mr. Hillard. This, on his return from Michi- 
 gan, he did. Amidst his regular duties, William 
 found time to write the preface to an American edi- 
 tion of " Turner's Chemistry," which had been pre- 
 pared by his brothers James and Robert and which 
 was now issuing from the press. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENBY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 3, 1845. 
 
 . . . Robert is pushing on actively with some chem- 
 ical matters in which we are jointly engaged, my share 
 being chiefly that of office counsel, and he doing most 
 of the laboratory work. 
 
 James writes that he has just completed the index, 
 and that we may expect to have the book in the mar- 
 ket in a few days. When you meet with a copy, I 
 wish you to look over the article on Heat, which I 
 think you will pronounce to be a great improvement 
 upon Turner. . . . 
 
 My dear Henry, I revert hourly in affectionate 
 sympathy to all your plans and interests, and more 
 than ever long to be joined in labour and in social 
 relaxation with you. You are right in your view of 
 the advantages of the quiet we enjoy here for liter- 
 ary pursuits, and could we now and then exchange 
 the monotony of our life for the happy excitement of 
 a truly refined and stimulating intercourse, we could 
 have no reason to complain. But I am cultivating 
 cheerful contentment with things as they are, look- 
 ing for happier conditions of life in the future 
 that future which I yet, even as when a boy, gild
 
 256 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1846. 
 
 with a brightness which sober folks might deem po- 
 etical. . . . 
 
 William had desired Henry to report to him con- 
 cerning the feeling in Boston and at Harvard in re- 
 gard to the advantages and disadvantages of having 
 for a university a President, instead of a Chairman 
 of the Faculty. The following opinion of President 
 Quincy is now an educational curiosity : 
 
 HENBY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BOSTON, February 25, 1846. 
 
 . . . Yesterday in a long conversation with Mr. 
 Quincy, the old gentleman told me that he deemed the 
 functions of the President of the utmost relief to the 
 Faculty. He had no duties as instructor, but his 
 great business was to overlook the conduct of the 
 young men, and by timely interference prevent bad 
 habits, detect delinquencies, and administer reproof 
 and punishment in all instances in which he could, 
 apart from the Faculty. He will, he says, give any 
 information the Visitors or Faculty may desire, and 
 he sends, at my suggestion, a copy of his pamphlet 
 to Mr. Cabell, Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Randolph. I 
 shall mail them to-day. ... 
 
 The following letter probably marks the first step 
 towards the intimate relations which now exist be- 
 tween the Lowell Institute and the Massachusetts In- 
 stitute of Technology : 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BOSTON, March 8, 1846. 
 
 A few days ago I mentioned how my affairs were 
 looking, 1 and promised to write again whenever I 
 should gather any further knowledge of the intentions 
 of the Corporation [of Harvard University]. ... It 
 1 Henry Rogers was at this time a candidate for the Rumford 
 Professorship at Harvard.
 
 lEn. 41.] PRESIDENT QUINCY. 257 
 
 has been Peirce's darling wish for a long time past 
 to reorganize the Scientific Corps of the Faculty ; 
 
 but this they cannot do, with in the way, and 
 
 he fears that if the Rumford Chair is filled without 
 other changes being made, a golden occasion will be 
 lost for the more thorough reform which he desires. 
 ... If they can effect what they desire, they will 
 make a sort of extra-faculty school of science for the 
 use of young men who desire a scientific education 
 without the diploma of the college and without the 
 classics, etc., and who would not even be undergradu- 
 ates of the college. And they would place the E-um- 
 ford Professor at the head, in the central position in 
 this corps, and select him for his practical familiarity 
 with the useful arts, a man such as Treadwell might 
 have been if he had given himself to the chair only. 
 Whether this is a feasible plan, I am not quite pre- 
 pared to say, so difficult would it be to find a mechan- 
 ician, an accomplished engineer in the wider sense, 
 who would also be an able teacher ; but if successful, 
 it would be a good thing for this community and for 
 the college. 
 
 But I have to speak of another interesting matter. 
 Mr. Lowell, with whom I have been talking, after men- 
 tioning the feature in the Lowell will which enjoins 
 the creation of classes in the Institute to receive exact 
 instruction in useful knowledge, requested me to give 
 him, in writing, the views I had just been unfolding of 
 the value of a School of Arts as a branch to the Lowell 
 Institute. My communication to the corporation has, 
 I am sure, made an impression on him, and it is pos- 
 sible he has seen, by what is there stated, the impor- 
 tance of teaching science in its applied forms in this 
 community. He is a very cautious man, desires never 
 to make a mis-move, fears to expand his Institute too 
 fast, and has had doubts of the practicability of at- 
 taching this sort of practical College to the Institute, 
 lest it might be too large an affair to build; but he 
 sees its value, and now is a fine occasion to inspire
 
 258 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1846. 
 
 him with the zeal which he is quite capable of feeling 
 in its behalf. His plan would be to teach the oper- 
 ative classes of society, builders, engineers, practical 
 chemists, manufacturers, etc. ; to admit in the first 
 year only in limited numbers, and to teach them regu- 
 larly; to have, perhaps, two permanent and salaried 
 professors at the head of it, and to make up the rest of 
 the instruction by assistants and by teachers, who would 
 give courses of instruction occasionally on special 
 branches. How much I want you near me at this time 
 to aid me in digesting and submitting my views on this 
 important scheme to Mr. Lowell ! If you and myself 
 could be at the head of this Polytechnic School of the 
 Useful Arts, it would be pleasanter for us than any 
 college professorship, for there would be less disci- 
 pline, indeed, no more than with medical students. 
 At no distant day, if not indeed soon, Mr. Lowell will, 
 I hope, organize such a branch in his Institute ; and if 
 he does not, you and I can surely get one founded here 
 by going about it in the right way. Let us give this 
 matter our earnest and sober thoughts, remembering 
 that if I get the professorship in Harvard, it will 
 rather promote the plan than mar it. Can you send 
 me a copy of our memorial on behalf of the Franklin 
 Institute for a School of Arts ? 1 I have none by me, 
 and shall write to-morrow to Philadelphia for a copy ; 
 perhaps you have one, but what is better yet, give me 
 your ideas in a letter, however hastily expressed, as 
 soon as conveniently practicable, and tell me where I 
 can see what was said at the starting of the London 
 Mechanics' Institute, etc. Take Robert into counsel, 
 and draw up a scheme of study : enumerate the things 
 to be taught, the nature of the apparatus for instruction 
 aiming at economy, and show me your ideas of the 
 value of science in this its great modern application 
 to the practical arts of life, to human comfort and 
 health, and to social wealth and power. 
 
 1 A Memorial to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, presented about 
 1837. (See p. 263.)
 
 . 41.] THE LOWELL INSTITUTE. 259 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 13, 1846. 
 Your interesting letter of the 8th inst. came to hand 
 this morning. Your prospects of some acceptable place 
 in Harvard are, I think, almost as good as could be 
 wished, and should the proposed change be effected, 
 I should count certainly on your success. Were this 
 or any other promotion of your views to lead here- 
 after to a closer union of our labours by placing me 
 also in the congenial air of Boston, I would indeed 
 rejoice. Under circumstances so auspicious for effort 
 in teaching and research we could, I am sure, both of 
 us be more productive and far happier in our labours 
 than can be now. Ever since I have known some- 
 thing of the knowledge-seeking spirit, and the intel- 
 lectual capabilities of the community in and around 
 Boston, I have felt persuaded that of all places in the 
 world it was the one most certain to derive the high- 
 est benefits from a Polytechnic Institution. The occu- 
 pations and interests of the great mass of the people 
 are immediately connected with the applications of 
 physical science, and their quick intelligence has al- 
 ready impressed them with just ideas of the value of 
 scientific teaching in their daily pursuits. Besides 
 this, the high prevailing taste, diffused from the upper 
 to the inferior classes of society, inspires an earnest 
 appetite for richer intellectual food than they can now 
 readily obtain. 
 
 Mr. Rogers then goes on to formulate at length, in 
 answer to Henry's request, a plan for a Polytechnic 
 School in Boston (see Appendix 1 ), and continues: 
 
 I must hastily close. To-morrow, or at farthest on 
 Sunday, I will jot down some details as to the prac- 
 tical bearing of the different branches of physics and 
 1 Page 420.
 
 260 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1846. 
 
 chemistry, that Mr. Lowell may see how grand a field 
 of beneficence lies before him. 
 
 Your devoted brother, 
 
 WILLIAM B. EOGERS. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 13, 1846. 
 
 As to-morrow will allow me no leisure, I embrace 
 the hour before bed to make some additions to the 
 matter of my letter committed to the mail this after- 
 noon, intending to complete on Sunday what I have 
 to say. 
 
 The true and only practicable object of a Polytechnic 
 School is, as I conceive, the teaching, not of the ma- 
 nipulations and minute details of the arts, which can 
 be done only in the workshop, but the inculcation of 
 all the scientific principles which form the basis and 
 explanation of them, and along with this a full and 
 methodical review of all their leading processes and 
 operations in connection with physical laws. When 
 thus instructed in applied science, the mechanician, 
 chemist or manufacturer, clearly comprehending the 
 agencies of the materials and instruments with which 
 he works, is saved from the disasters of blind experi- 
 ment, guided securely because understandingly in a 
 profitable routine, or directed to the contrivance of 
 new and more efficient combinations. Were it neces- 
 sary at this day to adduce proofs of these practical 
 fruits of instruction in physical science, we might 
 boldly refer to the unexampled progress of every 
 branch of the arts for the last fifty years as but the 
 result of the general diffusion of a better knowledge of 
 physical laws, which has flowed from the researches of 
 men specially devoted to natural science. Bearing 
 in mind, too, how few of the almost countless products 
 of ingenuity, even in these times, are of real and per- 
 manent value, and how immense the number of utterly 
 barren inventions, the laboured contrivances of acute 
 but undirected or misguided minds, we cannot but be- 
 lieve that, with a proper training in science, the host
 
 -ET. 41.] PLAN FOR A POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 261 
 
 of unprofitable inventors living within the last half cen- 
 tury would have contributed innumerable really valu- 
 able aids to human industry, and have advanced the 
 arts to a stage of far higher improvement than they 
 have yet attained. What stronger argument on this 
 head could be asked than a glance at the encumbered 
 cases of the Patent Office in Washington. 
 
 Among practical pursuits there are perhaps none 
 whose dependence upon the determinations of physical 
 science is more generally recognized than those of the 
 machinist, the engineer and the architect. Yet even 
 in these professions, while all admit that many of the 
 details are but immediate applications of the leading 
 laws of mechanical philosophy, how few have formed a 
 just conception of the variety and extent of the sciences 
 they involve. In the first place, the materials used 
 must be studied in their more important mechanical 
 and chemical relations. The strength of beams of 
 timber and metal of various shapes and dimensions, 
 and placed in various attitudes in buildings or machin- 
 ery, must be computed by formulae derived from sci- 
 entific researches. The direction and energy of the 
 forces distributed to different parts of the structure 
 according to the arrangement of the several parts, and 
 the position of the load or other pressure, require also 
 to be known, and can only be learned by an appeal to 
 the principles of mechanical science. So also, the 
 durability of the materials employed in masonry can 
 ' only be safely inferred from a knowledge of their com- 
 position, and the chemical actions to which they will 
 be subjected when exposed to the air or water, or 
 both, or when submitted, as in the walls of a furnace, 
 to intense heat. 
 
 The machinist should, moreover, clearly understand 
 all the principles of equilibrium and of the composi- 
 tion of forces ; in other words, the general doctrines 
 of statics and dynamics, those of friction, whether 
 sliding or rolling, the mode of operation of the vari- 
 ous motive powers of which his mechanism is to be
 
 262 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1846. 
 
 the conductor, and the methods of computing the rela- 
 tion between the force applied and the useful effect 
 obtained, or, in other words, the economical value of 
 the combination. 
 
 The road engineer, with as ample knowledge in all 
 these particulars, should further have a good acquaint- 
 ance with the mineral and geological character of the 
 region in which he operates, should know when to 
 interpret the appearances on the surface, either as an 
 encouragement or warning, in directing his tunnels or 
 other excavations, should be prepared to judge of the 
 value of the rocky materials he encounters in build- 
 ing an embankment, and should be qualified to form 
 an estimate of the relative advantages of different 
 districts as influenced by the extent of the mineral 
 products. 
 
 Instruction in all these and other kindred partic- 
 ulars, essential as it is to the fullest success in the 
 several pursuits referred to, involves, it will be seen, 
 no insignificant acquaintance with some of the leading 
 branches of mechanical and even geological and chem- 
 ical science. 
 
 If we turn now to the manufacturing arts, we shall 
 find an equal, and in many cases even a more urgent 
 demand for scientific guidance. . . . 
 
 The remainder of this letter has not been found ; 
 it formed a portion of the " Plan " given in Appen- 
 dix C. 1 (page 420). 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 21, 1846. 
 DEAR HENRY. Owing probably to the freshet in 
 the Susquehanna, your letter of the 16th did not reach 
 us until this morning ; from the same cause I presume 
 you will not have received my last, also mailed on the 
 16th, until now. In that and the preceding I have 
 endeavoured to put forth the practical considerations 
 which occurred to me as strongly recommending a 
 Polytechnic School, and I trust you will find my sug- 
 1 The missing portion was afterwards discovered, and is included in 
 Appendix C.
 
 Mi. 41.] CHEERFUL ANTICIPATIONS. 263 
 
 gestions of use in drawing up the proposed memorial 
 to Mr. Lowell. There is certainly no place on this 
 side the Atlantic where such an institution would be 
 more useful and popular. If well managed it would 
 give Mr. Lowell just cause for being proud of the 
 wise liberality of the appropriation. 
 
 After writing my last I remembered that in both 
 my letters I had omitted to mention that I have no 
 copy of the paper we drew up for the Franklin Insti- 
 tute, and that I do not think I ever saw it after 
 leaving you on that occasion in Harrisburg. I trust 
 you will be able to recover it in Philadelphia, as 
 it contained a clear and forcible exposition of the 
 subject, that might be of much use in framing your 
 memorial. 
 
 ... I long for an atmosphere of more stimulating 
 power. College recluses are liable to become in some 
 degree mentally asphyxiated, and to avoid this state 
 ought, if possible, to plunge often into the more 
 oxygenated air of active, bustling life. . . . 
 
 Robert and I will put our heads together at once 
 to plan your laboratory arrangements. I have al- 
 ready written out a pretty full scheme for lectures on 
 Water. This, with some additional suggestions, I 
 shall transmit in a few days. 
 
 To-day is, you know, my day of double duty. I 
 have lectured this morning on astronomy, and at 
 three o'clock I lecture on geology. I must, there- 
 fore, reserve the completion of this until after my 
 lecture. . . . 
 
 We are all quite well and enjoying the delightful 
 weather of the last few days. Be of good heart, my 
 dear Henry, we are together strong, and delays, or 
 even disappointment of hopes, should not mar our 
 satisfaction. By and by we shall command all we 
 wish. 
 
 Kindest regards to Mr. and Mrs. Hillard. I wish 
 them all the enjoyments of the opening spring.
 
 264 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1846. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 5, 1846. 
 
 DEAR HENRY, I am yearly becoming more im- 
 patient of the lifeless routine around me, and will 
 indeed be most happy to join you in any such scheme 
 as that of a Polytechnic Institution, either under the 
 wing of the Lowell endowment, or other suitable and 
 adequate auspices. 
 
 You will soon begin, even in Boston, to enjoy the 
 soft air and freshening verdure and bloom of spring. 
 I confess, my dear Henry, I long to be able to walk 
 with you and other friends on the Mall, to take an 
 exhilarating drive to Brookline, or Cambridge, or the 
 other neighbouring points of attraction, but above all 
 to feel the impulses of a higher social life, which have 
 so stirred my thoughts in my visits to New England. 
 This is Sunday, and my thoughts have been with you 
 and those around you almost since I awoke. I have 
 thought in kind affection of all my friends, and in 
 fancy been with you in Pinckney Street, and paid a 
 delightful visit to Temple Court where I began to 
 feel so much at home. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 30, 1846. 
 
 DEAR HENRY, . . . Have you seen Murchi son's 
 "Russia "? All the reviews are trumpeting its praise. 
 Some time ago I mentioned his having adopted the 
 translation-wave theory of drift, which in the "London 
 Athena3um " is highly commended for its force and 
 originality. The " London Quarterly " calls his work 
 the opus magnum of Geology. . . . 
 
 . . . Could I but command some two or three 
 months of unobstructed leisure at a good working 
 season and have my present holiday time for the 
 field, I could, I think, do a good deal at the pen. 
 But as I am placed, my hours are but remnants of the 
 day, in which I still feel the fatigue or anxiety of 
 college duties, and there is no social stimulus to re- 
 fresh and enliven the mind wearied with routine. . . .
 
 . 41.] ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 265 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, June 19, 1846. 
 
 . . . After spending a short time in and about 
 Boston, I propose revisiting Lake Champlain to settle 
 my doubts on some points of the geology referred to 
 by Emmons. My sections of Vermont being thus 
 completed, and the obscurities referred to explained, 
 we will, I think, have an interesting paper on that 
 region ready for the New York meeting. 
 
 I have lately been reading " Fremont's Journal," 
 with his map before me, and felt an itching impa- 
 tience to be able, united with you, to reap a portion of 
 the great geological field west of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. From the very centre of Mexico, all the way 
 to the Columbia, is a terra incognita^ rich, it would 
 seem, in geological phenomena. Must we not, some 
 day, try our hammers on the Sierra Nevada, and 
 trace the Oolite formation and others already reported 
 of? Is it not interesting to find coal fossils west of 
 the Rocky Mountains bespeaking the Oolitic period, 
 and thus probably the counterpart of our little patch 
 near Richmond ? ... It will be no news to tell you 
 that the Senate are now discussing a treaty with Eng- 
 land, and that in a day or two we may look for its 
 ratification. This will give new vigour to enterprises 
 of all kinds, and will prove, I trust, the seal of per- 
 petual peace between the two nations. Of what sol- 
 emn and stupendous importance to the world is this 
 event ! A war now between us and England would 
 
 Eut back for generations the swelling tide of benevo- 
 ;nce and world-sympathy, which bears on its breast 
 the hopes and aspirations of the wise and good. We 
 may now look for the prevalence of humane and pacific 
 counsels among all the great nations, for what Eng- 
 land and we exemplify and adopt for international 
 control must finally become the law. 
 
 You see, my dear Henry, I have nothing to write of 
 but my own thoughts, but these will I know come to 
 you warm with a brother's earnest affection.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND FOR ONE 
 TEAR CHAIRMAN OF THE FACULTY IN THE UNI- 
 VERSITY OF VIRGINIA (continued). 
 
 1846-1853. 
 
 Arrival of Agassiz in America. Foundation of Scientific Schools in 
 Harvard and Yale. Seventh Annual Meeting of Geologists and 
 Naturalists in Boston with Mr. Rogers Chairman. James appointed 
 Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. 
 William proposes to resign his Professorship and join Henry in 
 Boston. Degree of LL. D. from Hampden-Sidney College. 
 Organization of the American Association for the Advancement of 
 Science. Henry again visits Europe. His Letters. He returns 
 and lectures in the Lowell Institute. Death of James Rogers the 
 Uncle. William invited to lecture at the Smithsonian. His 
 Marriage. Journey to Europe. Birmingham Meeting of the 
 British Association. Return to the University of Virginia. Dr. 
 Wayland of Brown visits the University. Kossuth's visit to Amer- 
 ica. Illness and Death of James. Robert appointed his Suc- 
 
 THE summer of 1846 found Mr. Rogers again in 
 Boston. 
 
 TO PIS BROTHER HENRY AT LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 BOSTON, July 17, 1846. 
 
 ... I was at Cambridge day before yesterday with 
 Sumner, and after listening to the closing class ora- 
 tion by young Phillips on mathematics, and taking the 
 usual lunch in his rooms, we adjourned to Longfellow's, 
 where we had a very pleasant sociable family dinner. 
 Mrs. and Mr. Longfellow made very kind inquiries 
 after you. Mrs. L. came up to me as I entered, and 
 in a very cordial manner took my hand and bade me
 
 Mi. 42.] LOUIS AGASSIZ, 267 
 
 welcome, all the time thinking it was you. Levering 
 was as kind as usual, and has just written to ask me 
 to come down and see him and Mrs. Levering at 
 Nahant, where they are staying for her health. I had 
 some talk, also, with Peirce and Gray, who asked in 
 friendly terms about you. 
 
 Mr. Rogers returned to Virginia in the autumn, 
 and Henry writes to him from Boston. 
 
 BOSTON, October 7, 1846. 
 
 DEAR WILLIAM, . . . Agassiz has arrived and 
 will lecture [in the Lowell Institute] after I do. He 
 is a most amiable, engaging and philosophic spirit. . . . 
 We shall see much of each other, and I shall draw new 
 power and impulse from him. Verneuil l sailed yes- 
 terday in the steamer. 
 
 Agassiz can help us much in our researches among 
 our older fossils. . . . 
 
 BOSTON, October 24, 1846. 
 
 . . . Tell me where it was we found the fish relics 
 in the Matinal Limestone, and say if you have the 
 specimens, and if they are undoubtedly fish-like. It 
 will be a very important point if we can be the first 
 to contradict the declaration of all geologists that no 
 vertebrates occur in the older Silurian period. Agassiz 
 says we ought to find them even there, and the laws of 
 progression be still maintained. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, November 11, 1846. 
 ... It rejoices me to learn that you are satisfying 
 yourself in your lectures ; 2 that you would please your 
 class I never had the slightest doubt. And what a 
 class you have ! Eighteen hundred or two thousand 
 auditors, such as one commands in Boston, is, perhaps, 
 the very best audience assembled anywhere in the 
 world to listen to instruction in science. . . . 
 
 1 Edward de Verneuil, a distinguished French geologist. 
 
 2 On Geology, before the Lowell Institute.
 
 268 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1846. 
 
 TO GEORGE S. HILLARD, ESQ. 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, November 15, 1846. 
 
 . . . S , from whom I have learned a great deal 
 
 of Boston and Cambridge gossip, tells me that Everett 
 is endeavouring to do away with the elective studies 
 and make all the students pursue the same course as 
 matter of compulsion. This, I suppose, is in imita- 
 tion of the English universities, and is, I think, a 
 great stride backwards. Better far to make all the 
 studies free, and place Harvard at once on the broad 
 liberal basis of one of the German schools. I ought 
 not, perhaps, to speak so positively, as after all per- 
 haps Mr. E.'s views are not what are ascribed to him, 
 and may be judicious under the existing arrangements 
 at Harvard. . . . 
 
 Robert and I have been making powder-cotton [gun- 
 cotton] , of which so much is said in the papers. Robert 
 has now a small quantity which flashes off so instantly 
 as not to fire the gunpowder upon which it is placed. 
 It leaves no stain, and gives scarcely a perceptible 
 smoke. I suppose by this time the Bostonians have 
 seen this interesting product, as its preparation is not 
 difficult, and Jackson would have the means at hand 
 readily to make it. ... 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, November 29, 1846. 
 Have you seen the October number of the " Athe- 
 naeum " ? It contains a rather brief account of the do- 
 ings of the last British Association, and among other 
 things some remarks of Lyell concerning the Rich- 
 mond coal. You remember that in Horner's address 
 Lyell is made to intimate his doubt of the accuracy 
 of my reference of these rocks to the Oolite period. 
 Now in one of these latter statements he distinctly 
 declares that Agassiz has pronounced the fish to be 
 Oolite, and Bunbury has recognized the group of 
 plants to be the same as those of Whitby.
 
 ^Ex. 42.] ELECTIVE STUDIES. 269 
 
 Mr. Rogers was under engagement at this time to 
 deliver before the Mercantile Library Association in 
 Boston a lecture on " The Atmosphere, or the Balance 
 of Nature in the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms." 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 6, 1846. 
 
 The time is drawing near, my dear Henry, when I 
 shall have the joy of meeting you and other friends. 
 
 We are enjoying great quiet as yet. The profes- 
 sors have been giving the students a succession of very 
 pleasant parties, and the utmost good feeling thus far 
 prevails with nearly all the young men. The only 
 symptom of mischief that has occurred was the explo- 
 sion of a log loaded like a cannon on the lawn last night 
 a little after supper-time. We have no apprehension of 
 any recurrence of serious annoyances this year. . . . 
 
 Is Dr. Jackson's vapour, which divides the public ear 
 with gun-cotton, anything more than rectified ether ? 
 
 The " vapour " referred to was in fact " rectified 
 ether," and its use marked the discovery of anes- 
 thesia by this agent. 
 
 The following letters from Lieutenant Maury are 
 of historical interest : 
 
 OBSEKVATOBY, WASHINGTON, November 23, 1846. 
 
 DEAR PROFESSOR ROGERS, I send a copy of our 
 observations for 1845, of which I beg your accept- 
 ance. I have also sent a copy for the University, 
 with a letter to the President, requesting the advice 
 and aid of the Faculty in relation to our future opera- 
 tions. It is probable you will see that letter ; there- 
 fore I beg to put you in possession of my views and 
 wishes more fully than I felt at liberty to express 
 them there. 
 
 In the first place, you know that the Observatory- 
 is yet an illegitimate concern, smuggled into existence
 
 270 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1846. 
 
 under the name of a " Depot of Charts and Instru- 
 ments," a circumstance significant enough of the hos- 
 tility, or rather prejudice, still existing in the minds 
 of the lawgivers to an Observatory. 
 
 Now to be useful the Observatory must feel that it 
 is on its own bottom, firm and stable. This want of 
 stability impairs its usefulness and prevents it from 
 carrying out its plans with efficiency. . . . Should the 
 work of the Observatory so far meet your approbation 
 and give you confidence as to its management, any 
 act on your part would help us along which would 
 tend to strengthen our hands here for usefulness. 
 
 There was a bill unanimously supported by the 
 Committee on Naval Affairs last session for separat- 
 ing the Observatory from the Bureau of Ordnance, 
 and giving it a Bureau of its own. That bill comes 
 up for final action at the approaching session; its 
 passage would be productive of much good. 
 
 FROM THE SAME. 
 
 OBSERVATORY, December 7, 1846. 
 
 . . . There is a bill before Congress to establish 
 a Bureau of Hydrography, or Longitude, which em- 
 braces the Observatory. The passage of that bill 
 would place the Observatory where it ought to be, 
 upon its own bottom, and give it the lawful conse- 
 quence in the public eye which it should have to facili- 
 tate its undertakings. As for reasons : 
 
 First of all, there must be an American Nautical 
 Almanac ; it is the tangible fruit of our Observatory. 
 The arguments in favour of it are, that every maritime 
 nation of the least importance in Europe has its own 
 Nautical Ephemeris, and that it would cost little or 
 nothing, for the sales to merchantmen would pay for 
 the expense of computation and publication. The ar- 
 guments in favour of a Hydrographical Office are of 
 a like character. Experience has taught all nations 
 the importance of an office with authority to collect 
 hydrographical information. For the want of such
 
 Mi. 42.] HYDROGRAPHY. 271 
 
 information, we have witnessed the failures of several 
 enterprises in the Gulf of Mexico against the Mexi- 
 cans, for with proper information, Conner's attacks 
 upon Alvarado would not have been the mortifying 
 failures they are. 
 
 As to a chart of winds and currents, you recollect, 
 which the American Geologists so heartily seconded 
 me in, after much labour, and writing page upon page 
 on the subject, I have prevailed on the Navy Depart- 
 ment to order one ship to collect such information. 
 With a Bureau of Hydrography the Chief would have 
 authority to give the proper orders in the premises 
 and enforce them. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, I have, after much entreaty 
 and boring, been allowed the privilege of overhauling 
 the old log-books for information, which is like hunt- 
 ing a grain of wheat in a bushel of chaff, and of con- 
 structing a chart therefrom. With such meagre ma- 
 terials, I am constructing a chart of the Atlantic, one 
 sheet of which the Gulf of Mexico is now in the 
 hands of the engraver. There is no telling the value 
 even of this much. What appeared to be disorder 
 and confusion among the currents there are thus 
 made to appear all harmony and arrangement. The 
 currents in the Gulf turn out to be rivers almost as 
 sharp, constant and as well denned as the Mississippi 
 itself. In fact, by the information which this chart 
 already affords, the average passage from Havana to 
 Pensacola, or Mobile, will be shortened at least one 
 half, for we have revealed to us a current of three or 
 four miles an hour, of which vessels thus bound may 
 avail themselves for nearly the whole distance. This 
 current was not known before. Like the shoals and 
 channels of an unsurveyed but oft frequented harbour, 
 the true draft of water that can enter is not known 
 until the surveyor takes the soundings from his note- 
 book and plots them down upon the chart. Then for 
 the first time he comprehends the shape of the shoals 
 and sees the winding of the channel. So with these
 
 272 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1847. 
 
 currents, when we come to put down the tracks of two 
 or three hundred vessels, each showing currents, the 
 crossing of these tracks enables us to assign both 
 limits and strength with much precision. 
 
 You can enlarge upon the ideas thus hastily sketched. 
 They are the things upon which the arguments for a 
 separate and efficient organization turn. A memorial 
 to Congress upon the subject, I suppose, would pro- 
 mote the object in view. Anything you may be 
 pleased to say as to the volume of Observations, and 
 the importance of having them regularly published, will 
 help me on with an appropriation for the next volume. 
 
 Mr. Rogers, in reply to Lieutenant Maury, sent a 
 recommendation to Congress in behalf of a Bureau of 
 Hydrography. 
 
 In December, 1846, Mr. Rogers was offered the pro- 
 fessorship of " Mineralogy, Geology and Agricultural 
 Chemistry " in the University of Alabama. The salary 
 mentioned was $1,700 and house rent. It is hardly 
 necessary to say that he did not accept the offer. 
 
 It was in 1847 that the foundation of the Lawrence 
 Scientific School at Cambridge was laid by Abbott 
 Lawrence, Esq., afterward United States Minister 
 to the Court of St. James, who gave for the pur- 
 pose at the outset the sum of $50,000.* Professor 
 Henry Rogers, in a letter dated June 25, 1847, 
 refers to the gift, and states that Mr. Lawrence was 
 treating with Agassiz for the professorship of Geol- 
 ogy, and with Courtenay (at that time Professor of 
 Mathematics in the University of Virginia) for that 
 of Engineering. He adds : " Courtenay would be well 
 qualified, but he would hardly take a place worth at 
 present perhaps less than $1,000, and hereafter only 
 $1,500." We cite these facts as a contribution to the 
 1 Memoir of Abbott Laurence, by H. A. Hill, pp. 108-116.
 
 En. 42.] SUNNY HILL. 273 
 
 educational history of the time, for it is worth noting 
 that a scientific school was begun in 1847 at one 
 of our most famous universities, with an endowment 
 of (originally) only $50,000 ; that the chair of Engi- 
 neering yielded but $1,000, or less ; while the man 
 naturally sought for to fill it, and regarded as " well 
 qualified," was a university professor of Mathematics, 
 who had had no other engineering experience than 
 that of a West Point graduate. 
 
 The Scientific or " Philosophical " Department of 
 Yale was first organized and opened to students in 1847. 
 
 Mr. Rogers, on the arrival of his summer holidays, 
 journeyed to Massachusetts and visited the family of 
 Mr. James Savage at their summer home in Lunen- 
 burg. As many of the happiest hours of his life 
 were passed here, we give a brief description of the 
 place. 
 
 Lunenburg is one of the typical "hill-towns" of 
 Massachusetts. It is but sparsely settled by a farm- 
 ing community, though distant only a few miles east 
 from the bustling manufacturing city of Fitchburg. 
 " Sunny Hill," the home of Mr. Savage, commanded 
 fine views of Mount Wachusett towards the west, and 
 of many lesser hills on the horizon. In one of the 
 valleys not far off winds the Nashua River, and in 
 another, just below the Hill, lies " Whalom Pond," a 
 beautiful lake bordered by sloping fields and woods. 
 Here in complete retirement, yet only some two hours 
 by rail from Boston, Mr. Rogers found for many 
 years the perfect quiet, and companionship with nature, 
 which are the best refreshments of the scholar. In 
 this hospitable home the brothers James, Henry and 
 Robert were also welcome guests. 
 
 In September, 1847, the seventh annual meeting of
 
 274 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1847. 
 
 the Association of American Geologists and Natural- 
 ists which had been organized, as above stated, in 
 1840, was held in Boston. At this meeting it was 
 voted that the Association " should resolve itself into 
 the American Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
 ence, and that the first meeting, under the new organi- 
 zation, should be held in the city of Philadelphia on the 
 third Wednesday (20th day) of September, 1848." * 
 
 Mr. Rogers presided over the last meeting of the 
 parent organization and, as chairman, took a promi- 
 nent part in the establishment of the new Association. 1 
 At the beginning of October he was again at his post 
 in the University of Virginia. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA, October 3, 1847. 
 . . . The more I think of our plan of a Polytechnic 
 School, the more confident I feel of its rapid and great 
 success. The Lawrence School never can succeed on 
 its present plan in accomplishment of what was in- 
 tended. It can only, as now organized, draw a small 
 number of the body of students aside from the usual 
 college routine. It should be in reality a school of 
 applied science, embracing at least four professorships, 
 and it ought to be in a great measure independent of 
 the other departments of Harvard. Besides, Cam- 
 bridge is not the place for such a school. It should 
 be in Boston. Thus organized and placed, it would 
 really cover the ground of our School of Arts, and 
 would undoubtedly become very popular and be highly 
 successful. 
 
 In the autumn of 1847 James B. Rogers was elected 
 to the Professorship of Chemistry in the University of 
 Pennsylvania, to succeed Dr. Robert Hare, resigned. 
 
 1 Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of 
 Science (1849), vol. i. p. 5.
 
 &T. 43.] ENGINEERING. 275 
 
 All the brothers turned to William whenever they 
 needed counsel, and especially for assistance and criti- 
 cism in their literary or oratorical efforts. James 
 now invoked William's aid in criticising his intro- 
 ductory address to be delivered on assuming the new 
 office, and William, as usual, lent his aid : 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS BROTHER JAMES. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, October 11, 1847. 
 . . . The task is finished, and I send you the re- 
 mainder of the lecture, six pages, which, added to 
 the twenty-eight despatched yesterday evening, will, 
 I think, be quite as much as you can read. . . . The 
 subject of life is a ticklish one, you know, with theo- 
 logians ; but the view I take leaves full scope for the 
 spiritual, while it is, I think, the truly logical one. . . . 
 This literary task just completed has cost me a good 
 deal of toil, more, perhaps, than if from the very be- 
 ginning I had struck out in a path of my own. But 
 I enjoy, I cannot tell you how much, pleasure in feeling 
 that it will relieve you of so much trouble and anxiety, 
 and help you to launch your bark successfully on the 
 wider sea you are about to navigate. ... In haste and 
 tired, 
 
 Your ever affectionate brother, 
 
 WILLIAM B. KOGERS. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, October 13, 1847. 
 . . . Do you hear anything further of this Chair 
 of engineering? ... If the course were devoted to 
 applied mechanics, of which engineering would form 
 a part, it would be more promising. In truth this 
 department ought to embrace experimental physics in 
 all its practical bearings, including the principles of 
 Mechanics, Hydrodynamics, Pneumatics, Thermotics, 
 etc., as the basis ; and then the discussion of materials, 
 and the principles of construction, and the motive
 
 276 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1847. 
 
 powers, with the machinery through which they are 
 applied. How I long, my dear Henry, to be with you. 
 We have not for many a year spent a ivorking season 
 together. I am sure we could accomplish a great deal 
 by such a combination. To this my heart now looks 
 with a pleasure I cannot express. . . . 
 
 William, Kobert and James were now comfortably 
 established in professorships, and Henry was doing 
 well as a lecturer and geological expert in Boston. 
 Nevertheless, mainly on account of a feeling of isola- 
 tion, William began to think seriously of resigning 
 his position in Virginia and going to join his brother 
 Henry in Boston. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIBGHOA, October 20, 1847. 
 
 . . . James delivered his lecture no doubt yester- 
 day. He wrote in good spirits; the laboratory was 
 looking vastly improved by its new arrangement, and 
 students were pouring in rapidly upon him. Notwith- 
 standing the increased length of the session, the Uni- 
 versity was looking for a large class. Household 
 arrangements were progressing in the new residence, 
 and, in a word, all things looked bright, as they cer- 
 tainly ought to do. What a cause for continual re- 
 joicing is this glorious success which James has had ! 
 That his course will be eminently satisfactory I am 
 perfectly sure. The Introductory I regard as his only 
 trouble, and hereafter I would advise him to make it 
 an extempore one. I have great hopes that the happy 
 circumstances in which he is now placed, and espe- 
 cially the large leisure and means they will give for 
 renewing his health by wholesome travel and occu- 
 pation, will be of great service to him in a variety of 
 ways. . . . 
 
 Your letter, written immediately on your return, 
 gave us great pleasure. I have since thought of you
 
 ^T. 43.] IN THE LABORATORY. 277 
 
 daily as one of the circle of dear friends at Sunny 
 Hill, and have gone with you to the many beautiful 
 points around, now so dearly familiar to my thoughts. 
 
 From some observations I made last year, I am 
 doubtful of Dalton's Law, that the amount of gas ab- 
 sorbed by water is in the exact proportion of the 
 pressure. We are constructing a new, and I think 
 beautiful, arrangement for testing it, and whatever the 
 results may be they will be worth publishing. 
 
 Things are very quiet here. The class numbers 
 196, and my colleagues are all in the greatest glee. 
 
 Would it not be well, as occasion offers, to sound 
 some of the leading practical men in Boston on the 
 subject of our scheme ? . . . I confidently think that 
 after taking time to digest courses of lectures on 
 practical subjects, we might even a year hence com- 
 mand immense classes from the ranks of the mechan- 
 ics, manufacturers and part of the merchants of the 
 city. . . . 
 
 My heart is full of confidence, and I look forward 
 with unmixed happiness to the time now approaching 
 when I shall be able to join you in preparing for our 
 common effort and our common engagement in the 
 ample and grand theatre which Boston offers. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, November 3, 1847. 
 . . . But by and by, my dear Henry, we shall I 
 trust be able, shoulder to shoulder, to win a position 
 in which we may enjoy ourselves in science and so- 
 cially, free from all anxiety and in a spirit of entire 
 independence. We must be satisfied, for a time at 
 least, with moderate success, and in wise culture and 
 relaxation must seek that happiness which without 
 them, wealth and a brilliant career cannot give. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 27, 1847. 
 . . . Robert and I pass much of our leisure time 
 in the laboratory, where we are busy completing our 
 observations on the solubility of minerals. An inci-
 
 278 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1847. 
 
 dental result of much interest has disclosed itself since 
 our determination of the great volatility of potash 
 and its carbonate. We now see the reason for the 
 absence of alkali from the ash of coals and lignite. 
 It is dissipated by the intense heat necessary for their 
 incineration; and for the same reason, it is obvious 
 that the usual mode of finding the alkali in plants, by 
 first reducing to ash, must involve serious loss. Pow- 
 dered anthracite, etc., yield alkali readily by our ex- 
 temporaneous process with CO 2 water ! In this way, 
 too, we can procure it from powdered woods of all 
 kinds. . . . 
 
 So volatile is potash that the tache from a drop on 
 platinum is dissipated in two seconds by the heat of the 
 mouth-blowpipe. Lime is scarcely altered, magnesia 
 is enfeebled, soda disappears in thirty seconds, and 
 lithia in half that time. You thus see how different will 
 be the behaviour of the tache from a feldspar, a horn- 
 blende, a serpentine, etc. Our experiments are so 
 delicate now, that the solution of the glass of the bot- 
 tles forms a source of embarrassment, and we are 
 going to use more powder, shorter time and frequent 
 agitation. You spoke in your last of sending an ab- 
 stract to " Silliman : " I hope you have had time. At 
 any rate, you must prepare an account of your geo- 
 logical matters for the next number. . . . 
 
 I form many a delightful picture of our future 
 union in scientific labour. One of the first cares will 
 be to fit up a neat working laboratory with all the 
 more delicate equipments. There we can pursue 
 analysis, and perhaps, if we chose, we might have a 
 few pupils and then we might push on most happily 
 our various matters of research. There are innumer- 
 able directions in which discoveries are readily within 
 reach. In these late experiments scarcely a day 
 passes without disclosing some new collateral inquiry, 
 which, if followed, would itself prove the parent stem 
 of others. The wide field of general chemistry is all 
 to be re-explored, and is, I think, a far more inviting
 
 2Br. 43.] LA WHENCE SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL. 279 
 
 and elevated ground than the organic chemistry which 
 is now so passionately occupying the majority of in- 
 quirers. The latter is becoming a complex mixture 
 of facts and mere interpretations, while the greater 
 number of chemists seem, in utter neglect of a sound 
 philosophical logic, to be setting forth mere formulae 
 as the true pictures of natural relations. Berzelius is, 
 after all, among the wisest of them ; and Liebig, with 
 all his genius, is, I fear, giving support to much error 
 as well as much novel truth. . . . 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BOSTON, February 19, 1848. 
 
 . . . The business of framing a new constitution 
 for the Association of American Geologists need not 
 engross much of my time. . . . 
 
 I send you the advertisement of the Lawrence 
 Scientific School. I shall watch their progress with 
 interest. 
 
 The announcement of the Lawrence Scientific 
 School referred to is dated "Cambridge, February 
 IT, 1848," and is issued by Eben N. Horsford, as 
 Dean of the Faculty. The following paragraphs may 
 be quoted : 
 
 " Candidates for admission must have attained the 
 age of eighteen years ; must have received a good 
 common English education, and must be qualified to 
 pursue to advantage the courses of study to which 
 they propose to give their attention. . . . 
 
 " The number and choice of studies to be pursued 
 are optional on the part of the students, who will, 
 however, be counselled on these points by the Faculty. 
 Attendance on the lectures and recitations is volun- 
 tary. For this, as well as other reasons, the govern- 
 ment of the University wish wholly to discourage the 
 resort of young men to the Scientific School who do
 
 280 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1848. 
 
 not, in the opinion of their parents and guardians, 
 possess that stability of character and firmness of pur- 
 pose which will ensure a faithful performance of duty 
 without academic discipline." 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY or VIRGINIA, February 27, 1848. 
 
 . . . From the advertisement of the Lawrence 
 School, I judge the authorities are very anxious to 
 invite students to the department. ... If they would 
 put it on a right footing, making the courses numer- 
 ous, full and practical, and under charge of professors 
 having no other duties in the college, it would by 
 and by command large numbers. . . . 
 
 In a couple of weeks I shall send in my resignation 
 to the Rector. It will create quite a stir and occasion 
 no little regret. Harrison and his wife are quite 
 downcast about it. ... 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 9, 1848. 
 . . . This week I shall draw up my letter of res- 
 ignation, so as to send it to Mr. Cabell, the Eector, 
 some two weeks before the required time. This I do 
 in courtesy to the Board, that they may have the 
 longer interval for choosing a successor. . . . 
 
 Mr. Rogers duly sent in a formal letter of resigna- 
 tion, and received from the Hon J. C. Cabell, Rector 
 of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 
 a courteous reply. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 14, 1848. 
 
 JOSEPH C. CABELL, ESQ., Rector of the Board of 
 
 Visitors of the University of Virginia : 
 
 Dear Sir, I write to notify you officially of my 
 
 intention to resign my place in the University at the 
 
 close of the present session. From the nature of my 
 
 future plans, I have been for some time anticipating
 
 ^T.43.] RESIGNATION OF PROFESSORSHIP. 281 
 
 an early removal to Boston, but until recently I had 
 not entirely relinquished the prospect of a somewhat 
 longer continuation at the University, and I have, 
 therefore, abstained from making an earlier communi- 
 cation on the subject. 
 
 I need not say how much it will pain me to quit 
 the literary home where, with some cares, I have 
 had so large a share of enjoyment and such valued 
 scientific opportunities. Nor need I speak of my 
 regrets at leaving the circle of friends throughout 
 Virginia whose intelligent regard I have felt to be 
 one of the most grateful of the rewards by which my 
 humble but earnest labours have been repaid. For 
 the last twenty years it has been my privilege to aid 
 in the scientific training of the young men of the 
 State, and it would, indeed, be strange could I con- 
 template, without strong emotion, a change which, 
 however desirable in itself, breaks up the kind asso- 
 ciations which have yearly added to my interest in 
 the intellectual progress to which they are contribut- 
 ing so large a share. 
 
 During the twelve years of my connection with 
 the University, I have learned to value more and 
 more the scheme of the organization, the method 
 and thoroughness that preside generally in its halls 
 of instruction, and the enlightened devotion to its 
 interests of the distinguished citizens who form its 
 Visitorial Board. 
 
 As I have hitherto deemed it an honour to be num- 
 bered among its professors, so shall I continue to be 
 proud of what it has done and is doing for the cause 
 of sound instruction in letters and science ; nor shall 
 any interests hereafter make me indifferent to its 
 prosperity, or estrange me from that kind regard for 
 its faculty and governors, which I shall carry with me 
 into my new home. 
 
 With great consideration and respect, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WILLIAM B. KOGEBS.
 
 282 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1848. 
 
 FKOM HON. J. C. CABELL. 
 
 WARMINSTER, April 2, 1848. 
 
 MY DEAR SIE, Your favour of the 15th inst., 
 announcing your intention to resign your place in the 
 University at the close of the present session, reached 
 me on the 24th. I confess that this annunciation 
 took me altogether by surprise and gave me great 
 concern. I had regarded you as permanently settled 
 at our Institution, and was not apprised that you had 
 an idea of removal. I am very sure that the regret 
 which you express at the contemplation of the ap- 
 proaching separation is not greater than that felt by 
 myself and the rest of the Visitors and the people of 
 the State, in consequence of the loss which the Uni- 
 versity will sustain by your retirement. In view of 
 the manner in which the duties of the Chair have 
 been fulfilled, it will be no easy task to find a worthy 
 and satisfactory successor. I cordially wish you suc- 
 cess in your labours upon the new theatre of exertion 
 upon which you will soon appear, and likewise happi- 
 ness and prosperity in all your undertakings. 
 I am, dear sir, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOSEPH C. CABELL. 
 
 PROF. WILLIAM B. ROGEKS. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 21, 1848. 
 ... I have sent my letter of resignation to Mr. 
 Cabell. By this time I suppose he is aware of my 
 purpose. I have also made known the change to all 
 my friends. Harrison and family have been in- 
 formed of it for a month past. I did not suppose it 
 would produce such a shock as it appears to have 
 occasioned to all to whom I mentioned it. They seem 
 really distressed and confounded. They have valued 
 me even more than I imagined.
 
 .Ex. 43.] RESIGNATION OF PROFESSORSHIP. 283 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 BOSTON, March 26, 1848. 
 
 ... I am also to examine the two tunnels of the 
 aqueduct 1 for the Water Commissioners, a work of 
 two or three days, for a fee of $100 ; at least, so says 
 Robert's old friend Chesbrough, their engineer. Thus, 
 you perceive, I have at all times a little professional 
 work in prospect. When you come here to live we 
 must have an office and laboratory, and what with 
 such work and with lecturing we can make a very fair 
 income and be our own masters. . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 29, 1848. 
 . . . Every day brings me some new evidence of 
 the regret occasioned by my resignation. The stu- 
 dents generally evince much concern about it, espe- 
 cially my own class, and the very considerable num- 
 ber who expected to be with me the next year. I 
 understand they say my place cannot be filled. Of 
 course I am pleased with these marks of appreciation, 
 but not the less happy in the prospect of my change. 
 I do not doubt we shall do well in Boston. But to be 
 happy we must not be over-wrought or over-excited. 
 Moderate efforts with steady but moderate aims, and 
 a proper appreciation of home enjoyments apart from 
 ambition, will best conduce to our happiness. . . . 
 What stirring news from France ! Heaven prosper 
 the movement to the best results. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 31, 1848. 
 I hope to be able this afternoon to send you a short 
 account of our experiments on the diamond, which 
 were completed with an entirely satisfactory result 
 
 1 The Cochituate Aqueduct.
 
 284 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1848. 
 
 this morning. 1 But time has not allowed, and as 
 to-morrow will be my day of double work, I shall 
 probably be unable to draw up the statement in ques- 
 tion until Sunday. I will at that time give you a 
 brief sketch of our process for the analysis of graphite, 
 with a diagram and some of the results. The pro- 
 cedure for the liquid oxidation of the diamond is the 
 same, but the resulting CO 2 , instead of being arrested 
 by PO 3 in a Liebig tube, is passed into lime water. 
 We are quite pleased to find the result unequivocal 
 and striking, and think it will be regarded by chem- 
 ists as interesting and curious. It is certainly entirely 
 new. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 9, 1848. 
 
 ... I shall lecture for Robert to the chemical class 
 this week (Robert being ill). The subject is easy, 
 the metals, and I shall have but two lectures to 
 give. I find lecturing on chemistry a very easy busi- 
 ness, especially as I have Robert's admirably digested 
 notes to aid me. The present little practice will be 
 of service to me. My own course just now is partic- 
 ularly simple, so that you must not fear lest I should 
 be overworked. . . . 
 
 On Saturday, James closed his duties by the Ad- 
 dress. In Homer's absence on a proposed visit with 
 Wood to Europe, James is to act as Dean. This will 
 involve but little trouble through the summer, but will 
 give him a good deal to do at the opening of the next 
 session. It is gratifying to see how highly he is ap- 
 preciated in the institution. . . . 
 
 Professor Henry Rogers had, during the winter, 
 made an attempt to secure from the Legislature of 
 Pennsylvania an appropriation which should enable 
 him to publish his final Report. In this attempt he 
 was bitterly disappointed. 
 
 1 " Oxidation of the Diamond in the Liquid Way," Sittiman, vol. 
 vi. p. 110.
 
 . 43.] ENCOURAGEMENT. 285 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNTVEBSITY OP VIRGINIA, April 15, 1848. 
 . . . Ere this, my dear Henry, you have no doubt 
 heard from Harrisburg of the fate of the Report. 
 Robert and I have been grieving this morning at the 
 thought that this disappointment will prove much 
 more painful to you than we had at first supposed. 
 The despondent tone in which you close the letter 
 received this morning has given us pain. But is 
 it not almost certain that in another year a wiser 
 legislation will prevail? And even should it not, 
 in a scientific point of view you can reap higher 
 advantages by devoting your time, by moderate and 
 steady efforts, to the production of a systematic work 
 on American Geology. With easy labours of author- 
 ship and occasional lectures in the Lowell Institute 
 or elsewhere, and your geological examinations, you 
 will be abundantly employed for the present, and who 
 can doubt, my dear Henry, that before long some 
 more permanent scientific plan will offer itself, in 
 which you or both of us can happily engage. It is true 
 your faithful labours and your unbending uprightness 
 have in many instances been cruelly repaid, but then 
 how much have you won of the love and respect of 
 friends who appreciate you fully, and how strong have 
 you grown in the opinions of men of science and the 
 widening circle of your acquaintance. See, my dear 
 Henry, how much cause there is for cheerful views of 
 the present and for bright confidence in the future. 
 Since this time last spring how great has been our 
 common gain in the almost unhoped-for advancement 
 of James to his present enviable place. To " labour 
 and to wait," the former wisely and moderately, so as 
 to make our tasks a pleasure, the latter patiently and 
 in cheerful hope ; these should form our plan. How 
 much of true enjoyment lies before us, especially when 
 we can all more frequently unite in science and recre- 
 ation. The call for accomplished teachers of science
 
 286 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1848. 
 
 is daily and rapidly augmenting. In the large cities, 
 and Boston especially, we can surely have abundant 
 employment in this way. Did I not think so I should 
 be really pained to give up my present position. 
 
 MR. ROGERS TO MISS LUCY SAVAGE. 1 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 8, 1848. 
 . . . Nothing could exceed the beauty of the gar- 
 dens, fields and woods around us here. The mock- 
 orange (JPhiladelphus coronatus) is loaded with fra- 
 grant blossoms, the honeysuckles of various kinds are 
 filling the air with sweet odours, the locust-trees are 
 hung with clustering flowers of the richest fragrance, 
 and a multitude of other plants are blooming, or pre- 
 paring to hang out their honours in the sun. Among 
 these the roses are especially full of promise. All day 
 the sound of bees and birds swells delightfully on the 
 ear. How often, dear Lucy, have I wished that you 
 could be here to breathe the warm, fragrant air, and 
 feast your eyes and heart upon the beauty and music of 
 the smiling, happy scene. But you will soon all take 
 flight to sweet Sunny Hill, where like pleasures await 
 you, and where Whalom and Wachusett will smile a 
 sweet welcome on your arrival, and where the harsh 
 eastern winds will not dare to follow you. Thither, 
 by and by, I too will hasten. Will you not listen 
 for the sound of the coach wheels in the evening, as 
 they toil up the gravelly slope of Clarke's Hill ? 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 10, 1848. 
 Your view of our future in Boston must, I am sure, 
 be correct. We can find much to do undoubtedly in 
 the line you mention, and I confidently believe we can 
 soon get up a Franklin Institute, or School of Arts, 
 which will be a source of great pleasure as well as 
 1 Youngest daughter of Mr. James Savage.
 
 Mr. 43.] FRENCH POLITICS. 287 
 
 profit. Could we not count certainly on large classes 
 from among the mechanics and merchants to patron- 
 ize lectures such as we could give on applied science, 
 and science in itself in its more elevated bearings ? I 
 am sure of it. ... 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER JAMES. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIBGINIA, May 12, 1848. 
 . . . We were delighted with your account of the 
 boys and Mary. William 1 will become quite a politi- 
 cian, and no doubt a good Whig, during the Conven- 
 tion. The skill he is acquiring in stenography may 
 be of much use to him and to you also. I have often 
 wished that some one could have taken down my lec- 
 tures on certain parts of my course ; for I find that 
 in the free play of thought during the lecture I strike 
 out occasional new views or illustrations which I am 
 unable afterwards to recover, and which might be of 
 use at a subsequent time. 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BOSTON, May 16, 1848. 
 
 . . . Letters have just come from Hillard from 
 Paris, where he arrived on the 23d day of the Elec- 
 tions. ... Of the ability of the French for repub- 
 licanism I have not for a long while felt any serious 
 doubt. Their political economy is not greatly to be 
 praised, but is our own ? In truth, the great science 
 of the adjustment of human labour is but in its in- 
 fancy, and no country has hitherto legislated at all 
 upon commerce or labour with any light from the pro- 
 found laws which experience is slowly evolving. Cer- 
 tainly neither England nor New England need boast 
 of any wisdom in this branch of legislation, com- 
 prising indeed for the future, directly or indirectly, 
 
 1 William Barton Rogers, 2d,eldest son of James B. Rogers, later 
 an assistant to his uncle Henry in the Geological Survey of Penn- 
 sylvania.
 
 288 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1848. 
 
 nearly all legislation. ... I am at work on the 
 new Rules for the Association, 1 a labour of some respon- 
 sibility and trouble, as I am writing a few explanatory 
 pages to go into the Circular. I think you will en- 
 tirely approve of my Constitution, it is democratic, 
 federal, flexible and expansive, progressive, with all 
 the true conservatism these features imply. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HETNRY. 
 
 UNIVEBSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 27, 1848. 
 ... I see that in my new field I shall have more 
 to do to make my reputation than I had anticipated. 
 My position in the South for the past fifteen years has 
 in some degree spoiled me. For a good part of that 
 time my scientific rank has been fixed, and, as you 
 know, I have been looked up to in Virginia and 
 around as the authority in matters of science. My 
 pride is not obstinate, or I should be concerned at the 
 thought of having to take a lower place and again 
 to work my way up the hill. But I do not doubt 
 that I shall seek happiness in other objects than 
 mere scientific rank or office, and ask only for inde- 
 pendence and opportunities of being useful in teach- 
 ing and research. . . . 
 
 HENKY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BOSTON, May 30, 1848. 
 
 . . . Remember that at the American Association 
 you will represent both yourself and me. I send you 
 in two or three days the Circular for your suggestions 
 and valued criticism before permitting the printer to 
 strike off an edition. . . . 
 
 In spite of his determination to leave the Uni- 
 versity, Professor Rogers ultimately yielded to the 
 solicitation of his friends in Virginia and the advice 
 of those in Boston, and withdrew his resignation. 
 1 American Association for the Advancement of Science.
 
 Mi. 43.] SCOTLAND. 289 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY IN EUROPE. 
 
 SUNNY HILL, Augnst 14, 1848. 
 
 . . . What you say of Edinburgh and its environs 
 in your letter to Mrs. B. touched my heart with a 
 deep sympathy which you can easily understand. 
 Even in this country in my journeyings I have once 
 or twice caught those tones and looks of which you 
 speak, which carried my heart back to the home of 
 our childhood, and filled my soul with holy images of 
 the loved ones that hung over us with such devoted 
 affection. I verily believe, my dear Henry, that in 
 spirit we truly sympathize with the Scotch character. 
 Our philosophy will always take its mould from the 
 closely analytic and inductive forms of the great 
 teachers of Scotland. I can feel and think with a 
 Brewster much more entirely than with a Whewell, 
 or even with* a Herschel. I trust, my dear Henry, 
 you will see more of Scotland than in this first brief 
 visit. There I am sure you could soon make good, 
 enduring friends among the men of science. You 
 will, of course, try to see Brewster and Forbes and 
 Jamieson, etc. . . . 
 
 On August 4, 1848, Mr. Rogers was informed that 
 the degree of LL. D. had been conferred upon him by 
 Hampden-Sidney College in Virginia. 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 MEETHYR TYDVIL, SOUTH WALES, August 17, 1848. 
 ... In Scotland I saw many of the northern 
 geologists and some interesting portions of northern 
 geology. Jamieson, Hugh Miller, David Milne, Mac- 
 laren, etc., among the men, and Arran, Glencoe, Glen 
 Roy, the Highlands and Edinburgh among the scenes. 
 I was both surprised and gratified to find our names 
 familiar to the Scotch geologists, and really touched 
 when I heard honest praise from Jamieson and others
 
 290 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1848. 
 
 of your own and Robert's chemical researches. I 
 passed nearly a week in Edinburgh and its vicinity, 
 and visited Melrose, Stirling and other scenes of 
 great beauty. At Glasgow I was hospitably received 
 by Nichol, and went thence to Arran, and afterwards 
 to the Highlands. Among my pleasures in the beau- 
 tiful and grand mountains of Scotland, not the least 
 was my visit to the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, and 
 my success in solving the problem of their origin. I 
 shall give my views to the Geological Society, and 
 in my next, if time permits, shall sketch to you my 
 theory. From Scotland, where I felt like a native, 
 who, after a life's absence, had wandered home to his 
 birthplace, I went to London to join Lyman, 1 and 
 came to Swansea. 
 
 The meeting of the Association has been one of fair 
 average merit, not a brilliant one by any means. The 
 geological section was somewhat spoiled by Sir Henry 
 De la Beche's presiding ; he is excessively prosy and 
 wasted time fearfully. 
 
 Phillips has been a zealous and most useful friend, 
 and I shall have a glorious time this autumn in the 
 field with him in Derbyshire, with Ramsay in North 
 Wales, and Oldham in Ireland. De la Beche will 
 give me every facility. Brewster is very cordial and 
 kind, and so is Homer, Lyell's father-in-law. Lyell 
 was not at the meeting, being prevented by the ill- 
 ness of his own father. Murchison is in Italy, and 
 Sedgwick could not come. Sedgwick spoke lately to 
 Hillard of us both in terms of the warmest praise, 
 and I shall make him a special visit at Cambridge. 
 Daubeny was at Swansea, and invites me to Oxford ; 
 he remembers you with much kindness. Sir Philip 
 Egerton invites me to Cheshire, and in fact, I have 
 more invitations than I can possibly accept. There 
 are about twelve of us here, at Dowlass Works, in the 
 luxurious mansion of Sir John Guest, and for two or 
 three days we shall have rare sport. Lady Charlotte 
 Guest is a woman of rare endowments and high intel- 
 1 Mr. Joseph Lyman, of Northampton, Massachusetts.
 
 ^T. 43.] GEOLOGY OF THE VOSGES. 291 
 
 lectual powers. We are already organized into sec- 
 tions, and to-morrow I entertain the company on the 
 subject of earthquakes, with blackboard and chalk for 
 my means of illustration. Wheatstone will give us 
 some of his ingenious things, and Brewster is inex- 
 haustible. Layard is here with his portfolio full of 
 wonderful transcripts from the walls of Nineveh! 
 friezes and inscriptions almost rivalling those of the 
 age of Pericles, made by the Syrians eighteen hundred 
 years before Christ. 
 
 I am losing the opportunity of a tour through the 
 works, and you must therefore excuse my incoherent 
 haste. . . . 
 
 When at Swansea I communed much with Owen, 
 the naturalist. He is one of England's strongest men, 
 gifted with an amazing perception of the profounder 
 analysis of things. He was very cordial towards me, 
 and I hope to profit by the intercourse on my return 
 to London. I wish him to examine my specimens of 
 Mosasaurus bones. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, October 13, 1848. 
 . . . Your last letter has given me and Robert more 
 happiness than I can express. We have repeatedly 
 followed your steps on our good maps, and I have 
 tried to make myself, by reading and charts, more 
 familiar with the Jura and Alps. What a glorious 
 support for our generalization you have acquired in 
 these journeys. I think you must be correct in refer- 
 ring to the Vosges as the great line of disturbance 
 which has determined the form of the flexures. The 
 rocks of that belt are, I believe, the old metamorphic, 
 like our Blue Ridge and the region on its south- 
 eastern side. The existence of a great line of fault 
 along Lake Neuchatel would be interesting as form- 
 ing a natural terminus to the series of related flexures. 
 Just as is the case of the great lines of fault in south- 
 west Virginia, etc., where the series of folds and
 
 292 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1848. 
 
 flexures cease with the fault. But in the case you 
 have been examining, the region beyond the fault 
 (the Alps) has been subsequently very greatly in- 
 vaded and disturbed, while with us the great Western 
 coal-field has remained without disturbance. . . . 
 
 We see that the " Chemical Gazette " and Jamieson 
 have republished our paper upon solubility of rocks, 
 etc., but we have not seen anything of the communi- 
 cation on the absorption of CO 2 by sulphuric, which 
 you read for us to the meeting. I am quite desirous 
 that this should come out, as Noad and others have 
 been denying our results, as formerly stated, and the 
 brief paper sent you was, as I mentioned at the time, 
 to satisfy those who were doubting on the subject. . . . 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 PAEIS, October 25, 1848. 
 
 ... I have had several interesting interviews with 
 George Sumner, a brother of my friend Charles Sum- 
 ner. He has been ten years in Europe, is very bright 
 and full of historical and political knowledge, and is 
 able to give me strange revelations concerning men 
 and parties here. Just now all Paris is talking of the 
 great chances there are that Louis Napoleon will be 
 elected the first President ; the day of election is set 
 for the 10th of November. He is very weak intel- 
 lectually, yet formidable from the blind veneration 
 which the peasantry, especially of the south of France, 
 entertain for the name Napoleon. Many people say 
 that after him will surely come a king, Henry V. 
 At present all is pacific in France, and externally 
 Paris bears no marks of its recent turmoils. The 
 National Assembly has finished with the Constitution, 
 and the state of siege is withdrawn, and all without 
 a sensation. My own belief is that France has seen 
 the worst, and that with much political agitation for 
 the next few years, she will gradually fit herself for 
 republican forms, and resume her commercial activity.
 
 JET. 44.] FRENCH GEOLOGISTS. 293 
 
 HENRY TO ROBERT. 
 
 LONDON, November 5, 1848. 
 
 ... As I stated in my letter to William I went to 
 the Institute and there saw Arago, Pouillet, Dumas and 
 other eminent men. Subsequently, through the kind- 
 ness of ^Pentland and De Verneuil, I saw and conversed 
 with Elie de Beaumont, Count D'Archiac, Valen- 
 ciennes and others. Elie de Beaumont seemed right 
 glad to see me, and gratified me much by the manner 
 in which he spoke of the labours of William and my- 
 self in geology, and of the fraternal association of our 
 names. He had read all we have written, and even 
 said, at the meetings of our Association. My re- 
 ception by D'Archiac was of the same flattering sort. 
 Being occupied on a work of the history of the recent 
 progress of Geology, the first volume of which is in 
 print, he has been a careful student of American 
 Geology, and I found him well informed in relation 
 to our colours, which he seems highly to appreciate, 
 as I had already learned from his friend De Verneuil. 
 
 . . . Not only was it gratifying to find our names 
 well known in Paris by the geologists, it was more so 
 to perceive that the views we have contended for at 
 home, often in the face of a bitter opposition, meet 
 general approval. Thus, our doctrine of flexures 
 being produced by an undulation of the crust will, 
 I feel convinced, meet a prompt reception by the 
 French geologists, even while many of the English 
 may hesitate. 
 
 LONDON, December 1, 1848. 
 
 I have returned from a visit of four days to Sedg- 
 wick, who entertained me in a most hospitable and 
 complimentary manner, at Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 He was delighted with our maps and sections. I 
 dined at his table with Adams, Hopkins, Challis, 1 
 etc., and had much pleasant chat with them there 
 and on other occasions about our geological generaliza- 
 
 1 An English astronomer.
 
 294 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1848. 
 
 tions and other topics. I also saw Whewell, who is 
 certainly a Hercules in his way, and yesterday, at the 
 anniversary dinner of the Royal Society, sat between 
 him and Murchison. He asked me concerning some 
 points in my earthquake theory, and I entered into 
 the whole subject. He took a very large view of the 
 question, and pleased me by telling me not to be im- 
 peded by Hopkins's mathematics, for observation and 
 a common-sense view of the mechanism in such a case 
 was infinitely safer than the calculus. He said, more- 
 over, what I had suspected, that Hopkins has passed 
 over greater unexplained elements to seize upon a 
 lesser one, and has been precipitate in deciding that 
 there can be no countervailing conditions connected 
 with nutation and precession. In fact, he thinks the 
 determination of thickness of the earth's crust, by 
 such a line of argument, quite wild. This gives me 
 new courage, for the geologists have had a supersti- 
 tious awe of Hopkins's mathematics, as Whewell says, 
 a lot of " Oxford superstition." 
 
 Professor Rogers, replying to a letter from a parent, 
 asking advice concerning the education of his son, 
 writes : 
 
 TO JOSEPH ALLEN, ESQ. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VEKGINIA, October 7, 1848. 
 . . . We have as yet in this country no school of 
 mining and metallurgy, nor can your son procure at 
 any of our universities direct practical instruction on 
 this subject. At Harvard, the Lawrence School em- 
 braces a course of practical chemical analysis, and is 
 designed also to include a course on geology, but on 
 this latter subject, I believe provision has not yet been 
 made for instruction in mining and practical metal- 
 lurgy. At Yale, the laboratory furnishes some facili- 
 ties, but less ample than those of Harvard. At either 
 of these institutions he could, I think, obtain such a 
 knowledge of practical chemistry as would aid him in
 
 ^T.44.] QUIET AT THE UNIVERSITY. 295 
 
 his future vocation, and with this he should unite the 
 study of mineralogy and geology, which, although not 
 taught at those places to great extent, or with a 
 systematic practical bearing, would throw a useful 
 light on his pursuits. Were I to decide between the 
 two institutions, I should be disposed to recommend 
 the Lawrence School at Cambridge. . . . 
 
 In the beginning of 1849, Henry had returned from 
 Europe, and was preparing to give a course of Lowell 
 lectures on the Application of Science to the Useful 
 Arts. William writes of himself and his classes to 
 Henry in Boston. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VERGINIA, January 26, 1849. 
 
 DEAE HENRY, ... As I get on now with my 
 classes, I think I shall be able to carry them through 
 all that is needful in my department before the close 
 of May, or at any rate, by the first week in June. 
 The students seem all rejoiced at my coming back, 
 and are willing to do all in their power to help on the 
 course. The University has continued perfectly quiet 
 from the opening of the session to this hour. At 
 night not a voice is heard to break the general tran- 
 quillity. The kindest feelings prevail towards the 
 college authorities. This is a truly gratifying state 
 of things. ... I weigh 135 pounds, which is quite a 
 gain. 
 
 Early in March, 1849, occurred the death of Mr. 
 James Rogers the uncle, some of whose letters have 
 been given above and who had for some years made 
 his home with William. In writing to one of the 
 brothers, William says : " To me his loss is a sad 
 blow, for he has for eight years past been my constant 
 companion . . . and I feel truly desolate." 
 
 In May Mr. Eogers received a letter from Pro-
 
 296 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1849. 
 
 fessor Joseph Henry, detailing a plan for courses of 
 lectures in the Smithsonian Institution : 
 
 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. May 31, 1849. 
 
 PROFESSOR W. B. EOGERS: 
 
 My dear /Sir, Dr. Bache informs me that you 
 have made an interesting series of observations on 
 thunderstorms, from which it appears that storms 
 of this kind occur nearly at the same time, in patches, 
 along lines extending many miles in an east and 
 west direction. Please inform me whether your ob- 
 servations have been published, and if so, where I 
 can have access to an account of them. 
 
 We have commenced our courses of lectures in the 
 Smithsonian Institution, but shall not do much in 
 this line until after the meeting of Congress. The 
 plan we have adopted is that of inviting only those 
 who have distinguished themselves by original re- 
 search, or those who can speak with authority from 
 their own experience on the subject on which they 
 lecture. Among those by whose assistance we wish 
 to make an impression on Congress, in the way of 
 improving the science of the country, are your bro- 
 ther Henry and yourself. I regret that our funds 
 are so much absorbed by the erection of the building, 
 that we are able to pay scarcely more than is suffi- 
 cient to defray the expense, say twenty-five dollars a 
 lecture. 
 
 I remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 JOSEPH HENRY, 
 /Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 On account of ill-health Professor Rogers applied 
 for and received leave to close his courses at the 
 University somewhat earlier than usual. On June 20, 
 1849, he was married to Miss Emma Savage, eldest 
 daughter of Hon. James Savage, LL. D., author of the 
 " Genealogical Dictionary of New England ; " and on
 
 ^T. 44.] VOYAGE TO EUROPE. 297 
 
 the same day sailed from Boston for England via 
 Halifax, on the Cunard steamer Europa. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 LIVERPOOL, Sunday, July 1, 1849. 
 
 . . . Our passage has been without any stormy 
 weather, but excepting two days we have been con- 
 tinually in a thick, cold fog. 
 
 You will see in the paper that accompanies this a 
 detailed account of the heart-rending casualty of 
 which we were witnesses on Wednesday last, in the 
 midst of the Atlantic. At a time when the fog was 
 so thick that it was impossible to discover any object 
 at a distance equal to the length of our own vessel, a 
 ship of 400 tons, laden with iron and lead, and hav- 
 ing on board 160 passengers, together with a crew of 
 14, advanced directly towards us. We were moving 
 at the rate of 12 knots, and the approaching ship 
 with all the speed her full-spread canvas could im- 
 part. Collision was inevitable, and it took place al- 
 most immediately after her sails were discovered from 
 our deck. Our bow entered her a little behind the 
 main hatchway, and, like an enormous wedge, actually 
 penetrated nearly to the opposite side. An awful 
 scene of silent horror ensued. Before the boats could 
 be lowered to rescue the men and women and children 
 crowding the deck, the vessel went down, and in the 
 resistless vortex of waters carried down the greater 
 part of those on board. Out of the whole, only about 
 forty were saved, and of them but one woman, al- 
 though there were forty women on board! ... It 
 was fortunate that our ship was so stanch at the bows, 
 for the whole of the outer bow, or cut-water, was torn 
 away, and even the main timbers beneath deeply 
 lacerated. But not the slightest injury was done to 
 her framing or butts. For a time, until this was con- 
 fidently known, there was the most painful anxiety 
 among those of us on board who understood the great
 
 298 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1849. 
 
 peril in which we had been placed. Excepting this 
 sad event, our voyage has been a very happy one. 
 . . . Two or three of the passengers had been fellow- 
 travellers of Henry, and knew me at once by our like- 
 ness. 
 
 The first sight of the Irish coast, near Cape Clear, 
 and the view of that picturesque shore, as we sailed 
 along and near it for many hours yesterday morning, 
 filled my heart with a pleasure indescribably sweet 
 and sad. I felt that its heathery hills and verdant 
 slopes claimed something of a filial love, and spoke to 
 me in our dear father's voice. God bless and prosper 
 that beautiful but helpless land ! We had a most 
 charming run up the Channel yesterday evening and 
 last night ; and through the soft haze I this morning 
 saw the bold outline of the Welsh mountains with an 
 interest and delight which you can better imagine 
 than I describe. My own dear brothers, need I tell 
 you that I have more than ever tenderly and affection- 
 ately thought of you all. . . . 
 
 We reached London after a most charming jour- 
 ney. Mrs. Chapman 1 was expecting us, and had pro- 
 vided a comfortable room in a quiet part of the house. 
 The position, 142 Strand, is good for sight-seeing, and 
 the house is comfortable. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 LONBON, July 13, 1849. 
 
 . . . De la Beche has been extremely kind. Buck- 
 land gave up all the spare hours of last Sunday to us, 
 and we breakfasted with him, attended service, and 
 heard the wondrous harmony of the Abbey Choir and 
 organ ; then were conducted by him over all the Ab- 
 bey, seeing many parts that are not commonly shown ; 
 then lunched with him. He spoke warmly of you. I 
 have seen Playfair and Phillips, Mantell, Morris, 
 Grant, Sowerby and Forbes, but as yet have missed 
 Murchison and Mitchell. On our return from Scot- 
 1 Wife of John Chapman, editor of the Westminster Review.
 
 ^T. 44.] LONDON AND EDINBURGH. 299 
 
 land I hope to see others, and, at any rate, I shall 
 meet them at the Association. . . . 
 
 Doubleday J has been as kind as any dear old friend 
 could be, and all on your account, my dear Henry. I 
 am quite charmed with the frank politeness and ever 
 active kindness of those we have met. . . . 
 
 It has been a source of no small gratification to 
 find our names so well known, and so respected by the 
 men of science. I need no other introductions, and 
 this I have been repeatedly told by those I have met 
 with. One gentleman, Professor Hopkins, of Cam- 
 bridge, who was with us at the Dean's, and who spoke 
 highly of you, said that we really emulated the Greg- 
 orys of Scotland, and that it was truly delightful to see 
 four brothers all devoting themselves to science. . . . 
 
 What shall I say of this wonderful London ! At 
 first I could not take in the impression of its vastness. 
 But day by day, as I have driven from place to place, 
 it has grown upon me, until now I feel truly over- 
 whelmed with the thought of its immensity. And yet 
 it is a cleaner and more quiet place than either of our 
 great cities. With all the amazing activity exhibited 
 in its thoroughfares, there is less noise and less of the 
 feverish driving than you witness with us. People 
 give more time to recreation and do not work so fast 
 as we do. The English character is altogether quieter 
 than ours. . . . 
 
 GLASGOW, July 19, 1849. 
 
 ... I had the good luck to meet, in Johnston's 
 shop in Edinburgh, with Hugh Miller, who inquired 
 very kindly after you. He is much such a man as I 
 expected to see from your description. Just now he 
 is bringing out a little work designed as an answer to 
 the geological part of the " Vestiges," which, as I sup- 
 pose you know, is now universally accredited to the 
 pen of Robert Chambers. . . . 
 
 Of all the places we have seen, Edinburgh is cer- 
 tainly the most picturesque and beautiful. The eye 
 1 Edward Doubleday, English naturalist, 1810-1849.
 
 300 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1849. 
 
 could hardly tire of the grand scene before us, as we 
 gazed from our window in Prince's Street over the 
 deep and narrow valley of the Prince's garden, to the 
 Castle, crowning with its irregular massive walls and 
 battlements the lofty, blackened crag, and the tower- 
 ing walls of the strange edifices, which extend them- 
 selves thence towards the Old City, descending into 
 the dark, narrow avenues of the Cowgate and Cannon- 
 gate, until they are closed by the old, gray towers of 
 Holyrood. . . . 
 
 We are both much pleased with the Scotch. 
 
 . . . My dear brothers, I could throw my arms 
 around you in the fervour and fulness of my heart's 
 love for you. God bless you. Be careful of your 
 precious health. I trust dear Robert will use the sea- 
 sou wisely for recreation, and that James will do like- 
 wise. I will collect all the information I can for 
 them on chemical apparatus, etc., when I get back 
 here and to London. . . . 
 
 LONDON, August 9, 1849. 
 
 ... By the papers I see that great preparations 
 are making for the Birmingham meeting, which prom- 
 ises to be an unusually large and spirited one. . . . 
 
 Mr. Clarke [the Rev. James Freeman Clarke] is 
 now here, and will not leave for the Continent, I be- 
 lieve, until next week. . . . We shall regret to part 
 with him, for we have really enjoyed his society since 
 he came to London. But his plan of travel and his 
 objects are so different from ours that our union would 
 only incommode and obstruct both parties. We all 
 went together last night to Astley's. 
 
 I may mention, as a good token in regard to my 
 health, that in crossing Waterloo Bridge I was weighed 
 by one of the convenient machines stationed there, 
 and I came up to 145 pounds ! My throat only occa- 
 sionally gives me any annoyance, and then it is but 
 slight. I expect confidently to go home enjoying 
 better health than I have had for several years, but 
 my throat will still require care.
 
 . 44.] THE RHINE. 301 
 
 HEIDELBERG, August 19, 1849. 
 
 ... I hourly wish to communicate to you fully 
 all the pleasing impressions I receive in my travels 
 through this most delightful region, so beautiful by 
 nature and exquisite cultivation, and so rich in monu- 
 ments of the past. 
 
 Professor and Mrs. Bischoff 1 were affectionately 
 pressing in their entreaties that we would remain 
 longer in Bonn. Von Dechen was absent ; Von Buch 
 had lately been at Bonn to attend a meeting of the 
 Naturforscher, at which Bischoff presided, but had left 
 for Berlin before we got to Bonn. Robert and James 
 need not be ashamed of their laboratory arrangements, 
 compared with those of Bischoff, or indeed any others 
 I have seen. Bischoff and Noeggerath repeated sev- 
 eral times, with marked admiration, the fact that there 
 were four brothers of us all engaged in science. I 
 find that on the Continent the title of Professor is 
 one of the most valuable I could bear, and that being 
 known as an American is much in my favour. The 
 number of the English we meet in all the boats and 
 hotels is really amazing, and with them is no small 
 sprinkling of our own countrymen, none of whom, how- 
 ever, have thus far proved specially attractive. . . . 
 
 We spent the late afternoon yesterday in rambling 
 over the heights, which are occupied by the ruins of 
 the castle, and by its lovely parks and gardens, and 
 enjoying the superb views, afforded from those lofty 
 terraces, of the city, river, neighbouring mountains, 
 and the far-stretching Valley of the Rhine, walled 
 in on the horizon by the blue heights of the Vosges 
 in France. Nothing of the kind could exceed the 
 beauty of the cultivated plain and the mountain slope, 
 called the Bergstrasse, between Frankfort and this 
 place. Indeed, throughout all the Valley of the 
 Rhine and its tributaries, we have had but a succes- 
 sion of pictures, rich with cultivation and abounding 
 1 Gustav Bischoff, Professor of Geology at Bonn.
 
 302 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1849. 
 
 in views combining all the elements of picturesque 
 beauty. 
 
 But in this lovely land where the landscape is so 
 smiling, there remain social features which the feeling 
 traveller is called upon hourly to deplore. The peo- 
 ple, kind-hearted and simple-minded as I think they 
 are, and intelligent, as they certainly prove themselves, 
 are sadly pressed down by their political institutions, 
 and so strongly have the cords of power, aided by old 
 prejudices, been woven about their limbs, that I fear 
 a long time must elapse before they can place them- 
 selves in that erect and fearless attitude for which of 
 late, many have been earnestly but blindly struggling. 
 Nothing I have seen on this side the Atlantic has 
 impressed me so painfully as the continual display of 
 military force we meet with in our travels. All the 
 towns are crowded with troops, chiefly Prussian. 
 Frankfort is at this time occupied by Austrian, Prus- 
 sian and Bavarian battalions. From every height on 
 the Rhine the ramparts, bristling with cannon and 
 resounding with the rattling drum, frown down upon 
 the peaceful villages, and intimate to the traveller the 
 fears of the rulers and the terrible scenes which are 
 likely to result when the antagonizing elements are 
 brought into actual conflict. Oh, how happy should 
 we be in America, in that security and sanctity of 
 personal rights and free progress which we enjoy ! 
 
 We are now emerging from the region of almost 
 unmixed Romanism into the land of Protestants. I 
 am not sure that we shall find any great improvement 
 of morals or of social comforts. . . . 
 
 We had much rain between Coblentz and Mayence, 
 but were able to keep on deck and see every impor- 
 tant site as we passed. The Old Slates, which are so 
 largely exposed from time to time in the lofty hills on 
 either side, reminded me continually of the aspect of 
 our Matinal slate, as exhibited in the valley of Penn- 
 sylvania and Virginia, where it is most largely devel- 
 oped, and is barren of fossils. In this long section
 
 .Ex. 44.] THE ALPS. 303 
 
 the dips, with one or two exceptions, are to S. E., but 
 I discovered an alternation of steeper and gentler dips 
 in that direction, such as I have marked in our folded 
 rocks, and I have no doubt that the whole of this wide 
 slaty belt consists of such folded masses. How curious 
 that here, as with us, these and the other Silurians 
 have a general N. E. and S. W. strike. . . . 
 
 I will try to make one or more good sections in the 
 Jura, and as many in the Alps. . . . 
 
 TO MRS. JAMES SAVAGE. 
 
 GENEVA, September 7, 1849. 
 
 ... I need not say, dear mother, that in all our 
 journeyings and enjoyings we have wished that you 
 were with us, for who could feel more deeply than 
 you the happiness of communing with the beautiful 
 Alpine flowers and the clear rushing streams, or the 
 majestic solitudes where snowy Alps sit girdled by the 
 clouds, or fold their glacier drapery around green val- 
 leys musical with tinkling bells or the soft voice of 
 the rude Alpine horn. You will smile at the poetic 
 vein into which my pen is falling, but no one better 
 understands the enthusiasm which such scenes can 
 awaken, and had you been with us I am sure you 
 would say that the highest efforts of the descriptive 
 muse must fail to paint the sublime and lovely scenes 
 through which we have been travelling. Since Emma's 
 last letter we have ascended the Valley of the Rhone 
 to Martigny, have crossed the celebrated pass of the 
 Tete Noir, and have sojourned for a day or two at 
 Chamounix, where from the chamber window we com- 
 manded a superb view of Mont Blanc. The sky was 
 clear all the time, and we saw the snowy slopes of this 
 vast pile successively in the dazzling brightness of 
 sunshine, in the exquisite rose hues of the evening, 
 and in the soft phosphorescence of the moonlight. 
 What pictures there and elsewhere in the Alps have 
 been engraved upon our hearts ! . . .
 
 304 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1849. 
 
 BIRMINGHAM. September 14. 
 
 We have been all the morning at the meeting of 
 the Association, and are going by and by to the great 
 dinner, where I suppose there will be much amuse- 
 ment in the way of speaking after the cloth is re- 
 moved, and when I suppose I shall be compelled to 
 show my Yankee " gift of the gab." We are having 
 a very pleasant time here. The scientific gentlemen 
 are very kind and complimentary, and Lady Lyell, 
 Miss Phillips and others will help to make E. at 
 home. 
 
 On our return to London, we shall see Mr. Kenyon * 
 and other friends, and will not again ramble from 
 the great metropolis, except on a short excursion to 
 Oxford and Cambridge. Professors Buckland and 
 Sedgwick, who are here, are very desirous of our 
 making such a visit. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHERS. 
 
 LONDON, September 21, 1849. 
 
 I have now for the first time, leisure sufficient for 
 an account of the delightful meeting at Birmingham. 
 By the last steamer I wrote a hasty line the day after 
 I reached Birmingham, and before I knew much of the 
 affairs of the Association. From the humble but com- 
 fortable quarters in which we had placed ourselves, 
 we were soon transferred to the keeping of the city, 
 and were placed in very elegant apartments in the 
 superb edifice of the Grammar School, where most of 
 the sections held their meetings. Here the kindness 
 of Mr. Gifford, the principal, and his wife made us 
 very comfortable. For this very pleasant and com- 
 plimentary change we are no doubt indebted to the 
 friendly suggestion of Phillips, Lyell and Horner, all 
 of whom have been cordially kind in their attentions 
 to us. Miss Phillips was much with E., and Mrs. 
 1 John Kenyon, English poet, 1784-1856.
 
 JET. 44.] BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 305 
 
 Lyell and Miss Horner displayed much interest in 
 having her comfortable, and contributing to her 
 pleasure. 
 
 No one could have been more warmly and heartily 
 welcomed than I was, not merely by those who per- 
 sonally knew me, but by the scientific men generally, 
 with the greater number of whom I soon became ac- 
 quainted, Darwin, Ansted, Ramsay, Mallet, Oldham, 
 Griffiths and, above all, Murchison, Sedgwick and 
 Phillips among the geologists, taking me cordially by 
 the hand. Phillips, Murchison, and De la Beche 
 were throughout generously kind to me, and Lyell 
 and Horner scarcely less so. The chemists were no 
 less hospitable, Percy, Playfair, Hunt, Steuhouse, 
 Warington, etc., all paid me kind attentions. In 
 the physical section I was rarely able to be pres- 
 ent, yet I esteem myself happy in having made the 
 acquaintance of Brewster, Robinson, Adams and 
 Faraday. But let me say a word of my own doings. 
 
 On Friday, the day after our arrival (which I 
 regret we deferred so late), I made my de*but, as I 
 mentioned formerly, in some remarks connected with 
 Murchison's paper on gold veins. On that night 
 another opportunity of a rather different kind was 
 afforded me of speaking. This was in reply to a 
 toast of Murchison, in which he referred to the cor- 
 responding members, naming you in terms of the 
 strongest eulogy, and calling upon me, as Phillips had 
 previously arranged. I made quite a respectable 
 speech, which was often and loudly applauded, and at 
 the close I was honoured by many flattering congratu- 
 lations from De la Beche, Saboni, Dr. Robinson, the 
 president, Phillips and others. This dinner was truly 
 a grand affair. More than seven hundred were seated 
 in a hall said to be the most spacious and elegant of 
 the kind anywhere in Britain. You may imagine how 
 my heart beat to hear your name so honoured, and to 
 have our labours so warmly eulogized. I sat between 
 Phillips and De la Beche, and near the president.
 
 306 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1849. 
 
 Forchhammer and Schroeter, of Jena, were also there, 
 but had nothing to say. . . . 
 
 " Mallet," above referred to, was the distinguished 
 English engineer, whose son, J. W. Mallet, afterwards 
 for many years Professor of Chemistry at the Univer- 
 sity of Virginia, was also present at this dinner, and 
 has described Mr. Rogers's appearance on this occa- 
 sion : l 
 
 " Although I was but a boy at the time," says Pro- 
 fessor Mallet, " attending the meeting with my father, 
 I recollect most distinctly the marked impression made 
 upon the large assembly by Professor Rogers's speech, 
 and the enthusiasm it kindled. It came late in the 
 evening, after much, perhaps most, of the matter ap- 
 propriate to the occasion had been already utilized by 
 others ; yet it was clearly the success of the banquet. 
 Americans were less known in England than they 
 have since become, and the slight foreign flavour which 
 accompanied a speech excellent in itself, and fluently 
 delivered in the mother tongue, added to the piquancy 
 and effect." 
 
 Mr. Rogers's letter continues : 
 
 On Saturday the members occupied themselves with 
 the various delightful excursions which had been so 
 well planned for them. To Dudley, first to the re- 
 markable ten-yard coal here on end, and then through 
 the caves, or underground quarries, of enormous ex- 
 tent in the limestone, and which Lord Dudley had 
 caused to be superbly illuminated. There in the 
 cavern, while the blue and red lights were glowing in 
 the distance, Murchison delivered a geological speech 
 to some thousands. After escaping unhurt from the 
 crowd and fumigation of the caverns, we passed with 
 
 1 See an Address delivered before the Alumni of the University of 
 Virginia, by William CabeU Kives, June 27, 1883 -
 
 JET. 44.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 307 
 
 the great procession to the base and sides *>f the Wren's 
 Nest. There Murchison gave another geological ha- 
 rangue in which he again complimented us warmly by 
 name, and called upon me, as a present witness to his 
 Silurian researches. He was followed by Wilberforce 
 the Bishop of Oxford, a truly eloquent speaker, and 
 then I was compelled to mount the stump by a call 
 from Murchison and from all around. . . . After a 
 pleasant collation in Dudley, and sundry amusing ad- 
 ventures, we returned in one of the beautiful canal 
 boats, at eight miles the hour, and were glad to get 
 to bed and forget the pleasures and honours of the day. 
 
 On Monday I was chiefly active in the chemical 
 section, sharing in several interesting discussions, for 
 which, luckily, I had facts of interest to state. I gave 
 as one, an account of the gaseous ingredients of our 
 thermal and other springs, in connection with a paper 
 on the nitrogen of springs, read by West, and I com- 
 municated in some detail the mode and result of our 
 researches on the solvent action of carbonic acid, 
 water, etc. 
 
 On Tuesday I made a communication on the geol- 
 ogy of Virginia, specially referring to the features of 
 our great faults. I did not occupy more than an- 
 hour, but Murchison, Lyell and De la Beche occu- 
 pied even a longer time in expressing their sense of 
 the importance of our joint labours. Indeed, they laid 
 on the compliments so thick that I could hardly stand 
 up under them. But it was a real triumph and joy to 
 hear them successively declare that our development 
 of the great law of flexures was one of the grandest 
 contributions to geology ever made, and to find that 
 they gave us the entire and exclusive credit of having 
 thus furnished a clue to the most difficult problems in 
 European geology. This really made me happy and 
 proud, and I only wished, my dear Henry, that you 
 could have been present to share in the enjoyment. 
 You cannot imagine the degree of kindness with 
 which inquiries were continually made after you.
 
 308 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [184ft 
 
 Murchison and De la Beche, Saboni, Sedgwick, Pent- 
 land and Darwin are a few of those who repeatedly 
 asked about you, and spoke of the pleasure your visit 
 had given them. I should have named Brewster 
 among the first. He said he had received great hap- 
 piness from your society. What a charming man is 
 this venerable Scotch philosopher! I could almost 
 have knelt down to ask his scientific benediction. . . . 
 
 Wheatstone has marvellous ingenuity. He showed 
 me his exquisite apparatus for making visible all the 
 conditions and combinations of waves, plane, circular, 
 elliptical, and indeed, of all possible forms. It is an 
 admirable thing for the lecture-room, and I intend 
 purchasing one, although it will cost ten pounds. . . . 
 
 In the Physical section, Robinson gave an interest- 
 ing popular account of the late performances of Lord 
 Rosse's telescope, which was perhaps the most attrac- 
 tive thing done at the meeting. Mallet's report on 
 the statical and dynamic laws of earthquakes was 
 able. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENKY. 
 
 LONDON, October 5, 1849. 
 
 . . . Yesterday we dined at Playfair's, and had a 
 pleasant meeting with Wheatstone, Lancaster, etc. ; 
 to-day I go to dine at Miller's (of King's College), 
 where I shall meet many of the chemists, among them 
 Andrews of Belfast, and probably Magnus. 1 . . . 
 
 Since my last to you we have made a short visit to 
 Oxford, indeed this was the cause of my not writing 
 by the last steamer. We were delighted with the 
 quiet beauty of the college grounds, and I felt the 
 conservative spirit of the place sinking into my heart. 
 But how shocked was I to find that the chemistry and 
 botany of the great university was exhausted upon 
 about ten students ! Ackland, the anatomist, as well 
 as good Dr. Bliss, Mr. Savage's friend, treated us with 
 
 1 Heinrieh Gustav Magnus, Professor of Chemistry and Physics, 
 Berlin.
 
 ^T.45.] RETURN TO AMERICA. 309 
 
 great attention. We are proposing going to Cam- 
 bridge to-morrow, and tarrying there until Monday 
 morning. There I hope to see Sedgwick, Hopkins, 
 and perhaps other acquaintances. 
 
 After all, our scientific opportunities at home are 
 nearly if not quite as good as they have here. The 
 men of science are poorly paid and work hard, and 
 then they have as a class an inferior social position. 
 
 Professor Rogers returned to the University of Vir- 
 ginia in October. Henry was in Boston, and the 
 correspondence of the brothers was resumed. 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BOSTON, November 14, 1849. 
 
 I thank you for your very kind letter of the llth, 
 and for your sincerely affectionate words. These are 
 ever to me a source of cheerfulness and consolation, 
 and they seem at this time of double value, coming 
 when my spirit is oppressed with an unwonted sense 
 of loneliness and of life's disappointments. In all 
 hours of trial, in all time of need, your love has given 
 me strength. The faith that some turn of fortune may 
 bring me again to live, as in earlier blessed days, with 
 you and our generous and gentle Robert has for a 
 long while past been to me the one calm star of hope 
 that, when all other beacons have gone out, has never 
 once grown dim. Daily do I take counsel with my 
 heart that it may keep itself worthy of a companion- 
 ship out of which, if pure, it will derive a peace such 
 as is not in store for it from any other earthly source. 
 That Heaven may shed upon you both, niy dear bro- 
 thers, its sweetest blessings is my never ceasing prayer. 
 
 I rejoice to learn that your classes are so large. 
 Yours even much surpasses my anticipations, and as 
 for Robert's, it quite amazes me. . . . 
 
 They have filled the chair of Engineering at the 
 Lawrence Scientific School a few weeks ago. Lieu-
 
 310 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1849. 
 
 tenant Eustis, a former colleague of William Henry 
 Wright, under Colonel Thayer in the construction of 
 the fortress in Boston Harbor, is the professor ; he has 
 been of late an assistant professor at West Point. 
 Military engineering is hardly wanted in this commu- 
 nity, and something more should be given in the Sci- 
 entific School of the applications of physical science, 
 than even civil engineering. . . . 
 
 The " Warren Club," now called the " Thursday 
 Evening Club," has begun its meetings. 
 
 The Club here referred to, has long been one of the 
 best features of Boston life. It meets at the houses of 
 members on the first and third Thursday evenings of 
 every month from December to April. It is com- 
 posed of gentlemen of literary and scientific tastes or 
 acquirements, and embraces in its membership pro- 
 fessors, authors, scientific men, and leaders in affairs. 
 Literary and scientific essays constitute the chief in- 
 terest of the meetings, although the social element is 
 not neglected. The club was founded by Dr. John C. 
 Warren, and named in his honor. He was succeeded 
 in the presidency by Edward Everett. On the death 
 of his son, Dr. J. M. Warren, who followed Mr. 
 Everett, Mr. William B. Rogers became its president. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 16, 1849. 
 
 . . . What a scene is this our law-makers at Wash- 
 ington are presenting ! Surely the people will pun- 
 ish the factionists for the danger which their passion 
 and party feeling are threatening to the country ! . . . 
 
 There is great excitement growing up in the South, 
 and I fear there will be great passion thrown into the 
 debates of the coming Congress by both sides. But as 
 yet I have no fear of the integrity of the Union.
 
 . 45.] EDUCATION. 311 
 
 HEXRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 
 BOSTON, December 22, 1849. 
 
 ... I had the pleasure of making a few very agree- 
 able acquaintances when in Providence, among whom 
 I deem Dr. Wayland l a valuable accession to my list. 
 I stayed this time, as before, with Zachariah Allen, a 
 very enlightened manufacturer and a trustee of Brown 
 University. Dr. Wayland dined with me the first 
 day, and next day (yesterday), I dined at his house 
 with Professor Caswell. Wayland is intent upon 
 some valuable and important collegiate reforms, and 
 his views are shared by Allen and a majority of the 
 trustees. They contemplate an entire reorganization 
 of their college, introducing much more science and 
 practical instruction, less Greek, etc., and adopting 
 some of your system. Wayland is tired of the old 
 monastic system, and is wishing to see the colleges 
 more like our ideal School of Arts, if they cannot be 
 true universities. I have nowhere found a more en- 
 lightened and independent thinker than Wayland. 
 He has great native strength which has enabled him 
 to get himself free from many early trammels. You 
 would be greatly interested in his views. 
 
 I think the time is nearly at hand for an important 
 revolution in this whole matter of collegiate education. 
 The old institutions with their vast funds, educating 
 youth at enormous expense, yet fitting them for no- 
 thing truly useful or calculated to advance the age, 
 must soon meet the rivalry of institutions which will 
 embody modern ideas. 
 
 Wayland much wishes a copy of your exposition of 
 the system, etc., at the University, Memorial to the 
 Legislature, and any documents or notes of your own 
 having a bearing on the subject. He has had a copy 
 and lent it to some of his trustees, and it may not 
 suffice for his wants just now, therefore send him 
 another. I wish you and I could together put our 
 1 President of Brown University.
 
 312 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1850. 
 
 thoughts on paper, we need not just now print, on 
 this whole subject of the sort of collegiate institution 
 which would best suit the true wants (I do not mean 
 the conservative wishes) of the United States, or 
 rather of New England, where we might show what 
 departments of human knowledge in especial should 
 be taught, and next, how taught. We should find 
 most willing readers in Way land and Allen and their 
 friends. Now, or soon, I conceive to be the fitting 
 time. 
 
 Dr. Wayland and Mr. Allen visited the University 
 of Virginia in 1850, and were the guests of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Rogers. Dr. Wayland afterwards published a 
 Report which " is said to have marked an era in the 
 history of collegiate education in America." 1 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVKRSITY OF VIRGINIA, January 13, 1850. 
 
 . . . Have you seen Henfrey's " Outlines of Struc- 
 tural and Physiological Botany " ? It is an admirably 
 compact little work, posting up the subject to the 
 latest microscopic researches. Is it not odd that com- 
 parative anatomy here succeeds without owning or 
 using even so much as a pocket microscope ? . . . 
 
 The proposition is again before the legislature in 
 Richmond to appoint an agricultural chemist and 
 mineralogist for the State, to make analyses of soils, 
 etc., and deliver lectures in the counties as well as 
 make annual reports to the government. Some of 
 the folks in these parts have wonderful faith in agri- 
 cultural chemistry, believing that if they once know 
 the composition of their soils, they are sure to be able 
 to make their land and themselves rich. Liebig 
 with much good has done some harm. The agricultu- 
 
 1 Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, by H. B. Adams ; 
 U. S. Bureau of Education: Circulars of Information, No. 1, 1888, 
 p. 131.
 
 ^T. 45.] DR. WAYLAND'S VISIT. 313 
 
 ral problem, so far from being solved, is only begin- 
 ning to be properly investigated. Is it not true that 
 the problem combines all the difficulty of the most 
 complex chemical, with the most obscure physiological 
 questions? Is it not as difficult, or more difficult 
 than the medical problem ? . . . 
 
 HENRY TO WILLIAM. 
 
 BOSTON, March, 1850. 
 
 ... I am also busy as Chairman of a Committee for 
 ventilating the Natural History Society's rooms. . . . 
 For a man of any brains whatever, Boston has no 
 peace or quiet, all is restless excitement and unpro- 
 ductive change of thought and of pursuit. The over- 
 working of the brain here without the fruits of 
 intellectual labour is appalling to a mind of contem- 
 plative tendencies. Often do I envy you and Robert 
 your calmer studious atmosphere. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 18, 1850. 
 . . . Dr. Wayland and Mr. Allen arrived on Tuesday 
 afternoon and remained with us until Wednesday 
 night. Dr. Wayland attended all the morning lec- 
 tures on Wednesday, as did Mr. Allen also, and both 
 expressed themselves as greatly pleased with our sys- 
 tem. They appear quite determined to adopt our 
 more liberal features in their new scheme. They 
 spent their time chiefly here and at Robert's, and were 
 evidently much gratified by the welcome we gave 
 them. The members of the faculty called upon them, 
 and were much struck by the intelligence and large 
 views of Dr. W. On the whole I am satisfied that 
 our guests have carried away with them much encour- 
 agement for their plan of reform, as well as valu- 
 able guides in conducting them. Robert and I had 
 a great deal of pleasant talk with both gentlemen, 
 especially with Dr. Wayland, and were charmed by
 
 314 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1850. 
 
 his liberal and expansive spirit, as well as his remark- 
 able clearness of head. He spoke frequently of you 
 and always with much commendation. 1 . . . 
 
 Some days ago I received a letter from Mr. Joseph 
 Cabell written informally in behalf of the directors of 
 the James River and Kanawha Company, requesting 
 me to make a geological examination of the mountain 
 belt in the Allegheny from near the Sweet Springs 
 across to the north of Greensboro, etc., with a view to 
 decide upon the feasibility of placing there large 
 feeders for the canal, which is designed to pass 
 through that belt. You know this is Mr. C.'s hobby, 
 and he urges me strongly to undertake the work next 
 
 TO HUGH MILLER. 
 
 UKIVEKSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 6, 1850. 
 
 To HUGH MILLER, ESQ. : 
 
 My dear /Sir, My friend Professor Hitchcock 
 hopes to meet with you while in Scotland, and as I 
 have already had that good fortune, I am proud of 
 the opportunity of giving him a line of introduction 
 to you. His name is, I am sure, well known to you 
 in connection with American geology. Our New Red 
 sandstone has borrowed from his able researches an 
 interest somewhat akin to that which your eloquent 
 revelations have imparted to the Old Red of Scotland. 
 I do not doubt that the author of " Footprints " will 
 find in the explorer of " Bird Tracks " a congenial 
 mind. 
 
 With many thanks for the pleasure I have had in 
 reading your last work, and with the kindest wishes, 
 I remain, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 WILLIAM B. ROGERS. 
 
 1 Reference is made to this visit of the authorities of Brown Uni- 
 versity in A Memoir of the Life and Labors of Francis Wayland, 
 D. D. and LL. D., by hia sons, Francis and H. L. Wayland, pp. 92 
 and 93, N. Y., 1867.
 
 2Err. 45.] NEWPORT. 315 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, May 12, 1850. 
 . . . Professor Froebel l stayed with me the two days 
 of his sojourn here. He won the sympathy and regard 
 of all of us. How much he has lived in a short life, 
 and how truly does he deserve respect and honour for 
 the spirit in which he has devoted himself to a good 
 cause. He impressed us as a high-aiming, earnest, 
 single-hearted man. Robert and I, you may be sure, 
 did all we could to make him happy while here, and 
 I gave him such directions as might aid him in his 
 present inquiries. . . . 
 
 The following letter gives glimpses of Newport life 
 and of Henry Clay : 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 NEWPORT, August 12, 1850. 
 
 . . . Every spot in and about Newport is crammed 
 with visitors, for the most part very transient ones. 
 We have been here only nine days and feel like old 
 residents. Mr. Clay is at our hotel much observed, 
 but trying to keep quiet. Henry Tuckerman, of New 
 York, whom I meet daily, has made many kind in- 
 quiries after you. The Nortons have a cottage near 
 us, and the two Miss Guilds are now there. The 
 Wormleys and Bruens have cottages hard by, and 
 many other Boston folks whom you would doubtless 
 know, but I do not. . . . 
 
 Clay holds a levee every day for an hour or two from 
 twelve o'clock, and they say on these occasions takes 
 the opportunity of kissing all the good-looking girls 
 that present themselves. I believe a majority of his 
 visitors are women. ... I have seen no men of 
 science amid the crowd. 
 
 1 Julius Froebel, a German traveller, nephew of the founder of the 
 kindergarten system ; in search of lands in the United States suitable 
 for German emigrants.
 
 316 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1851. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon Emma and I had a delightful 
 ramble along the cliffs, gathering seaweed, of which 
 the variety here is truly wonderful. . . . What su- 
 perb sunsets are visible here. I have never seen 
 finer, even in Virginia. . . . 
 
 The following are comments on features of New 
 England geology : 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, January 5, 1851. 
 . . . The impressions from Greenfield are unques- 
 tionably Lycopodites untifolius, or a form generally 
 the same. I am not yet prepared to say whether 
 these impressions are all of one fern or belong to two. 
 But some of them I cannot distinguish from Lindley's 
 and Hutton's figures and descriptions of Lye. unc., 
 which occurs in the Yorkshire Oolite, and with more 
 delicate foliage in Chesterfield coal rocks. Take the 
 largest-leafed specimens from Chesterfield, and the 
 smallest from Springfield, and there is the closest re- 
 semblance. The fossils left me by Werth are truly 
 superb. They are Pecopteris, etc., bearing a strong 
 family resemblance to those of the Jura in Sternberg, 
 and Oolite in Lindley and Hutton, but excepting a 
 magnificent frond of Pecopteris WJiitbyensis (the 
 English fossil), a foot square, they will require new 
 names. When you are next in Boston I will get you 
 to make a short communication on these subjects to 
 the Natural History Society. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, February 24, 1851. 
 . . . Wirile I was in Richmond the Governor ex- 
 pressed to me a strong desire to have a beginning 
 made in the publication of my final Report. He has 
 very just notions as to the scale on which it ought to 
 be done, and says that he will be glad, in his next 
 annual message, to bring before the Legislature any
 
 JET. 46.] REFORM CONVENTION. 317 
 
 scheme I may suggest for engraving and publishing, 
 and for revising the work in various districts of the 
 State. He is now employing a draftsman to compile 
 the materials of a better state map from the numerous 
 surveys of railroads, turnpikes and other improve- 
 ments. This is a proper beginning. 
 
 We passed a little more than three days in Rich- 
 mond, and were very kindly entertained at Mr. 
 Brown's. The Reform Convention is in session, and 
 has entered on the discussion of the basis of represen-' 
 tation which is hereafter to be established. All west 
 of the Blue Ridge urge the white basis as indispen- 
 sable. The eastern members insist on what they 
 call the mixed basis, in which every five blacks are 
 equivalent to two white men. It is difficult to see 
 how the parties can make any compromise, and it is 
 apprehended by some that the Convention will adjourn 
 without settling the matter. There is a large mass of 
 mediocrity in this body, but I believe a good deal of 
 practical sense and much of a reforming spirit. . . . 
 
 Have I told you before of the excitement which 
 Johnson created at Raleigh by a lecture before the 
 Legislature, in which he extolled the value of the coal 
 fields and other mineral resources of that State ? 
 The Legislature, on the strength of these representa- 
 tions I suppose, has organized a geological, botani- 
 cal, etc., survey, appropriating $5,000 per annum for 
 the purpose. He computes the number of cubic yards 
 of coal at 365,000,000! by taking the distance be- 
 tween the two most remote parts where coal has been 
 found and multiplying this by the breadth of the 
 sandstone belt, counting the coal as continuous and 
 four feet in thickness ! Is not this a bold stroke ? 
 The only distinct fossil I have yet made out in this 
 region is Equisetum columnare, one of the character- 
 istic forms in Chesterfield. I have no doubt that 
 these rocks are of about the same age. . . . 
 
 In a former letter you spoke of some saurian re- 
 mains found in the Mesozoic of Pennsylvania, now in
 
 318 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1851. 
 
 Leidy's hands. The little conical curved tooth which 
 I found some years ago in the sandstone of Chester- 
 field was at the time broken in the attempt to take it 
 out. I have the small fragments. Perhaps a section 
 under the microscope would give useful information. 
 I remember that I thought it most like a tooth in 
 Brongniart, from the Lias. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 8, 1851. 
 
 I am now holding my intermediate examination. 
 We have been seven hours in the lecture-room, and 
 some of the slow ones have so much work remaining 
 that I fear I shall not be released for an hour or two 
 longer. . . . 
 
 Have you seen Maury's paper on the subject of 
 Winds, recently published as an appendix to the 
 Washington Observations ? He has snatched at Far- 
 aday's discovery of the magnetism of oxygen to make 
 it the basis of a wild dream as to the cause of spiral 
 storms or currents of the air. I cannot imagine why 
 he has published anything so unripe as this. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, June 2, 1851. 
 . . . What you say of the Canadian fossils is very 
 remarkable. Surely we have not yet reached the low- 
 est horizon of life. I cannot believe that it began in 
 forms so developed. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, June 23, 1851. 
 . . . Whatever may be the age of the limestone at 
 Burlington, Vt., which in my notes I describe as look- 
 ing like a Levant rock, I cannot believe that the 
 Berkshire limestone is of that age. Indeed, I am sure 
 that the two are in entirely different belts. That of 
 the Winooski is a prolongation of the belt near White- 
 hall, which, as you know, is much to the west of the 
 trend of the Berkshire belt. The latter is in a line 
 with the limestone of Rutland in Vermont, which lies 
 immediately at the western base of the Green Moun- 
 tains.
 
 ^ET. 46.] WEATHER OBSERVATIONS. 319 
 
 I feel with you, my dear Henry, the importance of 
 our being able to renew our attention systematically 
 to the comparison of our Palaeozoic formations in order 
 to secure justice to our previous labours, and to make 
 our nomenclature acceptable. . . . 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 BOSTON, March 13, 1851. 
 
 . . . Will the Smithsonian Institute do anything 
 truly useful through the telegraph in studying the laws 
 of our weather ? What a noble field, what a chance for 
 some one placed, we will say, in Philadelphia or New 
 York, at one of the great ganglia of these nervous 
 chords, to work out, day by day, the wide oscillations 
 of weather and all the atmospheric conditions, to have 
 a newspaper containing only the telegraphic news, 
 and a department devoted to weather, with stereo- 
 typed map of the United States and Canada, on which 
 the distribution of the various winds, etc., say at noon, 
 for each day, might in four hours' time be given to the 
 public. This will be done, I prophesy, in less than 
 seven years. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 SUNNY HILL, September 16, 1851. ' 
 
 ... I believe the new Harvard professors of Latin, 
 rhetoric and chemistry have entered upon their duties. 
 From James l I learn that the students are greatly 
 pleased, because, for the first time, they are shown 
 some chemical experiments. Last year they com- 
 mitted the chemistry to memory ! . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, October 26, 1851. 
 . . . How I long, my dear brother, for a daily com- 
 munion with you. I always catch from you fresh 
 spirit for research, and it seems to me that we are 
 both greatly benefited by the stimulus of thought 
 which each of us can best apply to the other. . . . 
 
 1 James Savage, Jr.
 
 320 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1851. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, November 6, 1851. 
 ... I have just been contriving a little instrument 
 which, with a single mirror, gives the effect of Wheat- 
 stone's stereoscope. By and by I will send you an ac- 
 count of it, as I think it is new and curious. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, November 17, 1851. 
 
 ... I believe I mentioned in my last that Hackley 
 of Columbia College, N. Y., paid us a visit some time 
 ago. He mentioned to me that Renwick would soon 
 vacate his place, and he made some remarks that 
 looked as if he had been thinking of me for the situ- 
 ation. The institution is magnificently endowed, and 
 there is talk of an enlarged plan. At present the pro- 
 fessors are better paid than anywhere else north of 
 the Potomac, and according to his account, have light 
 duties. If you have a chance in New York, make 
 some inquiry about this. . . . 
 
 I am beginning to make arrangements for the Smith- 
 sonian lectures. I shall take with me some simple 
 means of exhibiting the prominent properties of all 
 the constituents of the air. Robert and I have con- 
 structed a very nice instrument for endosmose, and 
 one for burning a jet of atmospheric air in hy- 
 drogen. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 26, 1851. 
 ... I feel quite troubled on account of your per- 
 plexity in regard to help in your survey, and most 
 earnestly do I wish that I could point to a suitable 
 assistant. You will find it next to impossible, I think, 
 to find any one person uniting all the qualifications 
 you desire. But I would, at any rate, not seek for 
 such abroad. ... I do not know anything personally 
 of Mr. Brush, 1 but I have seen some chemical analyses 
 of his in the " Journal of Science." In the number 
 
 1 George J. Brush, formerly Professor of Mineralogy and after- 
 wards Director of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University.
 
 JErr. 47.] KOSSUTH. 321 
 
 for November, 1850, is a good paper on American 
 spodumene by " George J. Brush, of Yale University." 
 This, I suppose, is the same person. In previous vol- 
 umes he has published analyses of albite, etc. He 
 is no doubt fully acquainted with chemistry, general 
 and analytical, as well as with mineralogy and goni- 
 ometry, and has, I presume, had the Yale training in 
 geology. I suppose you especially need just now 
 one who has skill in geological drawing and such 
 knowledge of structure as to be able to put together 
 the materials of the summer's work. . . . 
 
 You ask what is thought of Kossuth's cause in Vir- 
 ginia. I hear but little of it. But our neighbours at 
 the University are disposed to depreciate him, and are 
 entirely opposed to his advanced policy. Indeed, this 
 seems to be the prevailing opinion throughout the 
 State. The Whig papers are decided in denouncing 
 any departure from the neutral policy of our govern- 
 ment ; and the Democratic papers, although they ex- 
 press a stronger sympathy with Kossuth's objects, 
 agree with the others in sustaining the necessity of a 
 neutral course. I have no idea that he will obtain 
 any action from the government or from the people 
 which will compromise this country in European 
 troubles. Still, I think his presence in Washington 
 will create a powerful impression. How can it be 
 otherwise ? Is he not a sublime man, one whose facul- 
 ties are equal to the sublimest mission that mortal 
 ever undertook? His presence will do our country 
 good, and not harm, as some apprehend. But the in- 
 terests of liberty will be best advanced, I think, by an 
 adherence on our part to the neutral policy. By and 
 by when we are stronger, and when the masses of 
 Europe are better prepared for a permanent change, 
 and therefore stronger for the contest, our intervention 
 joined with that of England will suffice almost peace- 
 fully to secure the right. 
 
 What a curse to France is hero worship. How art- 
 fully does the usurper in his proclamation carry his
 
 322 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1852. 
 
 countrymen back to the institutions of government 
 planned by the first consul. But can it be that the 
 great empire of France will tolerate the usurpation ? 
 The army in Paris may for a time repress the public 
 indignation. But must it not at last hurl the usurper 
 from the presidency? I am most impatient to hear 
 the course and result of the election. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, January 6, 1852. 
 
 ... I observe that Dr. Kane, of the Arctic explora- 
 tion, is lecturing in the Smithsonian upon the history 
 of their voyage and the Arctic phenomena, and I am 
 glad he succeeds so well, for I have much respect for 
 his manliness and generosity of character. . . . 
 
 As far as I can learn there is here far less sympa- 
 thy with Kossuth's cause, and more decided opposi- 
 tion to his proposed national action than in the Middle 
 or Western States. This is greatly due to the prejudice 
 created by the prominence of the abolitionists in New 
 York in doing him honour, but it is also the natural 
 result of that conservatism which of late has become 
 the strong feeling of the politicians of the South, a 
 feeling which could not fail to spring up in antago- 
 nism to the aggressive philanthropy of other parts of 
 the Union. The result shows how deeply these feel- 
 ings operate, since from the excitable character of the 
 South, and its great admiration for eloquence and 
 chivalrous daring, Kossuth is a person for whom, 
 under other circumstances, an unbounded enthusiasm 
 would be aroused. As it is, I cannot imagine how 
 any one who reads his speeches can fail to do rever- 
 ence in his heart to the truthful and magnetic soul 
 that pours out its prayer for sympathy, and pleads for 
 the brotherhood of nations in language so touching and 
 sublime. How I wish to see and hear him. Perhaps 
 in Washington we may enjoy that opportunity. . . . 
 
 Early in January Mr. and Mrs. Rogers went to 
 Washington, where Mr. Rogers gave before the Smith-
 
 Mr. 47.] ESPY. 323 
 
 sonian Institution a course of four lectures on " Phases 
 of the Atmosphere." 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 5, 1852. 
 ... I have come to just the same conclusion as you 
 in regard to Espy's 1 labours. Some weeks ago I re- 
 ceived a letter from Mr. Stanton, of the House of 
 Representatives, desiring my opinion of his reports 
 as to their practical and theoretical value, and before 
 replying I had to look them over with some care. It 
 gave me real pleasure to be able to say to Mr. Stanton 
 that they contained a large amount of meteorological 
 data skilfully tabulated so as to present to the eye a 
 number of important partial generalizations ; that I 
 believed the dynamical theory proposed by Mr. Espy 
 brought to light a cause of atmospheric disturbances 
 never proposed before, and which probably had an 
 important agency in their production ; that his views 
 were thoroughly philosophical, and that whatever vari- 
 ety of opinion might exist as to his theory as com- 
 pared with others, Mr. Espy deserved great credit for 
 the researches which he had embodied in the Reports 
 and other works, which were a really precious contri- 
 bution to meteorology. I really think that Espy has 
 shown more power of philosophical analysis than 
 either Redfield or Reid. It is surely a higher aim, 
 that of demonstrating the great dynamic cause of 
 storms, etc., from preestablished physical principles, 
 than merely to determine the lesser inductions regard- 
 ing them, such as their rotary direction, etc. I think 
 with you that Espy's views must be taken along with 
 the rotary doctrine, or perhaps it may be found to 
 explain the rotation. It is a very difficult subject, 
 but hereafter I am determined to speak out in behalf 
 of Espy's merits as a thinker and investigator. I hope 
 they may continue him in his present place. The 
 question was to be brought up, and on this account 
 Mr. Stanton wrote me. . . . 
 
 1 James P. Espy, author of Philosophy of Storms, etc.
 
 324 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1852. 
 
 EGBERT TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 14, 1852. 
 . . . We have seen a notice of a meeting of some 
 scientific men at Albany, connected with the organiza- 
 tion of a university there, but have learned none of 
 the details. Agassiz, Peirce, Gould, Hall, Porter and 
 others were there, and were spoken of as intending to 
 take part in its organization. . . . 
 
 Indications now appear in the correspondence of 
 the brothers that James was in failing health. On 
 April 1, 1852, William wrote to Henry concerning 
 him, but expressed no special anxiety, although he 
 recommended that James be urged to take an ocean 
 voyage. A month later a change for the worse had 
 occurred, and the brothers William, Henry and Rob- 
 ert began to feel the gravest apprehensions. 
 
 It was soon discovered that Professor James Rogers 
 was suffering from Bright's disease ; and he died on 
 June 12, 1852, in the fifty-first year of his age. 
 
 WILMAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, June 20, 1852. 
 . . . The day after receiving the sad news from you 
 and Robert, I wrote, as well as I could, to Rachel, 
 and intended writing to you, but I had not the power 
 to do it. My mind for weeks past had accustomed 
 itself to the contemplation of the sad result which 
 has occurred, and the news of our dear James's depar- 
 ture, terrible as it was, was less overwhelming to me 
 than I could have supposed it would be. But I feel 
 that my heart can never forget this sorrow. In active 
 occupation with books, and with preparations for the 
 closing session, I endeavour to withdraw my thoughts 
 from the sad theme. . . . But do not think, my dear 
 Henry, that I give way to sorrow, or that I do not

 
 JET. 47.] JAMES ELY THE ROGERS. 325 
 
 feel in all their force the views of affectionate duty 
 suggested in yours and Robert's letters. . . . 
 
 Those who have followed the history of the four 
 brothers thus far will perhaps have been sufficiently 
 apprised of the career of the eldest, James, who was 
 now deceased; but the following brief summary of 
 the facts already recorded may be given here. 
 
 James Blythe Rogers, the eldest of the four bro- 
 thers, was born in Philadelphia, on February 11, 1802. 
 He was educated in Baltimore, Md., and at William 
 and Mary College in Virginia. He studied medicine, 
 and received the degree of M. D. in Baltimore in 1822. 
 After practising medicine for a time in Harford 
 County, Maryland, he was chemist to a firm of man- 
 ufacturing chemists in Baltimore, and subsequently 
 lecturer on chemistry in Washington Medical college, 
 Baltimore. He was later professor of chemistry for 
 four years in the Cincinnati College, and also served 
 as an assistant to his brother William, then State 
 Geologist of Virginia, upon the geological survey of 
 that State. In 1840 he became a permanent resident 
 of Philadelphia, serving as Professor of Chemistry, 
 successively, in the Philadelphia Medical Institute, 
 the Franklin Institute, and the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania. The last-mentioned position he held at the 
 time of his death. He left a widow, two sons, and one 
 daughter. A " Memoir of the Life and Character of 
 James B. Rogers, M. D.," by Joseph Carson, M. D., 
 was published in Philadelphia in 1852. A good 
 account of his life and works is also to be found in a 
 pamphlet entitled, " The Brothers Rogers," by W. S. 
 W. Ruschenberger, M. D., Philadelphia, 1885. 
 
 The vacancy caused in the faculty of the University 
 of Pennsylvania by the death of Professor James
 
 326 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1852. 
 
 Rogers was filled in August by the appointment of 
 his brother, Robert, 1 who resigned his position in the 
 University of Virginia to accept the vacant chair in 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 To the professorship resigned by Robert was ap- 
 pointed Professor J. Lawrence Smith, a chemist of 
 distinction, who brought to the University, as assist- 
 ants in his private researches, Mr. George J. Brush, 
 now Director of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale 
 University, and Mr. Ogden W. Rood, now Professor 
 of Physics in Columbia College, New York. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, October 24, 1852. 
 . . . Dr. Smith has not yet got fully under way 
 with his duties. His assistant arrived some days ago. 
 He and the Dr. and his wife are still staying with us, 
 but will probably, to-morrow, remove to their own 
 quarters. Young Brush is a zealous mineralogist of 
 the Yale school, and seems to be familiar with all 
 parts of chemical analysis. He talks a great deal and 
 very admiringly of young Silliman and Dana, and I 
 find that he supposes New Haven to be the great 
 centre of American science. Dr. Smith is evidently 
 much attached to the same persons and locality. . . . 
 I think he is an independent man, and I see that he 
 is ambitious to advance himself by actual research. 
 He will, I am sure, be open, fair, and direct in all his 
 scientific dealings. . . . He has yet to learn that with 
 large classes, in our system, he will be compelled, or 
 at least expected to devote just as much time to 
 teaching as Robert was accustomed to give, and that 
 he cannot have much leisure for his own researches. 
 I am doing what I can to direct him rightly in his 
 plans. . . . 
 
 1 Robert E. Rogers was already a member of the Academy of Sci- 
 ences, and the Franklin Institute, of Pennsylvania.
 
 -ffir.47.] THE CHOLERA. 327 
 
 It grieves me to hear of the failure of that good 
 cheerful, faithful friend, our gray horse. How strangely 
 thoughtless are many persons of this most precious of 
 servants ! . . . 
 
 I am truly concerned on account of Horner's pre- 
 carious health. He is a conscientious, good man, sim- 
 ple-hearted and faithful to his duties. It will be 
 much easier to find a more brilliant lecturer than it 
 will be to find as honest and true a man. 
 
 Our classes here have now mounted to about 390, 
 so that we are quite certain of passing the 400. . . . 
 
 The year 1852 was marked by a recurrence of the 
 cholera. 
 
 FROM PROFESSOR S. F. BAIRD TO MRS. ROGERS AT SUNNY 
 HILL. 
 
 CARLISLE, July 23, 1852. 
 
 MY DEAR MRS. ROGERS, I write to you for the 
 sake of greater certainty in sending my letter to 
 the Professor. . . . My object is to know from him his 
 views as to the propriety of postponing the Cleveland 
 meeting of the Association in case the cholera should 
 increase to any extent. There have already been 
 several deaths there, and no decided abatement as 
 yet. I have written to the committee at Cleveland, 
 for its opinion, but in the mean time would like the 
 Professor's views. 
 
 Even if the real danger of cholera be slight, yet the 
 apprehension may keep away some of the best mem- 
 bers. A political meeting to be held at Columbus on 
 the 22d of August has been postponed on this ac- 
 count. . . . 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, November 28, 1852. 
 . . . You will see in Saboni's address a reference 
 to quite an important discovery of Stokes, 1 the mathe- 
 1 Sir George G. Stokes.
 
 328 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1852. 
 
 matician of Cambridge. He finds that the invisible 
 rays beyond the violet are converted into blue light 
 by transmission through a compound solution of sul- 
 phate of quinine. Have you not noticed the peculiar 
 blue colour of the upper film of this solution viewed 
 in certain directions ? I have been to-day examining 
 the alcoholic solution of chlorophyll formed by adding 
 this liquid to the bruised leaves of our common run- 
 ning box. When you look obliquely down upon it in 
 certain lights, the liquid, although of a clear and in- 
 tense green, appears reddish brown and opaque, and 
 in almost every light the upper film appears of this 
 colour. This is another case of the alteration of the 
 refrangibility of the rays by the medium, according 
 to Stokes. I find the red and the yellow colouring 
 matter of the autumnal leaves to be so far quite un- 
 altered. The delicacy of the former as a test for 
 alkalies is, I think, very remarkable, and the reaction 
 is beautiful. I will send you some to try. . . . 
 
 FKOM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 BOSTON, December 16, 1852. 
 
 . . . Have you read in the " Journal of the Geolo- 
 gical Society " the controversy between Sedgwick and 
 Murchison, touching Silurian and Cambrian ? I think 
 our friend Sedgwick has all the philosophy and the 
 justice on his side, yet, through our fault of procrasti- 
 nation in publishing, he has allowed Murchison to 
 encroach on his whole ground, and to secure a sort of 
 title by mere priority of occupancy of what is not his. 
 As we must commit ourselves to one side or the other, 
 if we use the European equivalent nomenclature at 
 all, we ought now to study the whole matter and make 
 up our decision. I wish much to learn your views. 
 Sedgwick's beautiful classification and nomenclature 
 of the British rocks is infinitely better in harmony 
 with our American Palaeozoic Geology than Mur- 
 chison's. He calls all the Palaeozoic one system, and
 
 Mi. 48.] GEOLOGY. 329 
 
 terminates the Cambrian with the Caradoc, just where 
 we would draw our strongest equivalent line, being at 
 the top of our Matinal shales. 
 
 Sedgwick's Cambrian series takes in then our 
 Primal, Auroral and Matinal series ; the Silurian, 
 etc., he insists on restricting it, our Levant, Sur- 
 gent, Scalent and Pre-meridian ; the Devonian, our 
 Meridian, Post-meridian, Cadent, Vergent and Po- 
 nent. 1 Certainly on this side the Atlantic the forma- 
 tions approximately equivalent to the Cambrian and 
 Silurian are as much separated by their fossils as are 
 the Silurian from the Devonian, either in Europe or 
 here. But all this geographical nomenclature will 
 pass away in time. The ablest geologists are feeling 
 doubts of the identification of strata, across wide 
 spaces, by fossils. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, December 25, 1852. 
 
 I cannot let the mail set off on its journey north- 
 ward without committing to it a word of Christmas 
 greeting. My heart longs more than I can express for 
 the coming time when we may all spend together, as 
 in our childhood, these festival days, and when we 
 shall always be so near as not to feel the sense of sep- 
 aration. How much of true happiness is yet in store 
 for us, my dear brother, when we shall thus be re- 
 united. The sad thought of dear James's absence from 
 among us is the only shadow in this happy prospec- 
 tive. . . . 
 
 From what I hear, I suppose that Columbia College 
 may, erelong, be extended upon the plane of a great 
 university. Merely collegiate establishments do not 
 prosper in any of our large cities. 
 
 The reference here made to Columbia College was 
 due to the fact that Professor Rogers had lately 
 received from Dr. King, then President of Columbia, 
 
 1 For a note on this nomenclature, see Appendix to vol. ii.
 
 330 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1853. 
 
 a circular letter relating to a proposed extension of 
 that college upon university lines. 
 
 WILLIAM TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, January 7, 1853. 
 . . . When you have time read a paper in the De- 
 cember number of " Philosophical Magazine Supple- 
 ment," by Helmholtz, on the " Theory of Compound 
 Colors." It is the continuation of a critical review 
 of Brewster's analysis of the spectrum. Helmholtz 
 proves beyond question that the reduction of the col- 
 ours to the three, blue, yellow, and red, cannot be 
 maintained. In a word, he points out the fallacies 
 in Brewster's observations. But strangest of all, he 
 shows that blue and yellow, when pure and of proper 
 intensity, form not green but white. 
 
 I send you the means of making this experiment at 
 once. Take a small slip of thin clear glass like a 
 microscope slide. Hold it erect 
 upon the flat surface of black 
 paper or the cover of a book, 
 place the blue paper behind it 
 at B, and the yellow in front at 
 Y, then look obliquely through 
 the glass, and by a little trial of 
 position, you will see the yellow 
 superposed on the blue to form 
 a pale white spot. Looking more steeply, and thereby 
 getting a fainter blue and more intense yellow, the 
 spot appears palish yellow. But in no case do the 
 two tints, when superposed, produce any shade of 
 green. This, I think, a capital new fact. The green 
 formed by the mixture of the yellow and blue pig- 
 ments is due to light transmitted from some little 
 depth. 
 
 Have you tried Stokes's experiment with the solu- 
 tion of sulphate quinine? remember to add a few 
 drops of SO 3 , and make the solution very dilute.
 
 2ET. 48.] ERICSSON. 331 
 
 Until I found the effect of the SO 3 , I could not get 
 any striking phenomenon. . . . 
 
 UNIVEKSITY OF VIRGINIA, January 18, 1853. 
 ... I regret very much that last summer I was 
 not able to pause in New York to see one of the work- 
 ing engines of Ericsson's new construction. How ab- 
 surd the little caloric engine ! But is not his a superb 
 triumph ? and yet how simple and entirely known the 
 principle. I am waiting impatiently to have the de- 
 tails of the engine, for in this consists, I think, all the 
 intellectual merit of the triumph. 
 
 KICHMOND, February 16, 1853. 
 
 . . . My lectures have been marvellously successful. 
 I have had all the best intelligence and refinement of 
 Richmond to hear me, and such has been the interest 
 taken in the lectures that after the first, which was a 
 full hour, the throng has been so great that half an 
 hour before the appointed time of beginning, the room 
 has been completely packed with people, and it has 
 been necessary to stop the sale of tickets and close the 
 doors. I have never seen so interested an audience, 
 and I have been really touched to see how universally 
 my old friends and acquaintances here have turned 
 out to bid me welcome. Even old Mrs. Wickham, 
 Mrs. Bruce, old Judge Robertson, and such have come 
 forward to greet me. . . . Until now the lectures at 
 the Athenaeum here have failed to pay expenses, and 
 this year they had barely paid for the gas and the 
 servant. . . . 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, March 5, 1853. 
 
 ... I find that I am in bad luck in regard to my 
 matters of original thought, for in a recent number of 
 " Poggendorff," just received, I see a long article on ir- 
 radiation, coming very close to my results and expla- 
 nations, although these, you know, have been familiar 
 to me for the last ten years at least. So much for 
 tardiness and timidity in putting into print. I have
 
 332 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. [1853. 
 
 been teaching these matters in my lectures here for 
 at least ten years. I want you to make a sketch in 
 pencil of the appearance of a star or distant lamp, 
 1st for each eye separately, and 2d as seen when 
 both are open. There is a remarkable difference in 
 the appearance as perceived by different persons, and 
 even by the right and left eyes of the same individual. 
 I wish to collect a considerable number of specimens. 
 I think this spoke-like irradiation is produced by 
 the influence of certain rays from the edge of the iris, 
 which is thicker and wider than the pupil, and there- 
 fore makes the rays stretch farther over the retina. 
 In this and some other points I am not anticipated by 
 the German.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FIKST YEARS IN BOSTON. 
 
 1853-1859. 
 
 Removal to Boston. Final Effort and Failure to secure Publication 
 of Geological Report. An Address at Williams College. Henry's 
 Marriage. William's Investigations on Binocular Vision, Sono- 
 rous Flames, Ozone, etc. Ill-health. Lectures in the Lowell In- 
 stitute. Removal of Henry and his Family to Scotland. William 
 again visits Europe. Dublin Meeting of the British Association. 
 
 A Serious Accident. Kind Friends in Norwich. Politics. 
 
 Henry appointed Regius Professor of Natural History and Geol- 
 ogy in the University of Glasgow. Elected a Fellow of the Royal 
 Society. Illness of Theodore Parker. 
 
 FOR several years Mr. Rogers had greatly desired to 
 be relieved of the duties of teaching in order to gain 
 more time for original work. He had also ever since 
 boyhood cherished the hope of working some day side 
 by side with his brother Henry. Working on year 
 after year in a university which was somewhat remote 
 and apart, he had come to yearn for the stimulus of 
 town-life and a more scientific atmosphere. He was 
 now nearing his fiftieth year. His brother Robert 
 had left him to fill an important professorship in 
 Philadelphia ; family affairs in Boston made his resi- 
 dence there desirable ; but above all the earnest wish 
 to complete and publish his final Report on the Geo- 
 logical Survey of Virginia, already too often postponed 
 and too long delayed, finally induced him to resign in 
 the spring of 1853 the professorship which he had
 
 334 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1853. 
 
 now held for eighteen years, and to join his brother 
 Henry in Boston. This important step was not taken 
 without many forebodings. From the income of his 
 professorship, which had been lucrative, he had by 
 economy accumulated enough to yield a moderate 
 income ; but for the rest he proposed to depend chiefly 
 upon the somewhat precarious proceeds of lectures 
 and expert work. The future, therefore, was by no 
 means unclouded, and he was fully alive to the dan- 
 ger of renouncing an assured professorship for pros- 
 pects so uncertain. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers left the 
 University of Virginia with regret, and with the 
 utmost respect and affection for that noble institution. 
 As long as he lived Mr. Rogers cherished, as one of 
 his most enduring and precious memories, the recollec- 
 tion of the years which he had spent there ; and when 
 in the next decade it devolved upon him to found and 
 organize the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 
 Boston, the model which he always had in mind was 
 the University of Virginia. 
 
 In a letter dated June 29, 1853, Mr. Rogers writes 
 to his brother Henry : " My successor is young Mr. 
 Smith, the mathematical tutor, and a favorite pupil of 
 mine." 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 BOSTON, November 30, 1853. 
 
 . . . Our course of lectures was opened night be- 
 fore last by an address from Mr. Winthrop. The 
 first of Professor Chase's lectures on Applied Chem- 
 istry will be given next Tuesday. After his series 
 has been completed, there may be others before I 
 come on, that is, if I am to precede Henry. . . . 
 
 On Tuesday evening, besides hearing a part of 
 Winthrop's lecture, I dropped in to a meeting of the
 
 ^r.49.] A VISIT TO RICHMOND. 335 
 
 Academy, where for an hour I listened to Peirce. Yes- 
 terday evening Mr. Savage entertained " the Club " l 
 at No. I, 2 when he took occasion to introduce me spe- 
 cially to all the old gentlemen present, among them 
 Mr. J. A. Lowell, Josiah Quincy, etc. I had a very 
 pleasant time, and from Mr. Lowell's amiable bearing 
 towards me, I begin to have some hopes of a course 
 in a year or two. 
 
 Early in January, 1854, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers went 
 to Richmond for the purpose of making one more 
 attempt to secure from the legislature the means of 
 publishing the final Report of the Geological Survey 
 of Virginia. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 KICHMOND, February 11, 1854. 
 
 I know not why I have so long delayed writing to 
 you, unless it has been my daily expectation of hearing 
 something of importance to tell you in regard to the 
 Survey. Yet such has been the tardiness of the legis- 
 lature and the crowding of small bills on the Senate, 
 that the matter remains as at the beginning of the 
 week. The bill asks for $24,000, leaving the special 
 apportionment for revision and publication in my 
 hands. The control of the fiscal part of the Survey is 
 placed jointly in the hands of the secretary of the Com- 
 monwealth (Wythe Mumford) and me, and the selec- 
 tion of assistants is given to me alone. My salary is 
 marked at $1,200, the others to be fixed by me and the 
 secretary. No time is appointed for the completion of 
 the work. Had I known more of the temper of the 
 Senate before drawing up the bill, I should have asked 
 for $30,000, and put my own compensation at least at 
 $1,500. But any amendment will now add greatly to 
 the uncertainty of getting the bill through, and I think 
 I shall not urge it, unless I find the temper of the two 
 houses more friendly than it is likely to be. In the 
 
 1 The Wednesday Evening Club. 
 
 2 Temple Place.
 
 336 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1854. 
 
 Senate the measure will, I think, meet no serious 
 opposition, but in the Lower House it may give rise 
 to a contest. Probably I may be called on to give 
 one or two lectures to the legislature to explain the 
 subject. 
 
 My numerous friends in Richmond seem all to be 
 much interested in having the measure passed, and 
 they do what they can to help it through. If it can 
 be sent down from the Senate early in the week, I 
 think it is likely to be carried through the Lower 
 House successfully. 
 
 I am utterly tired of waiting upon the movements 
 of the legislature. The lobby working, of which I 
 see a good deal and hear more, is as repugnant to my 
 taste as to my sense of right, and I avoid even the 
 colour of it. ... 
 
 We have been staying since Tuesday at my friend 
 Myers's, 1 at the head of Government Street, near the 
 Powhatan House, where we have every comfort and 
 even luxury. . . . 
 
 RICHMOND, February 19, 1854. 
 
 My presence here for ten days past has been indis- 
 pensable, for such has been the pressure of local bills, 
 even in the Senate, that without my daily reminding 
 my friends of the geological bill, it would not have 
 been brought up out of place as it has been this morning. 
 I went over to the Capitol about noon, and as I en- 
 tered the senate lobby, heard my friend Ambler mak- 
 ing a very earnest speech in behalf of the bill. He was 
 followed by a Williamsburg man, who had, I fear, 
 been prompted to opposition by Saunders, and who, 
 speaking ignorantly, made an appeal which I feared 
 would defeat the measure ; but the vote was trium- 
 phant, being 35 to 7, the number 26 being necessary 
 to pass the bill. It was at once taken over to the 
 other House, where, having precedence, it will prob- 
 ably be called up in a few days. I now hope to have 
 
 1 Gustavus Myers, Esq.
 
 ^T. 49.] FAILURE OF THE BILL. 337 
 
 the matter finally disposed of by the close of this 
 week. But in the Lower House the fate of any meas- 
 ure is not to be calculated. . . . My chief fear is that 
 some amendment, prescribing the time or otherwise 
 crippling the work, will be attempted. This I am re- 
 solved to resist, even to the entire defeat of the bill. 
 I will let you know in a day or two what is likely to 
 be done, or has been done, in the premises. . . . 
 
 I am glad you have Lesquereux 1 with you in Bos- 
 ton. How I wish I could see his drawings and gath- 
 ering of fossils ! 
 
 On Friday I had a very pleasant excursion with my 
 friend Giles among the quarries on the other side of 
 the river, extending some five miles up. They have 
 been opened somewhat extensively by the Danville 
 R. R., and display very finely the great system of 
 joints in the granitic rock of the belt. Have also 
 been prowling about in the ravines, a mile or two 
 below the city, where I have found grand exposures 
 of the Inf usory. . . . 
 
 In spite of all the efforts of Mr. Rogers and his 
 numerous friends in the legislature and in Richmond, 
 the bill failed to pass the House, and on March 8, 
 with Mrs. Rogers, he left for Boston. Three months 
 had been spent in Richmond in a futile endeavor to 
 secure provision for the Report, which Mr. Rogers 
 so ardently desired to finish. The blow was a heavy 
 one, but he bore it philosophically and, pausing in 
 Washington on his way northward, wrote the follow- 
 ing letter to the librarian of the state library in 
 Richmond, Va. : 
 
 WASHINGTON, March 9, 1854. 
 
 . . . The hurry of preparation yesterday left me no 
 time for making out the list of books which I promised 
 to send you. I subjoin a list of such as now occur 
 1 Leo Lesquereux, Paleontologist and Botanist, 1806-1889.
 
 338 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1854. 
 
 to me, all of them of standard value in their way. It 
 will give me pleasure at any time when in Richmond 
 or the Northern cities to aid you in the enlargement 
 of the state library. 
 
 Whewell's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences ; 
 Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences; Prin- 
 ciples of Mechanism, by Professor Willis ; Grant's 
 History of Physical Astronomy; Keith Johnston's 
 Physical Atlas (edition now in press much improved) ; 
 Beckman's History of Inventions (new edition, by 
 Francis & Griffith) ; Knapp's Technology, English 
 edition ; Reid on Ventilation ; Gwilt's Encyclopedia 
 of Architecture ; Pouillet's Elements de Physique, etc. 
 (last edition) ; Cours Elementaire de Paleontologie 
 et Geologic, par A. d'Orbigny ; Geologic Applique 
 aux Arts et 1' Agriculture, D'Orbigny et Gente ; 
 Mantell's Medals of Creation ; Mantell's Wonders 
 of Geology ; Mantell's Petrifactions and their Teach- 
 ings ; De la Beche's Geological Observer ; D'Archiac's 
 Histoire de Geologie; Dana's Mineralogy, 8vo, last 
 edition ; Gray and Torrey's Genera of North American 
 Plants (in process) ; Gray's Botanical Text-Book ; 
 Iconographic Encyclopaedia. [The copy of the letter 
 ends abruptly here.] 
 
 This list, doubtless written from memory, is of con- 
 siderable value as an indication of the quality of 
 Mr. Rogers's reading and its broad and philosophical 
 tendency. 
 
 In March, 1854, Professor Henry D. Rogers was 
 married in Boston to Miss Eli/a S. Lincoln, a half-sister 
 of his brother William's wife. He continued to re- 
 side in Boston until his removal to Scotland. 
 
 Mr. Rogers's interest in the American Association 
 for the Advancement of Science continued unabated.
 
 JET. 49.] WILLIAM MWLVAINE. 
 
 W. B. ROGERS TO DALLAS BACHE. 
 
 BOSTON, April 2, 1854. 
 
 ... I think that, excepting 1 one or two points, the 
 constitution of our Association is well adapted to its ob- 
 jects, and that what is needed is not so much a change 
 in its provisions as a better knowledge among the 
 members of what these provisions are, and a more 
 careful adherence to them. I believe, however, that 
 in some respects our organic laws may be improved, 
 and I would here point out certain amendments which 
 might be usefully introduced. . . . 
 
 [The First and Second amendments refer to the 
 election of officers, of members, etc.] 
 
 Third. Although there are, doubtless, cases in 
 which the advice or warning of the Association might 
 exert a salutary effect on public or even private enter- 
 prises connected with science, yet as there must always 
 be some danger of giving a mistaken direction to this 
 influence, it would seem to be safest and wisest to ab- 
 stain entirely from the consideration of topics not 
 originating in or strictly belonging to the business of 
 the Society. I would, therefore, propose that the 
 Association adopt a rule, as part of its organic laws, 
 precluding all action in the way of recommendation 
 or otherwise, either of instruments, books, institutions, 
 researches, or other scientific, public or private en- 
 terprises. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HEISTRY. 
 
 SUNNY HILL, August 18, 1854. 
 
 . . . But what sad news to us is that of the death 
 of our dear good friend Mcllvaine ! No one out of 
 our immediate family circle could be more regretted, 
 for no one else has been more truly beloved. My 
 heart aches to think that he will no more greet us with 
 that cordial pressure and that gentle kindness and 
 true-hearted sympathy which had so endeared him to
 
 340 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1854. 
 
 us all. I little dreamed a few weeks ago, when E. 
 and I enjoyed the treat of our short visit to them at 
 " Greenbank," that I should see him no more. . . . 
 
 FROM ROBERT TO HIS BROTHERS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, Friday, September 29, 1854. 
 
 In thinking over the beautiful experiments and 
 the explanations William gave me of the strange 
 movements originating out of Foucault's experiments, 
 I was led the other day to try one which I would like 
 William to repeat. 
 
 It appears to me to embrace the phenomena in a 
 single form, and exhibit the forces quite clearly to the 
 eye. 
 
 Simply hang a pretty large ball to a cord five or 
 six feet long, twist it tightly, and in this state start 
 it into a wide vibration. So soon as the ball ac- 
 quires a little speed in the untwisting of the cord it 
 will deviate from its original line of vibration, and 
 will even go beyond a quarter of a circle in this 
 deviation, almost a half circle, and then when 
 the cord returns again in its twist, the ball rotates 
 oppositely, and the deviation in the vibration becomes 
 apparent in the opposite direction. What is pretty, 
 too, is, just when the ball reaches the highest point of 
 its vibration on each side, that the point at which it is 
 suspended is twitched to one side, exhibiting the force 
 which produces the deviation. . . . 
 
 In April, 1855, Mr. Eogers received and accepted 
 an invitation from James Orton, President of the 
 Lyceum of Natural History of Williams College, to 
 address that body in aid of its building fund. A con- 
 temporary circular (issued December 1, 1854) bears 
 the name of S. W. Bowles as secretary. The address 
 was given on August 14, 1855, as will later appear. 
 
 During the summer Professor Henry Rogers, leav- 
 ing his family in Massachusetts, visited Europe in
 
 JET. 50.] HENRY VISITS EDINBURGH. 341 
 
 order to prepare for the publication by the Blackwoods 
 of Edinburgh of his " Final Report on the Pennsyl- 
 vania Geological Survey." 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY IN EDINBURGH. 
 
 SUNNY HILL, August 12, 1855. 
 
 MY DEAR HENRY, . . . E. and I leave early 
 to-niorrow morning for Worcester, and then go to 
 Pittsfield and North Adams and to Williamstown, 
 which, if possible, I must reach before Tuesday morn- 
 ing, as on that morning at nine o'clock I give my 
 address. I am glad now that I took the trouble to 
 write it, so I am quite free from that kind of anxiety 
 which precedes extempore efforts. On Wednesday I 
 must try to get over to Providence, but shall not reach 
 there in time for the organization l at 10 A. M., which 
 I rather regret. . . . 
 
 The President, after removing Reeder, 2 seems deter- 
 mined upon giving Kansas in charge to some one who 
 is pledged in favour of the Kansas and Nebraska bill. 
 It is, I think, quite doubtful as yet which party is to 
 have the ascendant in the Territory. The pro-slavery 
 men are violent and unscrupulous, and the others 
 appear to be timid. I fear that the contest will be 
 marked by bloodshed. . . . 
 
 Dr. Warren has just published his " History of the 
 Elm on the Common," and sent us each a copy of the 
 book. 
 
 . . . The publication which I think is most de- 
 manded, and especially of us, is a manual or text- 
 book of American Geology. This would be salable 
 for college uses and that extensively, at the same time 
 that it would be very acceptable to men of science 
 here and abroad. It is, I think, the only mode in 
 which our nomenclature and dynamics and other 
 
 1 Of the meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
 ence. 
 
 2 Governor of Kansas.
 
 342 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1855. 
 
 views, either common to us or severally entertained, 
 can be most satisfactorily and generally impressed. . . . 
 
 My address at Williams College is, I suppose, pass- 
 ing through the press. When published I will for- 
 ward you a few copies, though it is not likely to have 
 any interest for friends abroad. I take occasion in it 
 to protest against the mystical notions now in vogue 
 with some of the naturalists as to vital forces, ascrib- 
 ing the development of each organism to a kind of 
 plastic idea, about as rational as the Archaeus which 
 Van Helmont made to preside as an intelligent spirit 
 over each function. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Ticknor have been with us for two 
 days, and appeared to enjoy the visit very much. 
 They made kind inquiries for you. The growth of 
 the new Boston public library is far more rapid than 
 I anticipated. It already numbers 25,000 volumes, 
 and in the course of another year will contain a very 
 complete collection of works on Physics, Chemistry, 
 etc., a matter of no small interest to us. 
 
 You will perhaps see by the papers that a great party 
 is now organizing under the name of Republican, the 
 uniting principle being opposition to the extension of 
 slavery, either by state or federal government. This 
 is likely to unite a large body of the Whigs, Free- 
 soilers and liberal Democrats, and will probably carry 
 the state election. Richard Dana is one of the lead- 
 ers. . . . 
 
 I have been lately applied to to visit the North 
 Carolina coal region by the friend of Mr. Frothing- 
 ham, who talked of this matter last spring. If the 
 parties will agree to my terms and time, I shall prob- 
 ably go to the South soon after returning to Bos- 
 ton. . . . 
 
 Little Edith 1 continues to improve. She knows 
 my whistle, even in a distant part of the house, and 
 has become quite familiar with my watch and eye- 
 glass and my old straw hat. 
 
 1 His brother Henry's child.
 
 MT. 50.] ADDRESS A T WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 343 
 
 I have been delighted with the first volume of 
 Brewster's Life of Newton, which I have just finished. 
 It contains much wise criticism and many passages of 
 warming eloquence. 
 
 The Williamstown address was delivered on the 
 twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the Lyceum 
 of Natural History of Williams College and on the 
 day of the dedication of Jackson Hall, a new museum 
 of natural history. 
 
 This address contains many characteristic passages, 
 and as it is the only one which Mr. Rogers ever wrote 
 out in full or for publication, no apology is needed for 
 making the following lengthy extracts : 
 
 " In the midst of scenery whose picturesque beauties 
 are but the varied repetition of the landscape which in 
 another region for so many years spread its quicken- 
 ing charms around me, I have the privilege of renew- 
 ing, though but for an hour, that living intercourse 
 of speech which in the lecture-room every enthusiastic 
 teacher so much enjoys, and which for a large part of 
 my life has been an almost daily recurring pleasure. 
 
 " The college bell that for nearly twenty years sum- 
 moned me at this hour to my pleasant morning task 
 seems even now with its inspiring music to fill the air 
 around me. Let me then feel as if I were but obey- 
 ing its customary call, and look upon you, young 
 gentlemen of the Lyceum, as familiar lecture-room 
 friends, that my heart unrepressed may take its share 
 in whatever I may say to quicken your love of natural 
 science, or to raise your thoughts to the contemplation 
 of the grandeur and harmony of the universe. . . . 
 
 "As the relationship and interdependence among 
 the different departments of natural science, although 
 recognized in principle, is often practically overlooked 
 or disregarded, I have thought that I might not un- 
 profitably employ the present occasion in illustrating
 
 344 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1855. 
 
 its importance, and in urging upon the young votaries 
 of science whom I address the enlarged and catholic 
 spirit of study and research which, in the present ad- 
 vanced state of science, is as necessary to eminent 
 success in any one department as it is essential to 
 form the character of the philosophical naturalist. . . . 
 
 " Honour to the memory of the illustrious Swede, 1 
 whose vast and accurate knowledge in each of the 
 great realms of Nature afforded the materials for a 
 systematic structure of the whole of natural science, 
 whose comprehensive genius planned, and whose 
 unfaltering zeal built up and completed its sublime 
 proportions. And honour, too, to the courageous, 
 indefatigable men who, catching from his lips or his 
 writings the inspiration of the true naturalist, left the 
 calm retreats of study and the enjoyments of society, 
 to brave the toils and perils of distant and inhospita- 
 ble lands, in quest of new products of nature, or fresh 
 materials for investigation. What isle so remote, 
 what mountain so rugged or lofty, as not to have been 
 the scene of their explorations ? What sea so wide or 
 continent so vast as to have been left untraversed by 
 these enthusiastic adventurers in behalf of science and 
 humanity ? 
 
 "To the American naturalist there is a romantic 
 charm connected with the honoured names of such men 
 as Kalin and Catesby. How pleasantly do they sug- 
 gest the wooded mountains, the wide savannahs, the 
 far-descending rivers, and the lakes gleaming in sylvan 
 solitudes, where these earnest lovers of nature' gath- 
 ered the treasures of a new flora, or listened in happy 
 surprise to the musical rhapsody of some bird unknown 
 to them before. Who that has wandered in early 
 summer along the slopes of the Blue Ridge or the 
 Alleghany, or the moist hillsides of New England, 
 where the openings in the forest and the rocky glens, 
 musical with tinkling streams, are suffused with the 
 delicate blush of our mountain laurel ; who that has 
 entered sanctuaries like these has not in his heart 
 
 1 Linnaeus.
 
 ^T. 50.] ADDRESS A T WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 345 
 
 pronounced with loving reverence the name of Kalm, 
 to whom this beautiful plant was so well dedicated ? 
 What naturalist, on a summer evening, while the 
 moon shines doubtfully athwart the almost unmoving 
 boughs, can listen to the wood-notes wild of the mock- 
 ing-bird without recurring to the memory of that 
 early lover of American birds, the gentle, enthusiastic 
 Catesby? . . . 
 
 " In the state of development which they have now 
 reached, each of the great departments of natural his- 
 tory is brought into close connection with the purely 
 physical sciences ; each has borrowed from them valu- 
 able methods and instruments of research, and each 
 invokes the aid of physical laws and forces as part of 
 the machinery by which the phases and activities of 
 organic beings are to be explained. The moment we 
 pass from the purely statical view of living creatures, 
 and regard their structure, the functions of their sev- 
 eral organs, their growth and all the complex condi- 
 tions which mark them as living organisms, we are 
 compelled to wide inquiries respecting the physical 
 properties and transmutations of the matter of which 
 they are composed. 
 
 " To illustrate this necessary use of the facts and 
 principles of physics in the larger generalizations of 
 the naturalist, let me, in the first place, refer to the 
 long mooted question of the distinction between the 
 animal and vegetable kingdoms. 
 
 " Linna3us attempted to define the three great de- 
 partments of material nature by saying that ' stones 
 grow ; vegetables grow and live ; animals grow, live 
 and feel,' thus making the capacity to feel, the 
 distinctive mark between the vegetable and the animal 
 organization. But while, among the higher animal 
 tribes, this attribute is obvious and undoubted, it 
 cannot be affirmed of various others on any better 
 authority than would justify our ascribing it to the 
 leaves of the sensitive plant, which shrink from our 
 rude touch, or to the petals of the numerous tribes of 
 flowers that open to the genial sunshine, and fold 
 themselves together at the approach of night.
 
 346 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1855. 
 
 " Again, it has been maintained as a just distinction 
 between animals and plants, that the former have the 
 power of motion, while the latter are fixed. But the mi- 
 croscope and chemistry have combined to show that this 
 means of discrimination is unavailing. For they have 
 proved that the motile tissues in animals are composed 
 of the same substance which botanists have recognized 
 as existing in the cells of all plants, and that this sub- 
 stance is as actively motile in the plant as in the ani- 
 mal. 1 And they have further shown that in whatever 
 quarter of the growing plant the vital transformations 
 are most rapid, there we are sure to find this material 
 in the largest proportion. 
 
 "Among the thread-like, confer void forms which 
 teem in our fresh-water lakes, as well as in the ocean, 
 there is a large tribe which appears scarcely ever to 
 be quiescent. Their slender, jointed filaments may 
 be observed waving incessantly backwards and for- 
 wards, while their broken fragments, whose marvel- 
 lously rapid growth can be seen as we are gazing on 
 them through the microscope, keep up their mysteri- 
 ous alternating movements like the regular oscillations 
 of the beam of a balance. 
 
 *' Some of the plants allied to these, at particular 
 periods of their growth, liberate from their bursting 
 cells myriads of moving objects, each furnished with 
 its little living oars (cilia). These for a time float 
 and swim actively through the water, but presently, in 
 the process of their development, they become station- 
 ary, germinate, and expand into forms of vegetation 
 identical with that from which they have originated. 
 Others again, furnished with like instruments of loco- 
 motion, may be observed, singly or in clusters, revolv- 
 ing with quick movements through the fluid, and fill- 
 ing their brief plant-lives with restless, animal-like 
 activity. 
 
 1 It is interesting to note that this address was published thirteen 
 years before Professor Huxley's lecture On the Physical Basis of 
 Life.
 
 JEf.BO.'] ADDRESS AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE, 347 
 
 "But lately it was maintained that cellulose, the 
 chief constituent of woody fibre, a substance nearly 
 identical with starch, as well as starch itself, belonged 
 distinctively to the vegetable world, and hence a sim- 
 ple chemical test for these substances was regarded as 
 a certain means of making the required discrimination. 
 But the rapid progress of research has proved the in- 
 accuracy of this criterion and, strange to say, has 
 detected the hard material of vegetable cell and woody 
 fibre in the bodies of many mollusks ; and stranger 
 still, has discovered both it and starch forming part 
 of the structure of the human brain. 
 
 " Nor is there better reason for assuming the pres- 
 ence of the green colouring matter chlorophyl as dis- 
 tinctive of plants, for but lately the microscopic 
 chemist has proved that it is this very substance that 
 gives colour to the fresh-water polyp whose wonder- 
 ful power of reparation and growth early claimed for 
 it the name of Hydra ; and that the same pigment 
 imparts the green tint to many other undoubtedly 
 animal organisms. 
 
 " Thus all these means of discrimination fail. How, 
 then, shall we trace the boundary between the vege- 
 table and the animal world ? If such a line is to be 
 drawn at all, it will most probably be determined by 
 the opposite relations of the two to the atmosphere. 
 The beautiful antagonism of actions, by which the 
 chemical changes wrought in this medium by one 
 great division of living nature are reversed by the 
 other, would in this case become the test, and thus a 
 chemical examination of the air or aerated water in 
 which the doubtful being dwells would be our best 
 guide in deciding upon its animal or vegetable char- 
 acter. . . . 
 
 "But it may be said that this question remains yet 
 undecided, or it may not unphilosophically be main- 
 tained that the distinction sought for has no real 
 existence, and that there are living forms which are 
 both vegetable and animal in their nature. This may
 
 348 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1855. 
 
 be, and I think probably is true. But it must not 
 therefore be concluded that these united inquiries of 
 the naturalist and chemist have taught us no interest- 
 ing truths. Let him who questions the value of such 
 investigations consult the records of the discoveries in 
 Natural History for the last thirty years ; let him 
 follow the successive steps by which the intimate 
 structure of organized materials has been analyzed, 
 mark how with the improving power of the micro- 
 scope, nebulce of the organic world have one after 
 another been resolved, and as he views the teeming 
 realms of life, which have been made to disclose their 
 vital adaptations, he cannot fail to recognize in them 
 the stellar regions of the naturalist, not less wonder- 
 ful in the harmonious play of matter and of forces 
 than are the tracts of ether bright with countless 
 worlds. . . . 
 
 " The living being, to whatever race it may belong, 
 and however constant for a time may seem its struc- 
 ture and materials, is in reality but an aggregate of 
 ever-shifting particles, a form continually wasting 
 by the loss of parts on the one hand, and as inces- 
 santly replenished by the stream of nutrient matter 
 which is appropriated into its living structure on the 
 other. 
 
 " It has perhaps its most striking counterpart, 
 among the phenomena of inanimate nature, in that 
 fleecy cloud which meteorologists describe as appar- 
 ently resting on the summit of a mountain, while the 
 moist wind in which it had its origin, and of which it 
 is in truth a part, is driving furiously on, making 
 each watery particle visible as it passes the cold 
 mountain-top, and building thus an enduring form 
 from materials ever flitting and successive. 
 
 " What dream of hoary alchemist bending over his 
 crucible in long-deferred but still unwearied hope, 
 or seeking with rapt eyes to read the mystic messages 
 of the stars which are to guide to the golden transmu- 
 tation, what migrations of being imagined by oriental
 
 .Ex. 50.] ADDRESS AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 349 
 
 seers, is stranger or more sublime than these cyclical 
 transformations and phases revealed by science in the 
 familiar materials around us ? 
 
 " Look upon yonder landscape, clothed with living 
 verdure, the grass which, inwrought with variegated 
 flowers, overspreads lawns and valleys and rounded 
 hillsides ; the forest that, with interlacing boughs 
 and leaves, shelters the mountain slopes, or arrays its 
 vast battalions on the plain and by the river side, or 
 plants its stately sentinels in the rocky defiles, what 
 are these but fabrics lately wrought by Nature's vital 
 chemistry from the invisible and inconstant air ? 
 The very particles which now glow in the yellow and 
 purple blossoms of the meadow, or that paint the re- 
 freshing green that overspreads the whole, have been 
 gathered from the same great, ever-moving aerial sea, 
 perchance from the south wind that bore its genial 
 warmth and moisture from tropical climes, or from 
 the northwester that came fresh from the realms of 
 frost, breathing of snowy mountains and ice-impris- 
 oned seas. 
 
 " Look again upon the living theatre of the earth, 
 and, waving the wand of the systematic naturalist, 
 marshal the procession of the myriad things that 
 creep and swim and fly, or move with rapid bound or 
 stately step, filling the earth and sea and air with life 
 and music. See the harmonious play of forces which 
 weaves the structure of the most complicate and most 
 simple of their forms, drawing materials from the 
 same great aerial store, not for the most part directly, 
 as in the case of plants, but mediately through the 
 already elaborated products of vegetable activity. 
 Guided by the same chemical and physical laws, see 
 by what beautiful adjustments the one great depart- 
 ment of living Nature continually restores to the 
 atmosphere the ingredients which the other has with- 
 drawn ; thus preserving its composition unchanged, 
 and maintaining in happy equipoise the balance of 
 organic life.
 
 350 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1855. 
 
 " Let it not be said that these grand inductions are 
 the work of mechanical, chemical and philosophical 
 inquiries, and are foreign to the classifications and 
 theories of the naturalist. They are among those 
 large truths which, being the joint result of research 
 in all departments of physical science, are the common 
 property of all; as the wide prospect of plain, and 
 valley, and river, and ocean, beheld from some lofty 
 mountain-top, greets the traveller equally, from what- 
 ever realm he may have approached, and by whatever 
 path he may have commenced his ascent. Indeed, to 
 carry on this comparison, may it not be said, that 
 in ascending to such general views, all paths converge 
 into one, which, like the Alpine roadways of modern 
 engineering, winding from spur to spur, command 
 successively every quarter of the horizon of know- 
 ledge, until at length the whole circle of physical 
 relationships is brought into a single view. 
 
 " Nor can the naturalist rest satisfied with the mere 
 phenomena of these alternately vital and purely phy- 
 sical phases of the atmosphere. He studies the chem- 
 ical and mechanical conditions under which they take 
 place, and endeavours, by the rules of inductive science, 
 to learn something of the peculiar forces by which 
 they are controlled. . . . 
 
 " Looking thus at arrangements or organization as 
 determining the properties of bodies, who can fail 
 to admire the sublime simplicity of the mechanism 
 through which the Infinite Father fills all Nature with 
 variety and beauty ? . . . 
 
 " There is a peculiarity belonging to vital forces, as 
 manifested even in the lowest organizations, which 
 the naturalist marks with special interest, and which 
 must ever shape the laws or generalizations he may 
 form in regard to the agencies of life. It is that won- 
 derful cycle of development and decay which presents 
 itself in the simple isolated cell of the microscopic 
 fungus, as in the form of the marvellous microcosm, 
 man.
 
 Mr. 50.] ADDRESS AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 351 
 
 " That all living forms, in their first visible begin- 
 nings, are but a single cell of almost infinitesimal 
 size, modern observations have concurred to demon- 
 strate. Yet, when we follow their vital history, 
 behold by what diverging lines their development 
 proceeds, and at what various stages in different liv- 
 ing forms it terminates ! We have before us two 
 living cells. Let us watch their growth, and mark in 
 each case toward what form of organization it steadily 
 proceeds, to find at length the consummation of its 
 development. The one, by a simple process of divi- 
 sion, gives origin successively to innumerable separate 
 cells, repeating the original form, but attaining no 
 higher development ; and thus it covers the bare 
 rock with a film of living green, or spreads its thin, 
 crimson veil over the glittering Alpine snows. The 
 other, seemingly identical with this, begins its career 
 in the same way ; but the resulting cells adhere, the 
 development goes on according to a more complex 
 plan forming the tissues of the embryo plant, and in 
 due time, lo! from the germinating acorn we see 
 arise the stately leaf-crowned oak. 
 
 "In vain do we seek to explain this marvellous 
 progress and determinateness of growth, infinitely 
 various when we compare the different living tribes, 
 and yet immutable in regard to each, by referring them 
 to any known chemical and mechanical laws. Rather 
 should we regard them as the characteristic mani- 
 festations of other and quite different forces, with 
 which each elementary form of organization is appro- 
 priately endowed, vital forces, that operate by laws 
 far more various and complex than are displayed in 
 the changes of inorganic bodies. Yet it is important 
 to remember that these vital forces, as they construct 
 the living architecture of animal or plant, are ever 
 accompanied by chemical and mechanical effects ; and 
 that, indeed, a sound induction not only recognizes 
 them as belonging to the series of truly physical 
 agencies, but views them as the dynamic resultants
 
 352 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1855. 
 
 due to the combined action of particles organically 
 grouped. 
 
 " In avoiding what I deem the error of ascribing 
 the laws of living nature to the purely chemical and 
 mechanical activities of matter, let us take care that 
 we do not lose ourselves in that mysticism which im- 
 putes intelligence and prescience to embryonic cells 
 and organs, which with Aristotle looks upon the inter- 
 nal essence of plants as a ' plastic soul,' or with Van 
 Helmont enthrones in each organ an Archssus, a liv- 
 ing spirit, to superintend its growth and direct it in 
 the performance of its specific tasks, or which with 
 some eminent modern naturalists represents the vital 
 forces (to quote the words of the most distinguished of 
 them) as ' an idea which guides the whole process,' as 
 'an essence which precedes and shapes the external 
 existence, as intentions precede and determine acts.' l 
 
 " Humbly yet firmly in the name of inductive phi- 
 losophy would I protest against such theories, however 
 distinguished the authority which sustains them. If, 
 because there is manifested in the development of 
 each living form a specific end and a fixed plan of 
 progress, we are to assign to each a special plastic 
 idea or guiding spirit, have we not, in fact, restored 
 the beautiful but dreamy mythology which peopled all 
 nature with tutelary divinities, with naiads and dryads 
 and spirits of the air and sea, and of the moon and 
 sun and stars? For what realm of material being 
 fails to give us evidence of a fixed plan, and prog- 
 ress towards a determinate end ? 
 
 " How beautiful the cyclical succession of spring, 
 summer, autumn and winter on our earth, with their 
 varied yet regulated alternation of day and night ! 
 How perfectly fulfilled the plan of circulation which 
 carries the air in moving columns or in vast eddies 
 over and around the globe, lifts the invisible moisture 
 from the sea, pours it in genial rains upon the land, 
 
 1 Professor Braun's " Das Individuum der Pflanze," etc., translated 
 by C. F. Stone, Silliman's Journal, May, 1855.
 
 JET. 50.] ADDRESS AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 353 
 
 then conducts it in countless rills into the river chan- 
 nels, and to complete the round of its beneficent activ- 
 ity again restores it to the sea ! 
 
 " But shall we therefore claim for the earth a spe- 
 cial tutelary spirit, a self-directing intelligence that 
 .yEolus-like sends forth the winds on errands to the 
 four quarters of the globe, that spins it on its axis, 
 poises that axis in the precise angle at which it is in- 
 clined, and wheels the revolving sphere in its grand 
 annual path around the heavens ? Again, how perfect 
 the adjustment of forces and motions which carries 
 each planet of our system in its great elliptic road 
 around the sun, varying every instant in the speed 
 and direction of its progress, and yet with unerring 
 certainty fulfilling the plan of its orbital revolution ; 
 and how marvellously combined the mutual activities 
 of these spheres, developing by slowly progressive 
 change the cyclical phases of the system, and yet 
 securing this ' sublime pendulum of eternity ' within 
 safe limits in its oscillations. And must we, as we 
 view these marks of profound purpose, these develop- 
 ments of plan, ask for each revolving world a presid- 
 ing spirit, an idea in action ; or shall we not rather in 
 these and all the other phenomena of nature, living as 
 well as inorganic, recognize the infinite Deity oper- 
 ating through the medium of mechanical, chemical, 
 and vital forces, and with unerring wisdom adjusting 
 them in ceaseless and harmonious activity to his own 
 beneficent ends ? 
 
 " In what I have now presented I have proposed to 
 illustrate and to urge the importance of connecting 
 with the special study of any one or more departments 
 of natural history, a liberal knowledge of the various 
 collateral branches of physical science. But I would 
 not be understood as failing in earnest reverence for 
 the labours of even the humblest collector of the ob- 
 jects of natural history, much less for those of the 
 systematic naturalist, who devotes to them a closer 
 examination, and classifies them according to estab-
 
 354 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1855. 
 
 lished methods. To the former the world is indebted 
 in a large measure for the materials out of which the 
 science has been constructed, the museums and cab- 
 inets which are indispensable for wide comparisons 
 and effective research. . . . 
 
 " If, then, we cannot doubt the practical benefits to 
 science and the still nobler spiritual utilities of these 
 systematic collections of natural objects, these beauti- 
 ful epitomes of the vast volume of mineral and organic 
 nature, with what cordial gratulations should we wel- 
 come every effort to establish them, and with what 
 hearty thanks should we refer to the noble liberality 
 of those who devote either time or means to their pro- 
 motion. . . . 
 
 " The love of nature is spontaneous in every human 
 soul. Ingenuous children, if left to the guidance of 
 their instinct for knowledge, early display the curious 
 observation, the spirit of experiment, the disposition 
 to compare object with object, which form the char- 
 acteristics of the naturalist and physical philosopher. 
 And they unite with these in a large degree the aes- 
 thetic element of the love of the beautiful, whether in 
 color, or form, or sound, or motion. It is not then 
 from the rareness of an inherent love for such pur- 
 suits that we find so few persons who, after reaching 
 maturity, feel a strong impulse to the cultivation of 
 the natural sciences. 
 
 " The studies of the school, occupying the child with 
 widely different though indispensable tasks, have until 
 within a few years failed to provide the young mind 
 thirsting for a knowledge of nature with any opportu- 
 nity of useful communion with her works. But thanks 
 to the wiser views of our contemporaries, the doors of 
 the academy and the high school are thrown open to 
 admit the odorous breath of flowers and the melody 
 of birds, and the free air and sunshine of the teem- 
 ing, vocal, beautiful world, and it is found that the 
 clear, refreshing atmosphere, instead of dwarfing the 
 plants of classical and mathematical learning, only
 
 ^T. 50.] ADDRESS AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 355 
 
 nourishes them to a healthier and more vigorous de- 
 velopment. . . . 
 
 " Surely conquests such as these are better worthy 
 the ambition of educated men, and should command a 
 higher meed of fame than all the triumphs of valour 
 and endurance that were ever blazoned on the torn 
 banner of a hundred martial fields. And surely, gen- 
 tlemen, to come nearer home, should any of us extend 
 our peaceful march of scientific inquiry beyond the 
 latitude of 49 on the one hand, or, taking to the water, 
 invade the coral isles of the Pacific, or possess our- 
 selves of Mexican territories of science, or carry our 
 bloodless arms into the tempting Archipelago, which, 
 as a chain of pearls, stretches to unite our northern 
 and southern continents on the Atlantic side, our ad- 
 ditions to the area of truth would be an annexation l 
 approved and honoured by all parties. . . . 
 
 " But it is not through the allurements of ambi- 
 tion, even of that noble kind which aims at enlarging 
 the boundaries of knowledge, that the cultivators of 
 natural science are led to the purest enjoyment and the 
 truest success in their pursuits. A higher, more spir- 
 itual sensibility must nourish their enthusiasm. The 
 love of truth for its own sake, the power of deriving 
 exquisite satisfaction, not only from the discovery of 
 new relations among objects, but from contemplating 
 them in the light of known facts as subordinated to 
 harmonies and laws ; a loving appreciation of beauty 
 in external characters, and of that subtler beauty of 
 structure and affinities, akin to the most delicate per- 
 ceptions of the artist and poet, but which discloses 
 itself only to the penetrating eye of the naturalist, 
 such are some of the impulses and tastes that qualify 
 us for enjoying the pursuits of natural history, and 
 for giving them their highest usefulness. 
 
 " In speaking of the delights of knowledge as com- 
 pared with other pleasures, Lord Bacon has eloquently 
 said : ' In all other pleasures there is satiety, but of 
 1 An allusion to the politics of the time, the annexation of Texas.
 
 356 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1855. 
 
 knowledge there is no satiety, but satisfaction and 
 appetite are perpetually interchangeable.' Surely of 
 no kind of knowledge can this be more truly said than 
 of that which unfolds to us the characters, structure 
 and mutual dependences of the endless variety of or- 
 ganic and inorganic objects with which natural science 
 has to deal. 
 
 " And it should be remembered that this pure and 
 ever-recurring satisfaction is not merely the privilege 
 of the few who possess great collections of specimens, 
 libraries for reference, and all the refined means for 
 observation and research, but is accessible to the hum- 
 blest observer who pursues his inquiries in the ardent, 
 truth-loving spirit of the genuine naturalist. It needs 
 but to stir the waters of the great teeming tropical sea 
 to make them give forth their latent rays, whether 
 in the silvery flashes marking the wake of some huge 
 ocean steamer, or in the drops of liquid light that 
 fall from the lifted oar; whether in the long line 
 of flame that reveals the breaker's advancing crest, or 
 in the luminous footprints left by the traveller on the 
 moistened beach. 
 
 " It was once the fashion with poets to decry the 
 growth of positive science as unfriendly to poetical 
 and spiritual conceptions of the material world, and 
 to lament, although we may trust only for the verse's 
 sake, ' the lovely views ' which have been forced to 
 ' yield their place to ' what they please to call ' cold 
 material laws.' But, thanks to a juster knowledge of 
 the spirit, objects and results of physical inquiries, 
 now generally diffused among scholars, such com- 
 plaints are no longer likely to find sympathy with 
 them. From the known laws of the intellect, what 
 more certain conclusion can be drawn, than that 
 thought becomes exalted and suggestion quickened in 
 proportion as they embrace a wider and more varied 
 field of objects and relations? Who that, gazing on 
 the vault of the sky, thinks of the innumerable multi- 
 tude of worlds which the sure demonstrations of
 
 ^Ex. 50.] ADDRESS AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 357 
 
 astronomy there point out to him, measures in imagi- 
 nation their dimensions and the vast distances which 
 separate them, follows the planets in their stately 
 march, and watches the whole solar system, as like a 
 majestic fleet of argosies it moves sublimely on its 
 voyage of circumnavigation among the stars, and 
 while witnessing in thought this grandest of nature's 
 spectacles, reflects on the profound adjustment of 
 forces and motions by which these results are secured, 
 who thus looking and reflecting can see in the ma- 
 terial laws which control and harmonize this universe, 
 aught lower or less spiritual than the thought of Infi- 
 nite Wisdom and the handiwork of Infinite Power? 
 Surely such a meditative gazer on the skies must feel 
 in his soul the inspiration of a far nobler poetry than 
 ever charmed the reveries of him 
 
 " ' To whose passive ken 
 Those mighty spheres that gem infinity 
 Are only specks of tinsel fixed in heaven 
 To light the midnights of his native town.' " 
 
 " And what is true of astronomy is not less true of 
 even the obscurest walks of natural history. For it is 
 less in the magnitude and distance of objects than in 
 their mutual activities, their harmonious arrangements, 
 and their adaptations to wise and beneficent ends, that 
 material phenomena become imbued with a spiritual 
 and poetical significance. Let us then rejoice that in 
 our scientific communings with living and inanimate 
 things we are not only able to catch sweet notes from 
 Apollo's lyre, but to gather into our souls the deeper 
 harmonies which are felt to be the echoes of voices 
 from the skies ; let us indeed believe that 
 
 " ' Nature hath her hoarded poetry 
 And her hidden spells, and he 
 Who is familiar with her mysteries is even as one 
 Who by some secret charm of soul or eye 
 In every clime beneath the smiling sun 
 Sees where the springs of living waters lie.' "
 
 358 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1855. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 SUNNY HILL, October 9, 1855. 
 
 There are now four organized political parties in 
 Massachusetts, viz. : Democrats, Whigs, Americans 
 and Republicans. The last is a fusion of all, which 
 holds the non-extension of slavery by the National 
 Government as its polar principle, and proposes to 
 ignore all differences on other points. Its candidate 
 is Rockwell, the former United States Senator, a lead- 
 ing Whig, but now disowned by the Whigs proper. 
 The latter have had a meeting, at which George 
 Hillard made quite an effective speech. My impres- 
 sion is that the Republicans will succeed. 
 
 The Natural History Society, I am told, think of 
 sending their working-man, Samuels, to California, to 
 collect birds and other objects for the museum. . . . 
 
 I have never seen Eliza in better health, and the 
 dear little Edith grows more winning daily. As I 
 look at her gentle, thoughtful face, the traces of her 
 father impress me with a tenderness that brings moist- 
 ure to my eyes. 
 
 In the autumn of 1855 overtures were made to 
 Henry concerning the professorship in the University 
 of Glasgow, to which he was later appointed. 
 
 MR. ROGERS TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 BOSTON, November 20, 1855. 
 
 The Academy is yet quite asleep. Wyman is mak- 
 ing good experiments on the impressions made by rain- 
 drops on firmly prepared clay. Some of the slabs 
 thus marked are very instructive. In connection with 
 this, I have been computing the terminal velocities of 
 drops, ranging from 1-10 to 1-2000 inch in diameter, 
 using one of Button's formulae of resistance. I hope
 
 Mn. 51.] PUBLIC LECTURES. 359 
 
 to get up an arrangement for determining the weight, 
 and then the actual diameters of raindrops of various 
 sizes. 1 . . . 
 
 You will see in " Silliman " that my inquiries on 
 binocular vision have extended. There will be one 
 more section after that in the January number, which 
 I have just sent to New Haven. When completed, I 
 want some of those who have studied the matter in 
 Scotland or England to go over the observations crit- 
 ically, for I believe they will find much that is new 
 and important in them. I have just hit on a beauti- 
 ful geometrical law for certain cases. The binocular 
 resultants of a right line and circular arc are always a 
 conic section. I will send you the drawings and ex- 
 planation, which, perhaps, you may show to some 
 friend in Edinburgh, and have inserted in the " Quar- 
 terly Journal." 
 
 I shall keep on with the gathering of materials for 
 our geological text-book, for I am satisfied that there 
 is nothing we could do that would tell better in every 
 way. . . . 
 
 Did you see one of Professor Council's pretty hy- 
 grometers? . . . God bless and keep you, my own 
 dear brother. Day and night my thoughts are with 
 you ; I form many a fancy picture of you and the 
 circle around you. My heart warms to the good 
 friends that have cheered you by their welcome in 
 kind Scotland. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 BOSTON, November 21, 1855. 
 
 . . . On Monday night next I give the first of my 
 two lectures in the Tremont Temple. 2 I understand 
 all the tickets of the course, about twenty-five hun- 
 dred, have been taken. Last Monday there must 
 have been at least that many persons present to hear 
 a lecture from an eminent pulpit orator and lecturer, 
 
 1 Boston Society of Natural History, vol. v. pp. 266, 282. 
 
 2 Lectures before the Mercantile Library Association.
 
 360 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1855. 
 
 Starr King. His subject was " Substance and Show." 
 I shall talk of Physical Forces. . . . 
 
 Only think, Judge Gushing has commenced print- 
 ing his book, 1 having made quite a favourable arrange- 
 ment with Little & Brown. He appears quite revived 
 by the thought of having finished his ten years' task, 
 which few of us thought he would live to finish. . . . 
 
 How is our dear little friend Beppo? Poor little 
 fellow. E. and I can hardly believe that he is no 
 longer accompanied by the beautiful, loving Zeo. 2 His 
 image rises always in thinking of the dear home in 
 Girard Street. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 BOSTON, November 30, 1855. 
 
 . . . On Monday night I gave my first lecture in 
 the Tremont Temple. It was a rainy night, but still 
 there were about two thousand persons present. I 
 found it an easier matter than I anticipated to keep 
 up the interest of this crowd, although the subject was 
 not of the showy kind. From indications at the time 
 and what I have since heard, I believe I was quite 
 successful. But how very elementary all such lectures 
 must be to be at all intelligible ! On Wednesday next 
 I give a lecture at Lawrence on Geology. . . . 
 
 BOSTON, December 4, 1855. 
 
 ... I have this morning closed and directed your 
 box, and put it in the hands of the expressman. . . . 
 Longfellow's last poem, Rush on the Voice, and other 
 books will remind you of home, but perhaps not so 
 much as the copies of my lecture at Williams College, 
 of which I wish you to present one to Brewster, one 
 to Balfour ; make what other distribution you please. 
 I should like to know what the naturalists say of my 
 criticism of the German notion of living forms as de- 
 termined by ideas, so largely dwelt on by Braun, and 
 
 1 Gushing' 's Parliamentary Law, by Judge L. S. Cashing. 
 
 2 Two dogs, Beppo and Zeo.
 
 JET. 61.] BINOCULAR VISION. 361 
 
 so much favoured by Burnett and Agassiz. Some of 
 my friends here have spoken well of the literary exe- 
 cution of the lecture. 
 
 Hayes has received the Report of the Torbane Mine 
 trial. The substance of it is, I believe, published in 
 the " Journal of the Microscopical Society," along with 
 Quekett's detailed observations and beautiful plates. 
 
 1 read eagerly the numbers of the " Edinburgh New 
 Philosophical Journal," as they come out. The Oc- 
 tober number is now before me. It is interesting to 
 see in such papers as those of Harkness, of Cork, the 
 recognition of the principle of folded structure, which 
 we knew and applied so extensively twenty years ago. 
 There is an odd awkwardness in the descriptions given 
 by Harkness in the article on Cleavage which sur- 
 prises me. You will see that the whole of the paper 
 might, with greater clearness, be given in one third 
 the space. How different are your descriptions of 
 structural features. Indeed, my dear Henry, I think 
 that even in our old annual reports the kind of de- 
 scription is far more precise and picture-like than what 
 we meet with in geological writings generally. But 
 think what a training we had in the study of Appala- 
 chian structure ! . . . 
 
 I am expecting criticisms and objections 1 from 
 Brewster, and still more from Wheatstone, but I am 
 ready for them. I shall send along with the MSS. 
 some cards of figures in ink, to illustrate my experi- 
 ments by the use of the common stereoscope. . . . 
 
 I have no higher objective than 1-4 inch. My 
 microscope is of the make of Smith & Beck, recom- 
 mended by Morris. It is the next to their largest 
 size. I should like to have an objective of greater 
 power. Indeed, I believe their present 1-4 inch is 
 much greater. But I have no money as yet for such 
 a luxury. Before you are leaving I may write again 
 on the subject. . . . 
 
 1 On his Observations on Binocular Vision.
 
 362 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1856. 
 
 BOSTON, Christmas Morning, 1855. 
 
 The ground is white with snow and sleet, and the 
 icy shower is rattling against my windows as I sit 
 down to speak a loving word to my dear brother across 
 the sea. There is an influence coming from early as- 
 sociation which fills this holiday season with tender 
 recollections of the past, and with kind as well as wise 
 resolves for the future. With what an earnest solici- 
 tude for your happiness does my heart now warm to- 
 wards you, my dear brother, and with what true joy do 
 I dwell on your improved health and the prospect of 
 future cheerful labour and mutual helpfulness for us 
 all. A thousand wishes crowd to be expressed, but I 
 can only say, God bless you, my own dear brother ! 
 and beg you to take as the type of my present thoughts 
 the happy affection of our boyhood which, ever dwell- 
 ing on and around us, overflowed our breasts in this 
 festive season, making our home, even shadowed by 
 poverty, a place full of earth's truest, sweetest hap- 
 piness. The long interval of years has not dimmed 
 the images of parental goodness or of loving brother- 
 hood. To-day we may open the casket in which they 
 are kept within our heart of hearts, and have sweet 
 pleasure in dwelling on the dear memory of those 
 who have left them to us. ... 
 
 BOSTON, March 11, 1856. 
 
 ... I am glad you saw Brush and were able to 
 do him service. He has talent, and will, I am sure, 
 come home well skilled in all branches of practical 
 chemistry, as well as much else. . . . 
 
 In a letter from Robert a few days ago, I learned 
 that he had been superintending some attempts to 
 blow up the ice in the Delaware, opposite the city, 
 using some of his Bunsen cells, and igniting by wires 
 extended from the wharf. The effect was insignifi- 
 cant. . . . Tell me in your next what sort of an 
 audience you had at the Koyal Institution. What is
 
 ^ET. 51.] SIR DAVID BREWSTER. 363 
 
 Faraday about just now ? and Wheatstone ? Tyndall 
 seems to be taking a leading part at the Royal Insti- 
 tution. He has fine talents, and I hope he is a good 
 fellow ; but where is there another Faraday I 
 
 BOSTON, March 25, 1856. 
 
 I shall look impatiently for the March number 
 of the " Philosophical Journal." Surely Sir David 
 Brewster will read what I have written before criticis- 
 ing. If what you say of his comments be true, he 
 has entirely misconceived me. But I can readily set 
 him right. He is, I know, very irritable and tena- 
 cious, and I should dislike controversy with him. 
 Besides, I have a true veneration for his services as a 
 man of science. . . . 
 
 Gardner, of Edinburgh, mentions you in very com- 
 plimentary terms. What a lovable old man is this 
 Patriarch of the Faculty ! . . . 
 
 TO JAMES SAVAGE, JB. (TRAVELLING IN EUROPE). 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, April 21, 1856. 
 
 MY DEAR JIM, E. and I have for nearly a week 
 been enjoying the milder climate of this pleasant city, 
 and the true home comforts of Girard Street, where 
 my dyspeptic ailments have been almost dispersed by 
 the skill of my brother Robert. I was far from well, 
 but in a few days I hope to bound whistling up the 
 stairs at No. 1 Temple Place. 
 
 Will you let me, ignorant as I am of things Eu- 
 ropean, offer you advice? From your last letter I 
 infer that your desire to see more of the Continent 
 may detain you from England until it will be too 
 late to make a satisfactory visit to the Blessed Island, 
 as your father calls it. After all, my dear James, it 
 is from the Fatherland (i. e., the mother country) that 
 we must continue to draw the most valuable helps in 
 our social and practical life, and the most reliable 
 guidance in politics and philosophy.
 
 364 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1856. 
 
 As a Bostonian you will be pleased to learn that 
 the fire-alarm system has just been introduced here, 
 and will soon be put in operation also in New York. 
 
 Population is flowing into Kansas rapidly from the 
 free States ; more slowly, but yet I fear too actively, 
 from the region of slavery. I have no fear that the 
 latter will succeed in establishing its institutions in 
 the new country, but I dread the general effect of the 
 fratricidal conflicts that seem to be impending. I 
 am, however, of those who think that our Union is too 
 strongly framed in constitutional right and bolted to- 
 gether by mutual interest, to be severed by even such 
 a shock as this. 
 
 We have not forgotten that this is our dear Jamie's 
 birthday. We shall drink your health at dinner in 
 bumpers of foaming ale. 
 
 God bless you, my dear fellow, and send you back 
 to us as good a boy as you were on leaving. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 BOSTON, April 29, 1856. 
 
 . . . Can you learn from Gregory or James Forbes 
 whether any definite law has yet been made out in 
 England or Scotland in regard to the meteoric condi- 
 tions proper to the greater or less abundance of ozone? 
 Thus far I have found it always abundant upon the 
 setting in of a wind from any quarter between W. 
 and N., and quite absent in those from between E. 
 and S. I will tabulate the results by coordinates and 
 send them to you. 1 . . . 
 
 Robert has been made Dean of the Faculty by the 
 unanimous wish of Carson and the rest of his col- 
 leagues. The office will give him but little trouble 
 and will add something to his income. It did my 
 heart good to see how universally he is beloved and 
 respected in Philadelphia. . . . 
 
 1 See Boston Society of Natural History, vol. v. p. 32 ; also Sim- 
 man's Journal, vol. xxii. p. 141, 1858.
 
 Mr. 51.] POLITICS AND GEOLOGY. 365 
 
 SUNNY HILL, July 6, 1856. 
 
 ... I believe I mentioned in a former letter hav- 
 ing met in Washington with Blodgett and Newberry. 
 Leidy is active in the description of fossils from the 
 West, and indeed from all quarters. . . . Wyman, I 
 believe, is working systematically at the lower reptil- 
 ians, Menopoma, etc., expecting to bring out his re- 
 sults in the " Smithsonian Contributions." . . . Poor 
 Sumner's strength appears to be seriously broken, 
 and it is doubtful if he will be able to resume his seat 
 this session. The effect can hardly be due to the 
 physical hurt he sustained, but must be owing to the 
 great perturbation of his nervous system. 
 
 The Report of the Kansas investigating committee 
 confirms the very worst reports we had of the border 
 outrages. It has not yet been acted on in Congress. 
 
 Appearances indicate that most of the Whigs of the 
 Northern and Eastern States will favour the Fremont 
 ticket, as the only means of preventing the triumph 
 of the slave power. Indeed, under present circum- 
 stances, I do not see why they should hesitate to 
 do so. The Boston Whig committee in their late 
 meeting avoided any committal of the party in this 
 matter, and this, I believe, is Hillard's counsel just 
 now. But they will be obliged, individually, if not as 
 a party, to act decidedly in so momentous an alterna- 
 tive. ... I am glad to hear that you are to have the 
 benefit of a trip to Arran, and other excursions, and 
 that you may probably go to the Continent to meet 
 Desor. 1 . . . 
 
 BOSTON, August 12, 1856. 
 
 ... As all the Paradoxides are confined to the 
 very lowest Silurian of Murchison, or the Primordial 
 division of the Bohemian rocks according to Barrande, 
 we shall probably have to place the slates of Quincy 
 and Braintree very near the base of the Palaeozoic 
 series, at least as low, I presume, as the Potsdam, or 
 our Primal rocks. . . . 
 
 1 P. J. Edouard Desor, Swiss geologist.
 
 366 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1856. 
 
 Nothing of consequence is doing in the societies. 
 The Natural History meetings, of which I attended the 
 last, are fuller and more interesting than formerly, 
 chiefly on account of Agassiz's presence. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 BOSTON, August 13, 1856. 
 
 I write a hurried line to say that I have lately been 
 much interested in a discovery I have developed of 
 old Silurian fossils in some of the altered slates al- 
 most adjoining the sienite of Quincy, and that, feeling 
 myself in pretty good plight, I intend taking them to 
 Albany, where they will excite great interest. This 
 is the most curious and important discovery ever made 
 in the geology of this region. . . . 
 
 TO JOSEPH L. BATES. 
 
 LUNENBTJRG, September 5, 1856. 
 
 SiB, Your communication inviting me in behalf 
 of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Associa- 
 tion to act as one of the judges of stoves, etc., reached 
 me yesterday. In reply, I have to say that my strong 
 interest in the progress of applied science, and there- 
 fore in the general objects of your exhibition, will not 
 suffer me to withhold any small help it may be in my 
 power to give in the particular department to which 
 you refer. At the same time I wish you to understand 
 that my attention to this important branch of mechan- 
 ical invention has been too slight to familiarize me 
 with the details of construction, and that I must look 
 to the practical knowledge of others to assist me in 
 my decisions. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 SUNNY HILL, September 9, 1856. 
 
 . . . Robert and Fanny, who have been with us since 
 our return, are still here, and we are enjoying pleas- 
 ant idleness. . . . Should you see our dear old friend 
 Sedgwick before leaving, assure him of my kindest
 
 JEx. 52.] LOWELL LECTURES. 367 
 
 remembrances, and of the true admiration with which 
 I regard, not only his great scientific labours, but the 
 manliness with which he has battled for his rights and 
 for the truth. . . . 
 
 I fear that yet graver troubles are arising in con- 
 sequence of the wicked tyranny of the administration 
 in regard to Kansas. The Fillmore Whigs, led by 
 Winthrop, Everett and Hillard, are, I think, only en- 
 couraging the aggravation and outrage of the slave 
 power. Whether Buchanan or Fremont be chosen, 
 there will be immense excitement. In the latter 
 event some, or perhaps all, the slave States will make 
 a feint of resistance and disunion, but I do not believe 
 they will carry out their threats. How changed is the 
 ground of contest within a few years ! Formerly the 
 doctrine of Fremont to let slavery alone where already 
 established, and to make no more slave States north of 
 the compromise line, was considered good conservative 
 doctrine, even in the South. Now it is denounced as 
 abolitionism, and the Southern demagogues have 
 advanced to the position of claiming that all new 
 territory shall be open to slavery, and worse than, 
 this, shall be given up to it. But I believe the storm 
 will blow over, and leave us in a really better con- 
 dition. . . . 
 
 The great mechanical exhibition in Quincy and 
 Faneuil Halls opens to-morrow, and perhaps Robert 
 will accompany me to Boston to take a look at it. . . . 
 
 During the winter of 1856-57 Mr. Rogers was in 
 feeble health, and passed some weeks in Philadelphia, 
 under his physician's care. He was able, however, to 
 give a course of lectures in the Lowell Institute on 
 the Elementary Laws of Physics. 
 
 In the spring of 1857 Professor Henry Rogers vis- 
 ited Boston, and on his return to Scotland took with 
 him his wife and daughter Edith. They resided for 
 a time in Edinburgh, while he superintended the pub-
 
 368 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1857. 
 
 lication of his Pennsylvania Keport. Mr. Rogers 
 was still in delicate health, and in July determined to 
 try the effect of an ocean voyage and a short visit to 
 Great Britain. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 LUNENBURG, July 13, 1857. 
 
 ... I am seriously thinking of a short visit to 
 England, especially for the advantage of the voyage 
 to and fro. For although I believe I shall gradually 
 get well even as I am now living on, I think I might 
 in a great degree shake off my feebleness with all its 
 disabilities by the sea air and the pleasant excitement 
 and variety of a month or two spent in England, Scot- 
 land and Ireland. By the steamer of next week I 
 will write you what I decide upon in this matter. . . . 
 
 I have been studying up the subject of magnetism, 
 especially terrestrial, in connection with Saboni's ad- 
 mirable memoir and map, and I have had occasion 
 to remark a very gross and wholesale plagiarism of 
 Noad in the second volume of his work on electricity 
 and magnetism, now in course of publication. I have 
 written a short notice of it, exposing this unacknow- 
 ledged transfer of more than forty pages from Brew- 
 ster's " Magnetism." 
 
 TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 LONDON, HANOVER SQUARE, August 12, 1857. 
 . . . We encountered head-winds nearly all the 
 way to the northwest coast of Ireland, but for the last 
 two days we have had the luxury of a calm sea, and 
 an atmosphere exquisitely balmy, and clear enough to 
 afford me the precious opportunity of seeing in detail 
 the picturesque and lovely features of the Irish coast. 
 We ran so near the shore of Antrim as to be able to 
 study the wonders of the Giant's Causeway, and to 
 see on the gentle seaward slopes of the mountains the 
 hamlets and villages scattered amid the enamelled 
 verdure which clothed the hills and valleys and crept
 
 Mr. 52.] ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 369 
 
 far down the slopes and into the crevices of the rocky 
 cliffs washed by the breakers of the Atlantic. . . . 
 Each new beauty that opened as we moved from head- 
 land to headland, catching now views of the misty 
 mountains, now of the far-receding rocks, made me 
 lament afresh that you and dear Jamie were not with 
 me, to help me to be happy by sharing in my delight. 
 
 We anchored in the Mersey at four A. M. on Mon- 
 day, but we were not relieved by the custom house in- 
 spector until nearly ten. As I was escorting one of the 
 ladies up the pier, whom should I see among the ex- 
 pectant crowd but Henry, who had come to receive 
 me. . . . 
 
 13th. 
 
 ... In the afternoon went with Henry to Kew 
 Gardens. Failed to find Sir William Hooker, but 
 left my letters and packet from Gray. Walked about 
 the enchanting grounds, more beautiful than when 
 you were here, and returned late in the evening by 
 omnibus. 
 
 14th. Henry has gone by special invitation to 
 breakfast with the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. 
 The Chair in Glasgow is vacant, and he will probably 
 apply for it. 
 
 . . . You may say to the servants that I have often 
 thought of them, and to Mary I thought the moun- 
 tains of Donegal as beautiful as any I ever saw. 
 
 BOWDIN, NEAR MANCHESTER, 
 
 Tuesday Morning 1 , August 18. 
 
 Finding London nearly deserted by our scientific 
 friends, we made a visit with our good friend Morris 
 on Saturday to Sydenham Palace, and took the cars 
 next morning for Manchester ; thence to this beautiful 
 spot a few miles beyond, where we find, in a country 
 inn, comfortable lodgings, and have easy access to the 
 Art Exhibition by frequent trains. . . . 
 
 Yesterday was mostly spent in the Art Exhibition,
 
 370 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1857. 
 
 Manchester, where with some thousands of others, 
 mostly well-dressed people, I went, book in hand, 
 through the early ages of Art, beginning with Cima- 
 bue and Giotto, as far as to the period succeeding 
 Raphael. 
 
 This carried me over about one half the southern 
 wall of one of the three great divisions of the edifice. 
 A glance further on showed a glorious gathering from 
 Titian, Velasquez, Murillo and on the opposite wall 
 an immense wealth of Dutch and Flemish works. Of 
 course, I shall only look at a few, but I perceive that 
 the relish for this enjoyment has become keen, and if 
 I were strong and had more time, I should regard 
 some weeks' study of this unrivalled collection as time 
 well applied. 
 
 LLANDUDNO, Thursday. 
 
 Here I am for the second day at one of the most 
 lovely spots on the Welsh coast, in the curve of the 
 beautiful bay that lies between the Great and Little 
 Orme's Head, and only four miles from Conway. . . . 
 
 This afternoon, on a little pony, I ascended the 
 lofty hill which forms the crown of Orme's Head, and 
 thence I looked down upon the sea and out into the 
 hazy space, where sea and sky could not be separated, 
 and where the very ships and boats seemed rather 
 suspended mysteriously in the haze than floating on 
 the water. Here are some seeds of wall flowers from 
 the top of one of the Conway towers, to which I 
 clambered by a ladder, thinking you would prize this 
 little token. 
 
 My last letter was mailed at Llandudno, the day 
 before my trip through North Wales. This journey 
 carried me through Conway, thence up the beautiful 
 vale of Llanrwst, in which I passed several striking 
 waterfalls, and had a succession of exquisite views, 
 combining richly cultivated hillsides and valleys with 
 grand masses of mountain and rock, alternately 
 clothed with forests and with blooming heather which 
 overspread the cliffs like a velvet mantle. . . .
 
 &T. 52.] HENRY APPOINTED TO GLASGOW. 371 
 
 As to my health, I think I can say it is improving. 
 I have gained two or three pounds, but my sleep is 
 rarely good. I slept little during the voyage, and not 
 well since, but I think I shall improve in this partic- 
 ular, and that will be the signal for a rapid recruit- 
 ing, so you must expect to hear the most cheering 
 accounts from me. . . . 
 
 DUBLIN, September 3, 1857. 
 
 . . . Since coming here, on Wednesday, I have 
 been in a perpetual whirl of business and amusement, 
 if you may so term the crowded receptions at the 
 castle and the Provost's house, and the various smaller 
 entertainments. 
 
 . . . The meeting [of the British Association] is 
 quite as full as that of Birmingham, although in the 
 geological section the absence of the most prominent 
 men, Lyell and Murchison, has been much felt. 
 
 September 4. 
 
 I am before breakfast snatching a few minutes to 
 close this letter, as we are to leave in less than an 
 hour on an excursion to Parsonstown to see Lord 
 Rosse's telescope. We shall remain there until to- 
 morrow afternoon. . . . Yesterday, at noon, the im- 
 posing ceremonies of conferring honorary degrees 
 took place in the grand old college chapel. A num- 
 ber of the members of the Association were thus 
 complimented. Among them brother Henry and 
 Foucault, who is also present. 
 
 . . . Henry received several days ago the announce- 
 ment of his having been appointed to the Chair in 
 the University of Glasgow, so that altogether the pres- 
 ent is a season of very just elation with him. He has 
 had even greater success than I imagined in making 
 powerful friends in Scotland and England, to whose 
 influence with the Lord Advocate he owes his very 
 complimentary appointment. 
 
 Last evening we dined at Malahide Castle, the resi-
 
 372 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1857. 
 
 dence of Lord Talbot de Malahide. It is about nine 
 miles from the city, surrounded with lawns and parks 
 and noble clumps and avenues of old trees. The 
 building is mostly of the date of Henry II., a grand 
 old castle, and it was not a little impressive to be 
 received within these ancient walls, which had never 
 ceased to be inhabited by the Talbots for the last 
 seven hundred years. 
 
 The superb dining-hall was hung with paintings of 
 the illustrious ancestry, and over our heads, from the 
 lofty rafters of the ceiling, were hanging many an 
 ancient banner, the history of which I longed to learn. 
 How I wished you could see this fine specimen of the 
 ancient times so nobly preserved, and enjoy, as I have 
 done, the elegant and quiet hospitality of Lord and 
 Lady Talbot. 
 
 On Monday morning we shall set off by rail for 
 Antrim Castle, the abode of Lord Massereene. He 
 very cordially urged me and Henry to pay him a visit, 
 and from his house to make our tour to the Giant's 
 Causeway, which we can accomplish in less than a 
 day. We shall then go to Glen View House, where 
 our friend Mr. Ogilby will make us acquainted with 
 some of our cousins through the father's side. . . . 
 
 DUBLIN, Saturday, September 5, 1857. 
 
 On Thursday morning at ten o'clock, we joined the 
 party of the Association going to visit Lord Rosse. 
 As we approached Parsonstown in a long procession 
 of jaunting-cars and carriages, carrying us from the 
 terminus, some six miles across the country, our 
 progress was cheered by crowds of smiling peasantry 
 gathered at numerous points along the road. At 
 Parsonstown most of the party stopped to take their 
 lodgings with the kind inhabitants, while those of us 
 who were to be the special guests at the Castle went 
 on, through the beautiful avenue and under the noble 
 Gothic gateway that led into the grassy lawn in front 
 of this castellated mansion. Eighteen of us were
 
 -ffiT.62.] ANTRIM CASTLE. 373 
 
 provided with pleasant chambers in this hospitable 
 home. Among the number were Foucault, the Abbe 
 Moigno, Abbadie, Daubeny, Gassiot, the Schlagen- 
 weits, Lord and Lady Massereene, etc. All the party, 
 amounting to about one hundred and eighty, were 
 feasted most luxuriously in the ample dining-hall, and 
 were entertained in the beautiful drawing-rooms and 
 libraries. The workshop, laboratory and grinding- 
 rooms were thrown open for our inspection. 
 
 Lady Rosse showed us a large number of photo- 
 graphs of her own execution, and acted the amiable 
 and kind hostess to perfection. 
 
 Before taking our leave on Friday, we had a sump- 
 tuous lunch, or rather dinner, at the close of which 
 Dr. Daubeny proposed a vote of thanks to our excel- 
 lent entertainers, which, at his request, I seconded 
 with a short speech. This was so well received that 
 the reporters present, who had not expected anything 
 of the kind, and had taken no notes, bored me after- 
 wards for a copy of my remarks, which, of course, I 
 could not give except in a very general way. . . . 
 
 ANTRIM CASTLE, Thursday, September 10, 1857. 
 In this seat of beauty and refined hospitality we 
 have been passing the hours most pleasantly since 
 Monday evening, when we arrived a little before din- 
 ner. Lady Massereene was detained in Dublin a day 
 later, but we spent Tuesday in walking and driving 
 over the wonderfully beautiful domains of his lord- 
 ship, embracing a great extent of park and lawn, bor- 
 dering on the northeastern side of Lough Neagh, the 
 largest of the Irish lakes. This being my first oppor- 
 tunity of seeing thoroughly the luxurious improve- 
 ments of an aristocratic seat, I have, as you may 
 have supposed, found great enjoyment in my walks 
 and drives. The castle, modelled originally after a 
 French chateau, is surrounded in great part by the 
 most exquisite gardens I have ever seen, separated by 
 huge walls of trimmed thorn and linden and other
 
 374 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1857. 
 
 plants. Numerous avenues through the neighbouring 
 wood, converging at various points, offered pleasant 
 vistas, at one time, of the lake and Thane's Castle 
 beyond, at another of a distant round tower, with its 
 conical cap, the mystery of Irish antiquaries ; here 
 the village spire, there the strange terraced moat, at 
 the angle of the castle surmounted by the flag ; at 
 the end of another avenue, the mimic waterfall. 
 Fuchsias, trained like vines to the castle walls, blend 
 with ivy and our Virginia creeper. The climate is so 
 balmy that the tenderest flowers flourish out-of-doors, 
 and such a bright verdure overspreads the lawn, even 
 at this season, as has no counterpart with us except 
 in the first week of the most genial spring. I can give 
 you no details of park, grove and stream, and all the 
 other beauties that have made this spot so charming 
 to me. The general appearance of the castle itself 
 you see in the little engraving which I send. Yester- 
 day, Henry and I made a visit to the Giant's Cause- 
 way. . . . 
 
 Lady Massereene likes a house full of guests, and 
 beside ourselves has now some eight others, among 
 them two pleasant young ladies, the Misses Forbes, 
 from Scotland, and a young Irish girl from Dublin, 
 all, of course, refined and cultivated. The eldest 
 child, Dorcas, is a beautiful shy girl of about fifteen, 
 the next a bright boy of thirteen, and all have the 
 simplest and most cordial manners imaginable. We 
 breakfast at nine and a half, lunch at two, and dine 
 at six and a half, then we have chat and music, and 
 an amusing game, in which all can join, called 
 "races." . . . 
 
 GLENNOCK COTTAGE, NEAR NEWTON STEWART, 
 
 COUNTY TYRONE, September 15, 1857. 
 I am now seated in the neat parlour of Mr. John 
 Rogers, a distant relative of my father, and as I look 
 out through the spacious bow-window over the ver- 
 dant slope on which his hospitable cottage stands, I
 
 JET. 52.] THE ANCESTRAL HOME. 375 
 
 see, beyond the old stone bridge that spans the Stride- 
 water, the neat village of Newton Stewart, nestling at 
 the base of Betsey Bell, one of the loveliest hills I 
 have yet seen, even in this land of verdant beauty. 
 Betsey Bell on one side, and Mary Gray on the other, 
 rising from the fertile valley, watered by the winding 
 and romantic Strule, recall to me the song I heard my 
 mother sing when I was on her knee, and speak to 
 me of many a legend which I heard in my earliest 
 childhood. 1 
 
 After leaving Antrim Castle, where Henry sepa- 
 rated from me the day before, I took the cars for 
 Londonderry, and thence was driven in a jaunting-car 
 to Glenview, the residence of my hospitable friend, 
 William Ogilby. He has very large landed posses- 
 sions, and lives in great elegance, as well as comfort, 
 on the slope of Dunellen, amid the long-swelling hills 
 of Tyrone, and in view of the nearer peaks of the wild 
 heathery mountains of Donegal. His wife, a niece 
 of Lord Abercorn, and relative of Lord Aberdeen, is 
 a gentle lady of refined manners but simple home 
 tastes, devoting herself chiefly to her children, two 
 beautiful rosy boys and as many girls. . . . 
 
 5 P. M. I have been rambling up the beautiful val- 
 ley, partly by railroad and partly in a car, and am 
 seated in the hotel of Omagh, waiting for the return 
 train to Newton Stewart. I have seen Edergole, the 
 large tract, or township, I may call it, which once be- 
 longed to our family, and have trod the ground which 
 my father's feet pressed in his childhood. It is one 
 of the loveliest spots of this exquisitely beautiful 
 country, gently rolling hills covered with grass and 
 grain, adorned with clustering trees and uncut hedge- 
 rows, and watered by a stream that winds alternately 
 
 1 Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, an old Scotch ballad, 
 " Bing Bessie Bell an' Mary Gray, 
 They were twa bonnie lassies, 
 They bipgit a bower on yon burn-brae, 
 An' theekit it o'er wi' rashes."
 
 376 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1857. 
 
 between rocky banks and emerald meadows. My 
 heart has been full, and I have above all thanked 
 God for America, and felt with yet stronger force the 
 sentiment which has continually presented itself since 
 I have been abroad, that my dear western home de- 
 serves to be more loved than even the heartiest Amer- 
 ican loves it. Ireland is, indeed, a land of extraordi- 
 nary natural beauty and has an elysian climate, but 
 long, long will it be ere its people will have that gen- 
 eral culture and personal independence which make 
 the glory of New England. And this is no less true 
 of parts of Wales and Scotland, and in a degree, I 
 think, of England. 
 
 To-morrow I go southwards to Enniskillen, where I 
 shall perhaps visit Florence Court, Lord Enniskillen's 
 beautiful residence, thence to Galway and to Kil- 
 larney, and lastly to Cork, where I expect letters to be 
 forwarded to me from Edinburgh and London. . . . 
 
 As I am improving in health, I am inclined to stay 
 two or three weeks longer than I at first proposed, 
 and may not leave until the last of October. A week 
 ago I weighed 136 pounds, which is four or five more 
 than when I left home. . . . 
 
 To-day has been a day of sad feeling with me. To 
 see old homesteads and what was once a beautiful 
 realm of social and family joy abandoned fills my 
 heart with sorrow ; and yet why did I expect aught 
 else ? Certainly I had no reason to look for another 
 result. Yet I have performed a pious duty, and I 
 shall soon banish the sadness that has accompanied 
 it. ... 
 
 On October 1, 1857, Mr. Rogers very narrowly 
 escaped death in a peculiar accident while travelling. 
 The following letters tell the story, but Mr. Rogers 
 makes as light as possible of what was really a most 
 serious affair :
 
 53.] NARROW ESCAPE FROM DEATH. 377 
 
 TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 SWAN INN, NORWICH, ENGLAND, 
 
 Monday, October 4, 1857. 
 
 I am seated in a cosy room in this most comfortable 
 inn, thankful to God that I am so well as to be able 
 with ease to write to you. On my way hither on Fri- 
 day night I was injured by a large stone thrown into 
 the car, while we were moving at a high speed ; and 
 I am compelled to remain here some days to recruit. 
 The stone (a piece of flint) struck me in the centre 
 of the left cheek, producing a large wound, but luck- 
 ily did not pass entirely through, and caused a small 
 fracture both of the lower and upper jaw. I have 
 had but little fever, and the doctor thinks the wound 
 is doing well, and that the broken bones will not be 
 long in uniting. We were twelve miles from Norwich 
 when the injury was done, but I preferred continuing 
 my journey to this place, in spite of the great pain and 
 loss of blood. It was well I did so, as I have fallen 
 into kind hands, and am provided with every comfort 
 and attendance that could be desired. The principal 
 people of the city have offered their services, and have 
 shown their sympathy in a variety of grateful ways. 
 I may be detained here until the end of the week, or 
 even longer, but I am in hopes of being able to pursue 
 my journey to London by Friday. How little we 
 know of our future ! When I last wrote you, the day 
 before leaving Manchester, I was exulting in my im- 
 proved health. At that time I had not decided on 
 coming this way, which I was led to do by a kind 
 acquaintance telling me that I should certainly find 
 Sedgwick here. I therefore agreed to make this di- 
 gression, and was much pleased on the way by my 
 view of the cathedral of Peterborough, and of the 
 far grander one of Ely. It was about two hours after 
 I had enjoyed the ancient wonders of this structure 
 and the superb restorations that I received the terrible 
 blow from which I am now suffering. . . .
 
 378 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1857. 
 
 I believe my injury is already noised in the papers, 
 although on that night and the following day I en- 
 joined upon the police and reporters not to mention 
 my name, as I feared that the exaggerated news might 
 reach Edinburgh and America before I could write. 
 . . . Rest assured that I have been frank with you as 
 to the nature and extent of the injuries. They are 
 severe, but not at all serious. The wound in the face 
 will, I trust, not leave much of a scar, and the slight 
 fracture will doubtless soon be healed. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 NORWICH, Saturday Morning, October 2, 1857. 
 
 ... It grieves me to have such a letter to write. 
 But I made good escape with my life, for an inch or 
 two higher would have brought the jagged missile 
 upon my temple. ... I find that Sedgwick left 
 Norwich three days ago. . . . 
 
 . . . The doctor does not apprehend any serious 
 delay in the healing. I have had very kind visits 
 from the mayor, and sheriff, and other gentlemen of 
 Norwich, as well as from Mr. Gurney, the M. P. for 
 this county. The people of the house are extremely 
 attentive, and make me quite comfortable. 
 
 TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 NORWICH, Thursday, October 7, 8 p. M. 
 
 . . . The wound on my face is so much closed that 
 I am able now to assure you that my beauty will not 
 be much marred by it. The swelling slowly subsides, 
 but still gives me an aldermanic look on one side. 
 As to the progress that the broken bones are making 
 in healing their differences I cannot so certainly speak, 
 but they are making progress, and in two or three 
 days more I hope I shall be able to venture into the 
 open air. 
 
 Thus far I have alternated between my chamber 
 and sitting-room, in both of which I have had a very
 
 -Ex. 53.] NORWICH FRIENDS. 379 
 
 lonesome time, as you may suppose. I contrive va- 
 rious illusions as a substitute for society, such as hav- 
 ing two chairs beside my own, at the round table 
 where I now write, and placing you in one and Jamie 
 or Robert in the other, and then talking in whispers 
 for all three in earnest ; this has been quite a comfort 
 to me. Of course I see the papers, and besides have 
 some books from the library, for I am rather lionized 
 in Norwich. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 NORWICH, Friday, 8 p. M., October 8, 1857. 
 . . . They tell amusing stories here of Sedgwick's 
 preaching, which is full of geology and natural science 
 in general, and digressive to an extraordinary degree. 
 He errs evidently in making his sermons much too 
 long, although I find the substance of them much 
 approved of by the more intelligent hearers. . . 
 
 TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 EDINBURGH, October 16, 1857. 
 
 In my anxiety that you should hear of my injury 
 first from me, I last week wrote several letters to you, 
 one of which to go by the line from Southampton. I 
 continued to do well at the inn, under the watchful care 
 of the nurse and my kind, sympathizing doctor, 1 and 
 on Saturday he insisted on removing me to his own 
 house. There I remained in delightful quarters for 
 three or four days, walking a little and riding out 
 with him, until I thought I could venture to make 
 the journey hither, which I did without hurt the day 
 before yesterday. 
 
 Never was a stranger more kindly and generously 
 treated than was I by these noble people of Norwich. 
 After all his laborious care of me at the inn, and after- 
 wards, my good doctor positively refused to accept a 
 fee. Other friends gathered about me, and before I 
 had left Norwich I had grown to love the city and 
 
 1 Mr. William Firth, surgeon.
 
 380 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1857. 
 
 people as if it had long been my home. By the 
 kindness of Mr. Stark, Mr. Fitch, the Mayor, Mr. 
 Gurney, M. P., and others, I saw nearly all the points 
 of interest in and about this fine old city without 
 weariness and with great enjoyment. . . . 
 
 This afternoon I walked, in company with Henry, 
 Robert Chambers and Mr. Cross, son of the noted 
 electrician, to the celebrated Craiglieth quarries, about 
 a mile beyond the wonderful ravine of the Dean 
 Bridge, which you no doubt remember. Here we 
 looked down into the vast excavation which was once 
 filled with the material out of which the whole of the 
 new city has been constructed, a warm gray sand- 
 stone belonging to the coal measures. From this 
 high bank we had a superb view of the city, flanked 
 by the Castle and Calton Hill, and backed on one 
 hand by the darkly shaded crags and Arthur's Seat, 
 and on the other by the softer hazy undulations of the 
 Pentland Hills. 
 
 I am getting a frock coat made by Henry's learned 
 tailor, John Anderson, who has found time to drink 
 deep of philosophy while struggling to support life by 
 his handicraft. I have spent two very pleasant even- 
 ings at Robert Chambers's, and the last time I enjoyed 
 the sweet music of the girls singing together, and Mr. 
 and Mrs. Chambers afterwards, with piano and flute. 
 Meanwhile, the third daughter, the genius and beauty 
 of the family, sketched as by magic very good like- 
 nesses of both Henry and myself. This evening we go 
 to Professor Maclaren's at Morningside, where his 
 newly built library is to be inaugurated by a merry 
 party, with some dancing on the part of the young 
 folk. . . . You will see from this that my remaining 
 discomforts of face and jaws do not preclude me from 
 some social enjoyment. Of course I cannot go to 
 dinner parties, and at these more informal affairs I 
 keep very quiet. 
 
 Yesterday I rode out to the botanic gardens, where 
 Balfour very kindly showed me through the various
 
 MT. 53.] EDINBURGH. 381 
 
 treasures of which he has charge, almost rivalling the 
 richness of Kew. I have received very kind letters 
 of inquiry from my cousin John Rogers and from 
 other friends in Ireland and England since my acci- 
 dent, and have had a pleasant correspondence with 
 those dear Norwich friends, who have written to know 
 of my progress. . . . 
 
 . . . You cannot imagine a more lovely child than our 
 dear little Edith. She is much in the garden with 
 her kind young nurse, and has the most perfect health. 
 Her faculties are opening rapidly; she talks in her 
 own sweet dialect very fluently. Of course she and 
 her uncle William are the best of friends. 
 
 ... I have just received a very kind letter from 
 the Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, inquiring anx- 
 iously about my recovery. . . . 
 
 Love to James and father and kind remembrances 
 to Dottie and Jimmie. 1 Please enclose the note to 
 Mr. John A. Lowell, or, if you think better, ask fa- 
 ther to give the message orally. Kind regards to the 
 Ticknors. 
 
 EDINBURGH, November 6, 1857. 
 
 . . . My stay has given me the opportunity, espe- 
 cially during the last ten days, of making many very 
 agreeable friends, and seeing something of the work- 
 ing of the University, which I visited on Monday. I 
 have had very pleasant interviews with Forbes, Greg- 
 ory, and others who have the lead in science here, and 
 I have received invitations for next week to dinners 
 and other parties, which I shall not be here to attend. 
 To-morrow we dine with Professor James Forbes, and 
 Dr. Gregory pressed me to remain next week and 
 dine with him. I spent a very pleasant evening on 
 Wednesday at Lord Murray's, and shall be this even- 
 ing at George Combe's. So you see that Edinburgh, 
 at first so dull, is beginning to present great social 
 attractions. . . . 
 
 1 A maid and man servant.
 
 382 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1857. 
 
 12 A GEORGE STKEET, HANOVER SQUARE, 
 LONDON, November 15, 1857. 
 
 ... I came up from Edinburgh on Monday night, 
 having paused in Liverpool to secure a berth by the 
 steamer of the 21st, the America. My good friends 
 the Edwardses had a snug chamber ready for me, and 
 when Henry joins me in a day or two we shall have 
 between us a nice little sitting-room. On Tuesday I 
 made a visit to father's friend, good old Mr. Hunter, 
 who was glad to see me and made many inquiries 
 about father and his work. He is very hale-looking, 
 and says his health is good. As he and his daughter 
 pressed me to take family dinner with them, it being 
 late when I called, I gladly did so, and stayed until 
 after tea chatting with them and young Mr. Hunter, 
 now about being admitted to the Bar. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 LONDON, November 11, 1857. 
 
 . . . The best inductive coils made here by Ladd 
 give a spark not exceeding 4^ inches, and cost twelve 
 guineas. Forbes, of Edinburgh, has requested me to 
 order from Ritchie J one of his best apparatus. . . . 
 Henry, who has gone over to Glasgow for a day or 
 two, will be here by the close of the week to look after 
 his engraver. He is pressing forward his work with 
 all energy. . . . 
 
 TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 LONDON, November 20, 1857. 
 
 ... I have now been nearly two weeks in this vast 
 wilderness of men, and am beginning to enjoy some of 
 its noble opportunities for scientific intercourse. 
 
 On Wednesday I had a delightful dinner with the 
 Geological Club from 5.30 to 8, when we proceeded 
 to the meeting. There, after a paper by Phillips, we 
 had a long abstract on American Geology from good 
 old Dr. Bigsby, which called up Henry and myself as 
 
 1 E. S. Ritchie, electrical inventor and constructor of physical ap- 
 paratus, Boston.
 
 ^T. 53.] LONDON. 383 
 
 well as Murchison and others, making the meeting a 
 very animated and interesting one. Last night I had 
 the honor of dining with the Royal Society Club, and 
 then of attending a meeting in the fine apartments of 
 Burlington House. General Sabine read a valuable 
 paper on Terrestrial Magnetism, on which by invitation 
 I made a few remarks. I meet with a very kind welcome 
 from all my old scientific friends, and have made a 
 number of valuable new acquaintances. It was Pro- 
 fessor Miller's kindness that procured me an invita- 
 tion yesterday. I forgot to insert in order, that before 
 attending the Royal Society I spent half an hour with 
 the Chemical, in a neighbouring room, where the pres- 
 ident, Professor Playfair, called upon me to give an 
 account of my ozone observations and other matters. 
 These were very kindly received. Since being here I 
 have seen a good deal of Morris, Rupert Jones, Mur- 
 chison, Bigsby, Tyndall, Wheatstone, Faraday, Gas- 
 siot and others, and were you here and we could remain 
 for some months, I could profit by and enjoy greatly 
 these interviews. . . . 
 
 We are to take tea at Leonard Homer's on Monday 
 night, when this kind old friend will have several 
 knights of the hammer to meet us. The Lyells I shall 
 not see, as they are not to return until next month. 
 To-morrow morning I breakfast with Dr. Carpenter ; 
 on Monday I lunch at Hammersmith with good Mr. 
 Wheatstone, on Wednesday dine with Gassiot, and 
 thus I am likely to have my time filled up with pleas- 
 ant social and scientific engagements. 
 
 Will you please say to Mr. Ritchie that I have seen 
 Ladd's coil in action, the best in England, and it can 
 scarcely yield four inches of spark. I hope he will be 
 able to fill Forbes's order promptly. 
 
 If I can find time I must run up to Oxford to see 
 the registering apparatus in the Observatory, and to 
 meet Phillips and his sister. Henry's continued stay 
 has brought him into the most favourable notice, so 
 that now honours of all kinds are in his path. Ere-
 
 384 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1858. 
 
 long he will be made a member of the Royal Society, 
 and other learned bodies are seeking to enroll his 
 name on their list. There is any amount of confusion 
 as to the personality of the two of us. 
 
 Mr. Rogers reached home on December 14, 1857. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 BOSTON, February 8, 1858. 
 
 . . . The steamer of yesterday has brought me a 
 letter from Henry. He is working from nine A. M. to 
 nine P. M., as he has been, through the season. I trust 
 the Legislature [of Pennsylvania] will be satisfied 
 with waiting a little longer for the second volume. 
 The whole work will be most superb, far finer than 
 anything of the kind published on this side the At- 
 lantic. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 BOSTON, February 8, 1858. 
 
 . . . The Lecompton Constitution, the work of a 
 faction organized by Missouri votes, has been actually 
 commended to Congress by Buchanan in a message full 
 of sophistry and disingenuous statements, and will 
 probably command a majority of the Senate. A motion 
 is to-day to be considered in the lower house for refer- 
 ring it to a special committee with instructions to 
 inquire into the facts, and we are expecting to hear 
 of scenes of stormy debate and violent personalities. 
 There can, however, be no question that Kansas will 
 come in when admitted as a free State, however the 
 weakness of the President and the madness of the 
 Southern fire-eaters may delay the result. I see with 
 sorrow and indignation that Senator Mason contem- 
 plates some general provision for bringing new States 
 into the Union by pairs, so as to maintain the present 
 balance between slave and free States!! But this 
 cannot be done. 
 
 Your friend, old Mr. Quincy. attained his 86th 
 birthday last Friday.
 
 JET. 53.] SINGING FLAMES. 385 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 BOSTON, March 9, 1858. 
 
 . . . Here but little is doing beyond the usual slow 
 movement of some of the surveys. Dale Owen has, I 
 learn, published a second Report, but I cannot get 'it. 
 Hall is, I believe, bringing out another volume. The 
 most striking news in geology, however, is contained in 
 a letter from Swallow J to Dana, in the March number 
 of " Silliman," in which he states that he has found 
 quite a large number of undoubted Permian shells, 
 etc., above the Coal measures in Kansas. He claims 
 thus to have established a Permian group of deposits 
 in that region. . . . 
 
 I am now surrounded by books and documents on 
 Terrestrial Magnetism, in which I have become more 
 interested than I had ever been before. Some weeks 
 ago I took up inadvertently some experiments on 
 sonorous flames, which have occupied Tyndall and 
 others of late, and hitting upon a number of curious 
 and new results, I have been anxious to complete my 
 little piece of research. I am now resuming these 
 magnetic studies, and am desirous of drawing up a 
 pretty full paper on the subject, but shall not be in 
 time for your April number. 2 
 
 I am sorry to hear such news of good Professor 
 Gregory's health. His kindness and simple love of 
 truth greatly interested me. . . . 
 
 Theodore Parker, whom I saw a few days ago, asks 
 very earnestly about you. Last Sunday I heard a su- 
 perb sermon from him. He is quite himself again. . . . 
 
 My health has been on the whole much better than 
 a year ago, though my old troubles do not suffer me 
 to forget them. . . . 
 
 1 Professor G. C. Swallow, State Geologist of Missouri. 
 
 2 The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, of which Henry was one of 
 the editors.
 
 386 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1858. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 BOSTON, March 9, 1858. 
 
 . . . Among my curious new experiments on flame 
 are the following : 
 
 1. I simply vibrate the jet-pipe within the tube, and 
 the silent flame becomes at once sonorous. 
 
 2. When the flame refuses to sing by other modes 
 of excitement, I cause it at once to commence its song 
 by sending a properly graduated current of air up the 
 tube. 
 
 3. With a small mechanism, constructed for the 
 purpose, I cause the jet-pipe, with its flame, to revolve 
 rapidly in the tube. When silent, the flame, of course, 
 presents the appearance of a hollow cylinder of light, 
 but as soon as it begins to sing, the upper edge be- 
 comes serrated, like a crown wheel, and at length 
 almost completely divided into narrow separate col- 
 umns arranged in circular order, thus giving us a very 
 beautiful proof of the intermitting combustion of the 
 singing flame. 
 
 FROM PROFESSOR JAMES D. DANA. 
 
 NEW HAVEN, March 17, 1858. 
 
 I thank you most warmly for the photograph of 
 your trilobite. It is exceedingly fine. Your photo- 
 lithographic illustrations of the subject will make a 
 beautiful suite ; the effect is so good that they almost 
 bring the old world back again. I should like much 
 to make room for your paper in our next, and regret 
 to say that our printers reported to me two days since 
 that I already had the number more than full. ... I 
 wish you would send a note on the Virginia and North 
 Carolina, etc., rocks, containing the views in your 
 letter. . . . You have the whole subject at your fin- 
 gers' ends, and can balance rightly the pros and cons, 
 and a notice from you would, therefore, be of great 
 value. .
 
 JEr. 63.] A VACUUM TUBE. 387 
 
 I am glad to know that you have recovered (for so 
 I learn) from the terrible accident that befell you in 
 England. . . . 
 
 Blake is at No. 4 St. Mark's Place, New York city. 
 Brush is here working in the mineral way. He has 
 made out a part of the agalmatolite of China to be 
 massive pyrophyllite, as Malmstedt had done. He 
 sends his kind regards. 
 
 FROM J. G. GASSIOT. 1 
 
 CLAPHAM COMMON, April 16, 1858. 
 
 I forward per post half a dozen copies of the ab- 
 stract of my paper, which you may present to any of 
 your friends who take an interest in this research. 
 
 I have also desired Mr. Casella to send you a 
 tube. . . . 
 
 Private. Your brother was among the fifteen se- 
 lected yesterday by the Council of the Royal Society. 
 Do not take any notice of this ; you will hear of it in 
 due course. 
 
 TO J. G. GASSIOT. 
 
 BOSTON, July 2, 1858. 
 
 On coming to town yesterday I was delighted to 
 find the box from Mr. Casella, and proceeded with all 
 care to unwrap its precious contents. The tube was 
 in perfect condition, and last night I had the pleasure 
 of trying it with a coil machine, which Mr. Ritchie had 
 just finished for one of our Southern universities. The 
 effects were wonderfully beautiful. I shall make fur- 
 ther experiments with it in the various ways indicated 
 by you, and shall give my scientific friends the pleas- 
 ure of witnessing these novel phenomena. Let me 
 thank you, my dear Sir, for the trouble you have 
 taken to send me this instrument, and for the instruc- 
 tion and pleasure I am deriving from it. May I ask you, 
 when you meet Mr. Casella, to return my acknow- 
 ledgments for his care in transmitting the tube, as well 
 as for the printed circular which he enclosed. 
 
 i English physicist and investigator in electricity.
 
 388 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1858. 
 
 I have read with interest your account of Ritchie's 
 induction apparatus in the "Philosophical Magazine" 
 just received, and knowing that it would gratify him, 
 have sent it to him for perusal. The coil used last 
 night is of the same power as yours, and would no 
 doubt by urging yield a spark much beyond 12 
 inches. I observe that Ruhmkorff has recently im- 
 proved his apparatus so as to obtain from it a spark 
 nearly as long as that from Ritchie's coil. But I do 
 not understand his need of using 25 cells for the 
 purpose. 
 
 I have just completed a description of curious ex- 
 periments upon the rings formed by gases and liquids 
 under certain conditions of intermittent discharge, 
 and the like phenomena, from bursting and explod- 
 ing bubbles. 1 Hereafter I may trouble you with 
 some of the details which have been quite interesting 
 to me. 
 
 Have you tried Quet's curious experiment on the 
 decomposition of carburetted hydrogen gas by the 
 induction current ? The separation of the carbon at 
 the poles only is very interesting. 
 
 We are greatly disappointed at receiving no news 
 of the Atlantic cable, and have come to the unwel- 
 come conclusion that the attempt has failed. But 
 nevertheless I have strong confidence in its ultimate 
 success. 
 
 I am glad to find that Moigno, in the " Cosmos," 
 stands up manfully for Wheatstone's claims in the 
 great invention of the telegraph. 
 
 Professor Henry Rogers now paid a brief visit to 
 America in order to attend to matters connected with 
 his Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. 
 
 l " In this paper Professor Rogers anticipated some of the later re- 
 sults of Helmholtz and Sir William Thomson." J. P. Cooke, Proc. 
 Am. Acad. vol. xviii. p. 426.
 
 JET. 53.] THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 389 
 
 MB. ROGERS TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 
 
 SUNNY HILL, Saturday, July 11, 1858. 
 
 . . . To-morrow I return to Boston, where I shall 
 remain to see Henry off. I shall feel very sad at 
 parting with him, perhaps for some years, but I be- 
 lieve we shall all be the happier in being no longer 
 anxious for his health, and in the enjoyment of his 
 success abroad. . . . 
 
 I send you a copy of my little paper on sonorous 
 flames, as printed in " Silliman." 
 
 Henry has recently been elected a fellow of the 
 Royal Society. I do not know that it has been pub- 
 licly announced, but I have the news in a letter from 
 General Portlock, the geologist, who is a member. . . . 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 SUNNY HILL, August 10, 1858. 
 
 . . . After reading the exciting narrative of the 
 dangers and difficulties of the earlier trial, I had al- 
 most despaired of the laying of the cable this season, 
 and such seems to have been the prevailing impression 
 until the receipt of the startling news of the arrival of 
 the Niagara at Trinity Bay, and of the success of the 
 experiment. I recollect no event since the news of 
 peace in 1814, of which I have a vague but glad impres- 
 sion, which has been received with such an acclamation 
 of delight throughout the land. Certainly none has 
 given so unanimous a joy. As might be expected, those 
 immediately instrumental in carrying out the attempt 
 receive an extravagant share of laudation. But the 
 scientific labours which have culminated in this daz- 
 zling result will soon become more generally known and 
 fairly appreciated, and I trust that Wheatstone and 
 his British colleagues will reap their full share of the 
 honours of this grand achievement. To Wheatstone 
 certainly belongs the credit of framing a plan com-
 
 390 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1858. 
 
 plete in nearly all respects for a submarine telegraph 
 many years before any attempt had been made to lay 
 one. When with him last autumn I had the pleasure 
 of seeing his original drawings and plans, which, if 
 capitalists had favoured, would have secured for him 
 an acknowledged priority in this great application. 
 But thus it is often with the most inventive genius, 
 which passes too rapidly from one creation to another 
 to secure to itself the honour or profit of its intellectual 
 labours. . . . 
 
 TO JAMES SAVAGE, JR., AT HIS FARM IN ASHLAND, MASS. 
 
 SUKNT HILL, Thursday Morning, September, 1858. 
 
 Taking pity on your loneliness this morning, I send 
 you through this stormy air a short missive telling of 
 our continued thought of you, and giving you the 
 latest news of our wire. 
 
 As the winds were mustering for this great equi- 
 noctial review all day yesterday, we had good oppor- 
 tunity for our experiment. 1 The kite soars superbly 
 with all the string and an equal length of wire, and 
 has force enough for twice as much. We obtained 
 many pleasant and some rather severe shocks, of which 
 the women-folks had a share. When you come up 
 next month we shall have a still finer display in one 
 of our steady nor' westers. 
 
 The peach-trees this morning are surging to and 
 fro like a stormy sea, and I suppose have been 
 stripped of most of their fruit, but the storm has 
 not allowed me yet to make personal inspection. As 
 usual the house has let in the driving rain at certain 
 points, and we are entertained by the musical reso- 
 nance of sundry tubs and buckets made vocal by 
 descending drops. . . . 
 
 Our games of football were of the feeblest after 
 your departure. But E. and the two Fannys per- 
 formed surprisingly in an impromptu way when left 
 
 1 Franklin's famous experiment.
 
 ^T. 54.] DONATFS COMET. 391 
 
 to their own wild wills. Kobert and I have been 
 contriving optical whirligigs when not employed in 
 dragging down the thunder. 
 
 Now, my dear Jim, you must forthwith respond to 
 this bagatelle, and tell us all about your doings and 
 musings in calm or storm. 
 
 E. and the rest send love. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 SUNNY HILL, September 21, 1858. 
 
 . . . Donati's comet is now a fine object in the 
 evening as seen from our hill. 
 
 FROM HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 BURLEY WOOD. NEAR LEEDS, October 1, 1858. 
 
 . . . The meeting of the Association here closed on 
 Wednesday, and yesterday (Thursday) the members 
 dispersed on several pleasant excursions. 
 
 I made a communication upon the late researches 
 of Meek and Hayden, and others, stating the evidence 
 for and against their Permian in Kansas. The gen- 
 eral impression of the geologists is that the so-called 
 Permian may be intermediate between the Coal meas- 
 ures and Permian of Europe, and Emmons's facts do 
 not convince them that the Carolina beds are genuine 
 Permian. Do send me an original communication on 
 your more recently found Richmond coal fossils for 
 the January number of the " Philosophical Journal," 
 and let Silliman copy it. 
 
 I am staying with a Mr. Firth, a wealthy merchant 
 of Leeds, who has grown rich in the American trade. 
 He and his family have treated me with the genuine 
 English hospitality, and you know what that means. 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER HENRY. 
 
 SUNNY HILL, October 3, 1858. 
 
 . . . We have had many fine opportunities for ob- 
 serving the comet for the last two weeks. Two nights
 
 392 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1858. 
 
 ago we were favoured by that perfectly clear state of 
 the air which marks a cool October night, and I sat 
 watching the superb train for upwards of an hour, 
 until, in fact, the bright nucleus had sunk below the 
 horizon, leaving the train still distinctly visible through 
 the crystalline atmosphere. The fluctuations in the 
 extent and shape of the train early struck my atten- 
 tion, at one moment we see it suddenly contract in 
 length or in both dimensions, the next instant it flashes 
 out to more than double magnitude. In these strange 
 movements the light frequently spreads out fitfully on 
 the lower or concave side of the train, greatly increas- 
 ing its breadth for some distance, and then as sud- 
 denly contracts with a much narrower band. 
 
 As seen on the night of the 2d of October, it had the 
 aspect, when largest, of a magnificent eagle-feather, 
 having a gracefully curving outline above, but a less 
 regular and defined limit beneath, reaching, with its 
 faintly vanishing end, through a superb ascending arc 
 to near the end of the tail of the Great Bear. 
 
 1 TEMPLE PLACE, October 19, 1858. 
 
 Wyman told me yesterday of his intention to go to 
 the La Plata with Bennett Forbes, who is taking one 
 of his own ships to that region on some commercial 
 enterprise. Wyman's health has again become very 
 feeble, which forms his chief inducement for this 
 voyage, but he will make it profitable in the way of 
 palaeontology and natural history. He is studying 
 Darwin, etc., by way of preparation. . . . 
 
 How much pleasure, my dear Henry, you have 
 given me by your frequent letters. Do, I beg of you, 
 continue to write thus often, and I will engage to send 
 you a line weekly as you request. I do not permit 
 myself to dwell on your removal to a distant land, or 
 I should sometimes grow very sad. But this active 
 interchange will seem to keep us linked as we have 
 ever been in thought as well as affection. . . .
 
 54.] LOWELL LECTURES. 393 
 
 BOSTON, November 2, 1858. 
 
 . . . Since coming to town I have been much occu- 
 pied in getting up preparations for my Lowell course. 1 
 As I shall make it somewhat experimental, and as the 
 material at the Institute proves to be very meagre, I 
 have to spend much time in contriving, and either 
 constructing or getting Ritchie to make, means of 
 illustration. Besides which I have many plain dia- 
 grams to draw on cloth. . . . 
 
 The " Philadelphia Magazine " republished from 
 " Silliman's " some months ago Le Conte's paper on 
 the sonorous jet, with his speculation about the cohe- 
 sion of the gas in a flame. I think he ought to have 
 published my criticism on the same, of which I sent 
 him a copy, and which you have so recently repub- 
 lished in your last " Journal." 
 
 I thank you, my dear Henry, for the interesting 
 address of Professor Owen, which treats a variety 
 of topics with great ability. I confess, however, to 
 some surprise at the readiness with which he adopts 
 Faraday's dreamy notions about gravitation. To me 
 it seems as if many of those who are discussing this 
 question of the conservation of force are plunging into 
 the fog of mysticism. I like Grove's phrase, " corre- 
 lation of forces," better. Faraday would incline, I 
 believe, to go back behind inertia to find some power 
 in matter to produce it, and yet what is matter but 
 localized inertia ? Are we not in danger soon of pass- 
 ing into modes of discussion which will be but a mod- 
 ern phasis of the old mysticism ? . . . 
 
 BOSTON, November 17, 1858. 
 
 . . . Whitcomb 2 tells me that the number of names 
 recorded since yesterday betokens a pretty full at- 
 
 1 In 1858-59 Mr. Eogers gave before the Lowell Institute a course 
 of lectures on " Water and Air in their Mechanical, Chemical, and 
 Vital Relations." 
 
 2 Janitor of the Lowell Institute.
 
 394 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1858. 
 
 tendance. ... I want to study Owen's address with 
 more care than I have given it. Parts quite aston- 
 ished, and I must say disappointed me. There is a 
 good deal of preaching in it, and what seems to me 
 unsound philosophy. There is nothing new here ex- 
 cept that Mr. Everett has agreed to supply to the 
 "New York Ledger" (circulation over 100,000) an 
 article every week on some general topic, and has re- 
 ceived the consideration $10,000, to be appropriated 
 to the purchasing of Mt. Vernon. 
 
 I have been able to repeat Savart's experiment of 
 musical jets of water with great success. The tones 
 are loud and exquisitely smooth and swelling. I have 
 also prepared for my first lecture a cylinder of oil sus- 
 pended in alco-water, like the sphere of my former 
 experiment. The experiment is on a far larger scale 
 than anything described by Plateau. . . . 
 
 BOSTON, November 29, 1858. 
 
 ... I was unable to write by the last steamer, as my 
 first lecture demanded my thoughts and time. It went 
 off well, although the extreme inclemency of the night 
 made the audience less than I could have wished. . . . 
 In a late number of the " Edinburgh Review " I find a 
 capital article on the stereoscope, in which Sir David 
 is properly handled, and Wheatstone's claims are fully 
 vindicated. I am sure it is from the pen of Carpen- 
 ter. Besides the physiological views, which are his, 
 I see he alludes to the photograph of my trilobite, of 
 which I gave him a copy, pointing out the curious 
 optical effect of a change from convex to concave re- 
 lief. ... I gave Mr. Appleton your message, which 
 pleased him. He asked most kindly after you. I can- 
 not tell you, my dear brother, how continually I miss 
 your society. There is no one else in this world with 
 whom I can exchange thoughts and share the process 
 of philosophic meditation but with you. . . .
 
 -Ex. 54.] HENRY'S PENNSYLVANIA REPORT. 395 
 
 WEDNESDAY MORNING, December 10, 1858. 
 
 . . . E. has kept her letter open for a short appen- 
 dix from me, as my preparations for last night's ex- 
 perimental lecture deprived me of the opportunity of 
 writing yesterday. I am now treating of the mechan- 
 ical properties of the atmosphere, and have found the 
 preparation of experiments, with the imperfect means 
 at command, very hard work. In spite of a rainy sky, 
 and " Piccolomini "and Bayard Taylor to boot, I had 
 quite a good attendance, and indeed throughout my 
 numbers have kept up, and the class has shown strong 
 interest in the lectures. 
 
 I went after the lecture last night to the Academy 
 meeting, held at Judge Shaw's, the first I have at- 
 tended for a long time. There were some fifty pres- 
 ent, and among them Peirce and Agassiz, who also 
 made their first appearance after a long interval. . . . 
 
 How my heart leaped up on hearing by Eliza's 
 letter that the Book l was finished, the Magnum Opus 
 which embodies so much physical toil and so much 
 brain- work. But think, my dear brother, what a re- 
 ward you have in the memory of generations. 
 
 The President's message is of great length, and 
 advocates many measures, such as the acquisition of 
 Cuba, which will startle foreign powers, and excite 
 great opposition at home. He has become a shame- 
 less champion of the slave interest. 
 
 BOSTON, January 11, 1859. 
 
 . . . Lord and Lady Radstock are still here, and 
 likely to remain several weeks. We have seen her 
 frequently, and think her a most charming person. I 
 have not succeeded in meeting him as often as I de- 
 sired, but we hope to have him to dine with us next 
 week. He is much with the Ticknors, and seems to 
 have been busy in studying the schools and charitable 
 institutions. . . . 
 
 1 Professor Henry Eogers's Report on the Geological Survey of Penn- 
 sylvania.
 
 396 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1859. 
 
 You will be pained to hear that Theodore Parker 
 is now prostrated by a bleeding at the lungs, and will, 
 as soon as he is able, go to the south of Europe. His 
 ardour has placed him in this peril. For while quite 
 an invalid he prepared for the Fraternity lectures two 
 elaborate discourses lately, on Washington and John 
 Adams, the last of which he read only a week ago to 
 a great crowd at the Music Hall. They were mas- 
 terly specimens of discriminating and manly criticism. 
 But the effort has brought on this very serious attack. 
 So great is the interest felt by thousands in his safety 
 that a bulletin is hung up at his door twice every day 
 to inform friends of his condition. I have anxiously 
 read them for two days. They report that he is com- 
 fortable, but requires absolute quiet and rest. I have 
 therefore not ventured to ring the bell. My heart is 
 really sad when I think of the possibly permanent in- 
 jury he has sustained. For the more I have seen of 
 him, the more I have learned to reverence his charac- 
 ter and admire his ability and multifarious knowledge. 
 
 BOSTON, February 4, 1859. 
 
 ... I think I mentioned in my last that the trus- 
 tees of Frank Gray have lately conveyed $50,000 to 
 the use of the Agassiz Museum, the interest being 
 devoted to the maintenance and extension of the col- 
 lection. In addition to this, efforts are now making 
 to secure from the State an appropriation of $100,000 
 for the erection of a large building to receive the col- 
 lection, and for salaries for curators in the several 
 departments. 
 
 Theodore Parker went to New York yesterday, and 
 will sail in a few days in the British steamer Karnac 
 for St. Thomas and other points in the West Indies. 
 He is accompanied by his wife, Miss Stevenson, and 
 Dr. and Mrs. Howe. I saw him about two weeks 
 ago for a few minutes, and found him looking better 
 than I had expected, and evidently quite hopeful of 
 a recovery.
 
 Mi. 54.] THEODORE PARKER. 397 
 
 I have never known an instance in which so true a 
 concern and sympathy moved so many hearts. In my 
 interview he spoke most affectionately of you, and he 
 refers to you again in touching language in a little 
 
 rncil note which he left for me before his departure, 
 cannot but have a strong hope that his life may 
 be prolonged many years, and that he may be able 
 with the pen, if not with the voice, to resume his place 
 among the noblest of the champions of humanity. 
 There is no one here to fill his place. He expects, 
 after pausing awhile in the West Indies, to go to Eu- 
 rope, and does not count, under the most favourable 
 conditions, on coming home in less than eighteen 
 months. He spoke of the pleasure he should have in 
 meeting with you. I cannot help feeling sad as I 
 think of his danger, and yet he has already done nobly 
 more than a man's work. In less than two weeks I 
 shall go to Virginia where, I am sorry to say, I com- 
 mitted myself to giving two or three lectures. 
 
 FROM THEODORE PARKER. 
 
 BOSTON, February 1, 1859. 
 
 MY DEAR PROFESSOR EOGERS, I return Mr. 
 Owen's remarkable pamphlet. What an instructive 
 thing it is ! I should have been surprised that it 
 could all have come from one man if I had not known 
 yourself and your brother, who in such matters taught 
 me the nil admirari. I shall buy it when I get to 
 London. When I get to London! I hope it does not 
 sound presumptuous to say so ! Yet I know how 
 uncertain my life is. 
 
 Allow me to thank you for the instruction I have 
 received from you, and for the many friendly and 
 noble words you have spoken to me. My acquaint- 
 ance with you began with your brother, and I feel 
 gratitude to you both. For you both turn your deep, 
 wide science into Humanity. I have found you both
 
 398 FIRST YEARS IN BOSTON. [1859. 
 
 always on the side of mankind and felt strengthened 
 and encouraged by your example. 
 
 Please remember me kindly to your wife and bro- 
 ther, and believe me, 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 THEODORE PARKER. 
 
 My wife and Miss Stevenson join in kindly greet- 
 ings.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX A. (Page 240.) 
 
 REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE OF SCHOOLS AND COL- 
 LEGES [OF THE LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA] AGAINST 
 THE EXPEDIENCY OF WITHDRAWING THE FIFTEEN 
 THOUSAND DOLLARS ANNUITY FROM THE UNIVERSITY 
 [OF VIRGINIA]. 
 
 1845. 
 
 Doc. No. 41. 
 
 (Prepared by W. B. ROGERS, Chairman of the Faculty.) 
 THE Committee of Schools and Colleges have considered, 
 according to order, the expediency of repealing the law 
 allowing an annuity of fifteen thousand dollars from the 
 Literary fund to the University of Virginia; and have 
 come to the following resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That it is inexpedient to repeal the said Law. 
 
 The Committee of Schools and Colleges having, as directed 
 by a resolution of the house of delegates, passed on the 22d 
 day of December, 1844, carefully investigated the past 
 history and present condition and influences of the Uni- 
 versity of Virginia, with the view of forming their opinion 
 upon the question of " repealing the Act of Assembly grant- 
 ing an annuity of $15,000 " to that institution, beg leave 
 to report the following facts and considerations as the result 
 of their inquiries :
 
 400 APPENDIX. 
 
 On reverting to the known intentions of the illustrious 
 founder of the University, and his distinguished colabourers, 
 and of the legislatures by whose enlightened liberality it 
 was set in operation, we recognize as the leading object of 
 its establishment the institution of a higher and more 
 thorough system of intellectual training than had yet been 
 attempted either in our own or any of the sister States, and 
 through this means the introduction of a better intellectual 
 culture in our colleges, academies and elementary schools. 
 
 In the period of twenty years, which comprises the as 
 yet brief history of the University, it would be unreasonable 
 to expect more than a very partial attainment of all the 
 salutary objects which inspired the hopes of its founders. 
 The great literary institutions of the Old World, which now 
 exercise so benign an influence on the progress of letters 
 and of general education, have gathered their strength to 
 do good by the slow growth of successive ages ; and 
 although in our own time and country more speedy effects 
 are to be anticipated, because wiser and more practical 
 methods of culture are adopted, the extensive diffusion of 
 these good influences through the public mind is necessarily 
 a gradual, though a continually progressive operation. 
 
 That the University has been successful in establishing 
 within our borders a higher and more thorough system of 
 scientific and literary training than had previously been 
 accessible anywhere in the United States, is, we think, 
 admitted by all who are familiar with its course of studies, 
 and with the influences these have exerted through its well- 
 trained alumni on the methods and aims of academic 
 teaching in many sections of the State. In proof of this, 
 referring in the first place simply to the training of its own 
 students in literature and science, whether professionally or 
 with general objects, we would call attention to the extent 
 and thoroughness of the instruction which it offers, and to 
 the system of intellectual culture it adopts. . . .
 
 
 APPENDIX. 401 
 
 SYSTEM OF INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 
 
 On comparing the system of intellectual culture adopted 
 in this institution with that in use in the higher seminaries 
 of learning in other States, we remark two distinctive 
 features which from their influence upon the interests of 
 education, may be deemed worthy of especial note. The 
 first is the privilege allowed to students of selecting such 
 studies as have a more immediate reference to the pur- 
 suits in which they design afterwards to engage, and the 
 second, the practice of combining to an unusual extent, 
 oral instruction in the form of lectures, with the use of 
 text-books. 
 
 It should here be added that many years before the 
 establishment of the University, the privilege of an election 
 of studies was allowed at William and Mary. Within her 
 venerable precincts liberal methods of instruction found a 
 home long before they were adopted by the thronged and 
 applauded colleges of New England ; and in her halls were 
 delivered by Bishop Madison the first regular courses of 
 lectures on physical science and political economy, ever 
 given in the United States. 
 
 Election of Studies. The former of these peculiarities 
 of system originating in a wise regard to the practical wants 
 of society, has been found well adapted to the genius of 
 our country, and at the same time eminently favourable 
 to that thoroughness of knowledge which in a just plan of 
 education is even more important than variety of attain- 
 ment. In virtue of this system the student preparing for 
 divinity, law or medicine is enabled to secure substantial 
 attainments in ethics, metaphysics and political economy, 
 or in chemistry and general physics ; the young engineer, 
 in mathematics, mechanics and geology ; and the incipient 
 teacher, in the languages, mathematics, belles-lettres and 
 such other portions of knowledge as will accomplish him 
 for his intended pursuits ; while in neither case is he
 
 402 APPENDIX. 
 
 required to spend his resources and his time in the acquire- 
 ment of branches which are but slightly related to the 
 
 Nor does the privilege thus granted often lead, on the 
 part of those who aim at a general education, to a neglect 
 of the more indispensable branches of study, since custom 
 has established a particular order of studies to which, with 
 some modifications, the great majority conform. Besides, 
 all are aware that, although a separate diploma is conferred 
 in each department, nothing short of a full and thorough 
 course in all the academic schools can prepare the student 
 for the highest honours to which he may aspire. 
 
 It is not unworthy of remark that the advantages of such 
 an election of studies, clearly evinced in the experience of 
 the University, have been substantially recognized of late 
 by the adoption at Harvard, and we believe other promi- 
 nent institutions abroad, of a similar feature, to replace the 
 Procrustes system hitherto in general use. But we may 
 be allowed to add that, while engrafting upon their old 
 established methods this liberal improvement, they have 
 allowed much latitude of election even to their candidates 
 for the higher honours, and, thus departing from the stern 
 requisitions of our University, have held out inducements to 
 the student to choose his studies rather in accordance with 
 his fancy or love of ease, than with the claims of a rigorous 
 mental discipline and a more profound and thorough schol- 
 arship. 
 
 Instruction by Lectures along with Text-Books. Ad- 
 verting now to the other distinctive feature in the system 
 of the University, the extensive use of lectures as a means 
 of training and instruction, we would in the first place call 
 attention to the fact that distinguished scholars abroad 
 agree in regarding this mode of teaching as the most 
 valuable improvement in the plan of university instruction 
 witnessed in modern times, and that they ascribe to its 
 inciting influences, both upon teachers and their pupils,
 
 APPENDIX. 403 
 
 much of that marvellous advancement in letters and science 
 which has made so many of the seats of learning of the Old 
 World the renowned centres of a knowledge no less benefi- 
 cent than bright. 
 
 The advantages of an extensive use of this method in 
 association with text-books, as compared with the old and 
 still very usual practice of exclusive text-book study and 
 recitation, although as yet but imperfectly recognized in 
 many of the colleges in this country, must, we think, 
 become apparent from considering, first, the greater impres- 
 siveness of knowledge orally conveyed, and secondly, the 
 more wholesome discipline of the faculties which such a 
 method renders habitual. 
 
 Respecting the former of these considerations it may be 
 enough to add that this greater force and permanency of 
 the impressions made upon the mind by the teachings of the 
 lecturer, proceeding from a very simple law of our mental 
 organization, is exemplified by the familiar experience of 
 all, as well in the lessons imparted to infancy by maternal 
 lips as in the oral instructions descending from the forum, 
 the pulpit and the bar. In proof of the prevailing convic- 
 tion on this subject in Europe as well as at home, reference 
 might be made to the eagerness with which crowds of all 
 classes of society gather around the desk of the distin- 
 guished expounder of philosophy, science or taste, and the 
 earnest activity of thought with which they analyze and 
 assimilate the knowledge he imparts. Indeed, so highly is 
 this method of teaching valued at the present day, that, 
 while it has been made a prominent feature in the system 
 of all the most active and successful institutions of learning 
 in the Old World, and has been legitimately applied as a 
 most efficient mean of popular instruction by the learned 
 and wise, it has not unfrequently been spuriously employed 
 to deceive the simple and to tax the purses and the cre- 
 dulity of the uninformed. 
 
 In judging of its good influences we should bear in mind
 
 404 APPENDIX. 
 
 that they show themselves as much in the increased viva- 
 city, clearness and originality of thought excited in the 
 teacher as in the quickened apprehension and sharpened 
 criticism of those whom he instructs, and that thus by a 
 reactive sympathy of thought the one becomes better quali- 
 fied to teach, and the other more ready fully to appropriate 
 the lessons he receives. It is true that, unaided by the 
 systematic study of well-selected books, mere lectures alone 
 would prove but an ineffective means of thorough collegiate 
 instruction. But when united with the daily or occasional 
 study of a text-book, they conduce, as we think, to a more 
 wholesome discipline of the faculties than any other col- 
 legiate system could. 
 
 On comparing this union of the two means of instruction, 
 that of the lecture-room and the closet, as in use at the 
 University, with the almost exclusive system of text-book 
 teaching, which characterizes the method of a large num- 
 ber of our colleges, it will readily appear that from the 
 very nature of the two methods, they must exert entirely 
 different influences in the mental training of the pupil. 
 
 Experience has amply shown that a large proportion of 
 the students at academies and higher institutions, where 
 book lessons are confided in too much, fall into a mechani- 
 cal routine of unreflecting labour, and, discovering that it 
 is easier to remember words than to analyze and compare 
 ideas, cease to apply the higher faculties of thought to the 
 subject of their studies. And even where this worst of all 
 the abuses of scholastic training does not follow, we but too 
 generally find them resting with implicit confidence on the 
 reasonings, and resorting to the very language, of their 
 book, without so much as daring to frame for themselves 
 other arguments or illustrations, or even imagining that 
 such are to be discovered. Thus habitually leaning upon 
 the thoughts, and repeating the words of others, accustomed 
 to be satisfied with whatever stands in verbis magistri, 
 their powers of thought are but imperfectly developed,
 
 APPENDIX. 405 
 
 and whatever of invention they may have had is enfeebled 
 or paralyzed by disuse. Inured to influences such as these, 
 and scarcely permitted to walk alone, how little is the mind 
 prepared for that vigorous and independent exercise of its 
 powers demanded in the pursuits of life, and how utterly 
 unfit for the hardy achievements of original and inventive 
 genius ! 
 
 Glancing now at the other, and as we believe far better 
 method of instruction, we discern a different order of 
 effects. Here the pupil accustomed in the lectures of his 
 teacher to hear doubtful questions discussed, and to see 
 new proofs and illustrations given of established truths, 
 catches the enthusiasm of critical or inventive thought, 
 and learns to reason and to demonstrate for himself. 
 Taught by his own efforts rightly to value the systems of 
 philosophy and science, and the productions of taste, which 
 have been wrought out by the master-minds of our race, 
 he acquires a deep reverence for their authority, because it 
 is the authority of truth. But along with this modest 
 deference to the oracles of knowledge, he cherishes that 
 manly self-dependence of thought which springs from the 
 conscious vigour due to the free training of his faculties ; 
 and when he quits the halls of his alma mater, he carries 
 with him the spirit of an intellectual freeman beneath the 
 bright insignia of his first literary achievement. 
 
 HONOI7RARY DEGREES NOT GRANTED AT THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 While referring to those features in the organization of 
 the University which distinguish it from most of the lead- 
 ing institutions in this country, and which are regarded by 
 its friends as among its highest merits, it is appropriate to 
 state that by an express law its authorities are forbidden 
 to grant honourary degrees, and that accordingly no 
 diploma of compliment has ever yet received its imprima- 
 tur. In most other colleges and universities, as is well 
 known, such honours are extended not only to those who
 
 406 APPENDIX. 
 
 have earned some reputation in divinity, medicine or law, 
 or even in the uncongenial pursuits of party politics, but are 
 accorded, as of course, in the case of Master of Arts, after 
 the interval of a few years, to all who have taken their 
 first academical degree. Rejecting a system so little 
 friendly to true literary advancement, the legislators of 
 the University have, we think, wisely made their highest 
 academic honour, that of Master of Arts of the University 
 of Virginia, the genuine test of diligent and successful lit- 
 erary training, and, disdaining such literary almsgiving, 
 have firmly barred the door against the demands of spuri- 
 ous merit and noisy popularity. . . . 
 
 ALLEGED EXTRAVAGANT INCOMES OF THE PROFESSORS. 
 
 Among the complaints made against the University, we 
 sometimes hear it urged that the incomes of the professors 
 are extravagantly large, and that a regard to republican 
 moderation as well as a cheapening of the expenses of 
 instruction require them to be reduced. In the last four 
 sessions, including the one now in progress, the average 
 income of all the professors has been very nearly as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 In the session of 1841-42 $2,300 
 
 of 1842-43 2,250 
 
 of 1843-44 2,150 
 
 of 1844-45 2,350 
 
 It thus appears that the average for the whole period of 
 four sessions may be set down at $2,300 for each pro- 
 fessor. That this sum exceeds the income of the profes- 
 sors in a number of our literary institutions, is undoubtedly 
 true. But it is equally certain that it does not surpass, 
 and in many instances falls short of that of the teachers 
 generally in seminaries of distinguished literary rank. 
 Thus the receipts of those professors who are steadily em- 
 ployed in a full course of duty in Cambridge, in Columbia
 
 APPENDIX. 407 
 
 College New York, at West Point, in the collegiate 
 department of the University of Pennsylvania, of several 
 of those in Princeton, in the University of South Carolina, 
 and several other institutions in the Southern States, are as 
 great and in many instances greater than are received by 
 the professors of our University. And it should be borne 
 in mind that the comparative cheapness of the means of 
 living and of the prevailing habits of society has the 
 effect of bringing the smaller emoluments of the teachers 
 in many of the New England and Western colleges more 
 nearly to an equality with the receipts of those elsewhere 
 who are more liberally paid. 
 
 It should also be remarked that in many of our institu- 
 tions the numerous tutors who share the inferior duties of 
 the professors, and thus greatly lighten their toils, divide 
 the emoluments of the department, and thus very properly 
 reduce the incomes of the principal instructors in a ratio 
 somewhat corresponding to the diminution of their labours. 
 At our University, on the contrary, the tasks of tutor and 
 professor fall upon the same individual ; and those who are 
 familiar with the daily routine of instruction, especially in 
 some of its schools, well know the unceasing drudgery it 
 involves. Comparing the emoluments at Cambridge and 
 most other prominent institutions with those at the Univer- 
 sity, as bestowed upon each leading department or school, 
 it will be found that, for the amount of laborious teaching 
 they perform, the professors at the University are less liber- 
 ally rewarded than their brethren at any of the institutions 
 in view. In a word, the full circle of instruction in any 
 one school or department is really obtained at much less 
 cost at the University than by their complex system it can 
 be with them. 
 
 But we turn to another view of the question, comporting, 
 we think, better with right conceptions of the high interests 
 it involves. The qualifications which fit a professor for the 
 duties of any chair at a distinguished seat of science and
 
 408 APPENDIX. 
 
 letters are such as are won only by long years of studious 
 labour, and of abstinence from pleasing relaxations of 
 society. They are the mingled fruits of genius and perse- 
 verance, matured often at the cost of health and generally 
 by the sacrifice of many a plan of easy self-advancement. 
 They are the gathered treasures wrought with anxious toil 
 from amid the deep labyrinths of thought to be sent abroad 
 with the impress of truth as a precious part of the intel- 
 lectual currency of the world. 
 
 Are qualifications thus rare, difficult of attainment, and 
 valuable in application, to be estimated as but of little 
 price ? Compared with the easy training which prepares 
 men for the ordinary vocations of life, they are surely 
 worthy of at least an equal remuneration. Be&ides, we 
 should remember the toil and confinement of the professor, 
 as well in his closet as in the presence of his class, in form- 
 ing our estimate of the value of his services. Yet with all 
 his hard-earned acquirements in science and letters, and 
 his daily exhausting labours of instruction and discipline, 
 his emoluments at the University, thus alleged to be extrav- 
 agant, will scarcely vie with those of the middle class of 
 lawyers, physicians and merchants in any of the thriving 
 communities of our country. 
 
 The cultivators of letters and science, eminently social 
 in their activity, and especially so in modern times, nat- 
 urally seek the incentives and rewards of their efforts in 
 the wide circle of emulous spirits gathered in the larger 
 cities. Nor can we expect that small pecuniary induce- 
 ments will suffice to tempt the really worthy of their num- 
 ber to exchange such congenial scenes for the isolation of a 
 professor's chair, even though it be one in our honoured 
 University. Even the more liberal compensation formerly 
 given has proved, as is well known, insufficient in some 
 instances to secure the services of distinguished scholars 
 invited to its halls, and has not prevented the resignation 
 of many professors who had for a time filled its stations
 
 APPENDIX. 409 
 
 with undenled success. To stint their emoluments then 
 would be at once to exclude from its chairs the command- 
 ing abilities and attainments necessary to accomplish the 
 high ends for which it was established, to paralyze the 
 living spirit of its organization, and to degrade this noble 
 institution into a cumbrous machine for class-book recita- 
 tions and superficial, though, it might be, plausible, aca- 
 demic routine. 
 
 ENDOWMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY AS COMPARED WITH 
 OTHER INSTITUTIONS OF LIKE RANK. 
 
 In claiming from the Commonwealth a continuance of 
 the pecuniary help heretofore accorded to her, the Univer- 
 sity only asks, in behalf of the great interests of education, 
 for that just and reasonable support which is essential to 
 the discharge of her peculiar functions in the intellectual 
 training of the youth of the State. If this higher and 
 more thorough training be really as important to the wel- 
 fare and honour of the community as the wise and patriotic 
 of our own and other countries have uniformly maintained, 
 then Virginia cannot, without grave injury to her interests 
 and her reputation, dispense with such an institution as her 
 University. It only remains to be considered at what rate, 
 compared with other communities, she purchases these 
 precious advantages. On this point we do not hesitate to 
 say that, adverting to the great comprehensiveness of the 
 scheme of actual instruction in the University, and compar- 
 ing her income with that of other prominent institutions 
 sustained either by public liberality or private munificence, 
 her annuity of $15,000 cannot be regarded as more than a 
 merely moderate endowment. 
 
 The most richly endowed universities of this country 
 cannot be compared in their resources with the long-estab- 
 lished institutions of Europe. Cambridge and Oxford in 
 England, and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, are 
 possessed of incomes the accumulated growth of ages,
 
 410 APPENDIX. 
 
 which vie with the revenues of some of the most opulent 
 States of the Union, and which far exceed the aggregate 
 income of all the universities and colleges in our land. 
 Many of the German universities have resources almost 
 equally extensive, and there is probably not one of them of 
 reputation whose means do not exceed that of any univer- 
 sity or college in the United States. In most of them the 
 professors and other officers, forming a very numerous 
 corps, receive their salaries directly from the government, 
 and are regarded as a part of the official organization of 
 the State. 
 
 Referring to the institutions of our own State, we find 
 William and Mary and Washington colleges each provided 
 with a permanent fund yielding an income, which, consid- 
 ering the scale of operations in the two cases, is as large, if 
 not larger, than that of the University. The University of 
 South Carolina, endowed by the State, and formerly enti- 
 tled to an annuity of about $12,000, is, we believe, at 
 present receiving the same or a greater sum from the pub- 
 lic treasury. Two of the collegiate institutions in Louisi- 
 ana have been sustained by an annuity of $15,000 each, 
 and the University of Alabama is supported, we believe, 
 by a still ampler contribution ; while several of the institu- 
 tions of the Northwestern States, richly provided for by 
 grants of land, are beginning to receive or are already 
 enjoying valuable and daily augmenting resources. The 
 permanent income of Columbia College, New York, is, we 
 understand, but little, if at all, inferior to that of our 
 University ; while the revenue of Harvard, the institution 
 most justly compared with ours, is not much short of 
 $60,000. 
 
 With these facts in view, the annuity of $15,000, instead 
 of appearing wastefully large, cannot fail to be regarded 
 as but a very moderate contribution in behalf of the high 
 literary interests devolved upon the University. Indeed, 
 considering the expansive scheme of its instructions, and
 
 APPENDIX. 4H 
 
 the substantial literary merits which have given it so dis- 
 tinguished a place among the higher seminaries of our 
 country, this annual provision might justly be viewed as a 
 comparatively meagre endowment, which, though large 
 enough perhaps for the present literary wants of our com- 
 munity, may hereafter be augmented with great benefit to 
 the Commonwealth. 
 
 It may perhaps be objected that, as the fixed revenue of 
 Harvard, and some other institutions above mentioned, is 
 derived from the munificence of individual benefactors, 
 and therefore makes no call upon the treasury of the State, 
 it is unfair to adduce the example of these seats of learn- 
 ing in support of the claims of the University. But our 
 argument, of course, supposes that an institution such as 
 the university is demanded by the highest interests as well 
 as the reputation of the Commonwealth, and we have 
 referred to these other distinguished seminaries only for 
 the purpose of showing at what general cost such an insti- 
 tution can be maintained. 
 
 At the establishment of the University, the hope was no 
 doubt indulged that sooner or later it also would become an 
 object of private benefaction ; but we have not the slightest 
 ground for supposing that in the patriotic aspirations of its 
 founders these private endowments, should they accrue, 
 were ever looked to as a means of withdrawing the Univer- 
 sity from legislative control, by dispensing with the annual 
 bounty of the State. It would on some accounts certainly 
 be desirable, were our University, like Harvard and several 
 others, sustained entirely or in great part by funds derived 
 from the munificence of individuals. But it should not 
 be forgotten that, while by this means the public would be 
 relieved from the annual contribution now required, the 
 general interests of the community, as affected by the oper- 
 ations of the institution, would be either wholly neglected 
 or but partially secured. The entire government and 
 organization devolving upon self-elective boards of trustees,
 
 412 APPENDIX. 
 
 irresponsible to the State, would of necessity be exposed to 
 the narrowing influences springing from the predilections 
 and prejudices of religious sects and classes of society; 
 and the University, by an easy transition losing the liberal 
 features of a school suited equally to all, would become the 
 property and the spoiled favourite of a particular denomi- 
 nation or rank.
 
 APPENDIX B. (Page 249.) 
 STUDENT KIOTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 A Circular Letter prepared and issued by W- B. ROGERS, Chairman 
 of the Faculty. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, April 29, 1845. 
 
 SIR, The Faculty of the University of Virginia, com- 
 plying with the recommendation of the Board of Visitors, 
 and urged by a sense of duty to the parents and guardians 
 of the youth committed to their care, beg leave to present a 
 brief history of the disorders which for some time disturbed 
 the peace, and if not arrested would have endangered the 
 safety of the University. They hope thereby to disabuse 
 the public mind of any false impressions produced by 
 erroneous statements propagated through the public prints 
 or otherwise. 
 
 The session for the first months was peaceful, and a large 
 proportion of the students evinced a laudable diligence in. 
 their studies. The few cases of discipline which occurred, 
 requiring the serious action of the Faculty, were violations 
 of the law prohibiting the use of intoxicating liquors ; and 
 in these the penalty imposed was indulgently remitted in 
 consideration of pledges given by the offenders, and a large 
 number of other students, to abstain from intoxicating 
 drinks throughout the session. 
 
 Early in the winter, a number of students organized 
 themselves into a company, and, furnishing themselves with 
 horns and various instruments with which to produce loud 
 and discordant noises, and wholly or in part disguised, 
 paraded the lawn and other parts of the precincts, at a late
 
 414 APPENDIX. 
 
 hour of the night, disturbing the peace and good order of 
 the University. 
 
 These parades occurred at irregular intervals of about a 
 fortnight, but, however pernicious in their effects on the 
 discipline and character of the University, were not at- 
 tended by any outrages on the private dwellings or the 
 public property. And the combination, now ascertained to 
 have comprised a number of otherwise exemplary students, 
 is said to have been informally dissolved before the first 
 occasion of outrage committed. This occasion was the 
 24th of February, when the suspension of three students 
 for disorderly conduct at one of the hotels was immedi- 
 ately followed by a parade at night of a like band, but 
 more noisy and more numerous, attended by attacks on the 
 dwelling of the Chairman and the hotel referred to, in 
 the course of which a door and windows were broken. 
 
 An interval of some three weeks occurred, during which 
 there was no disturbance ; but from this time forth, screen- 
 ing themselves from detection by perfect disguise, and 
 combining in larger numbers, with multiplied means of 
 annoyance, one or more bands at short intervals of time 
 disturbed late at night the peace of the University, super- 
 adding to other annoyances violence done to private dwell- 
 ings and public property. 
 
 To show the spirit of insubordination and violence which, 
 advancing step by step, at last exhibited itself in nightly 
 riot and outrage, it may be enough to mention some of the 
 more violent acts of the last few weeks. 
 
 On one occasion, stones and other small missiles were 
 thrown against the parlour windows of a professor's dwell- 
 ing while ladies were sitting in the room. On another 
 occasion, persons wearing the usual disguise, and employing 
 for the purpose of annoyance, besides pistol firing, the 
 implements of the organized band of disturbers, galloped 
 through the alleys and arcades of the University on horses, 
 two of which had been obtained by breaking open, at a
 
 APPENDIX. 415 
 
 late hour of the night, the stable of the Proctor. On the 
 Sabbath, the 13th of April, in the open day, and in the 
 immediate vicinity of the University buildings, two persons, 
 of whom one had lately withdrawn from the Institution, 
 and the other was a student, engaged in a horse race, at 
 which their friends attended and betted on the result. It 
 need scarcely be added that the names of the chief 
 offenders having come to the knowledge of the Faculty, 
 the one who was amenable to our laws was immediately 
 dismissed from the Institution. On Monday, and again on 
 Wednesday night, the band of disturbers repeated their 
 acts of insubordination and outrage ; on both occasions, the 
 dwellings of several Professors were attacked, and in the 
 latter case more violently, the windows of two of the houses 
 being broken, and the doors of these and others struck. 
 The nights of Thursday, Friday and Saturday were marked 
 by more unrestrained outrages, in which, in addition to the 
 attacks made on the dwellings of some of the Professors, 
 by striking and breaking windows and door panels, as 
 before, two doors of the Rotunda were forced, some of its 
 windows broken, and the door of a lecture-room burst 
 open. 
 
 During Friday and Saturday, the 18th and 19th, efforts 
 were made to engage the body of the students to discounte- 
 nance these outrages, and by expressing their disapproba- 
 tion, to aid in arresting them : but these efforts were totally 
 unsuccessful. They were met by indifference on the part 
 of some ; others who had themselves been implicated in 
 the disturbances made by the first band, or had friends 
 implicated, unhesitatingly refused, on this account, to join 
 in any expression of disapprobation, however mild, of the 
 later outrages ; and those who were more or less concerned 
 in these outrages, it was well understood, went so far as to 
 threaten with personal injury any of their fellow-students 
 who should venture to attend a meeting to condemn these 
 acts of violence. Even a simple resolution not to continue
 
 416 APPENDIX. 
 
 the riotous proceedings found no adequate support, and the 
 comparatively small number who were anxious to restore 
 good order were compelled to yield to circumstances which 
 they could not control. 
 
 As early as Friday, the 18th, the Faculty sent for the 
 Executive Committee of the Board of Visitors, that they 
 might avail themselves of their counsel. On Saturday it 
 was ascertained that the immediate attendance of the 
 Executive Committee could not be had, and the lectures 
 were suspended for the day, to afford the Faculty an 
 opportunity to deliberate on the measures to be taken. 
 From the steadily increasing violence of the outrages com- 
 mitted ; from the utter rejection of all efforts of the well- 
 disposed students to stay the disorders ; and from the 
 unconcealed design on the part of the rioters to compel a 
 premature close of the session, by continuing the riots, and 
 by carrying their violence even to greater lengths, the 
 Faculty were satisfied beyond a question that no reasonable 
 hope remained of putting an end, by other means, to the 
 existing disturbances, and therefore determined, after tak- 
 ing the advice of eminent counsel, to place the public 
 property under the protection of the Civil Authority. This 
 course was sustained and approved by the two members of 
 the Executive Committee who reached the University on 
 Monday. 
 
 On this day the Justices with a Jury convened at the 
 University to inquire into the riots of which it was the 
 scene, and under their authority the Sheriff of the County 
 placed a guard of armed citizens at the Rotunda during 
 that and the following night. On Monday morning, in 
 anticipation of the meeting of the Justices, and in con- 
 formity with an express enactment, notice was given by the 
 Proctor to a number of students who, there was reason to 
 believe, were themselves concerned in the disturbances, or 
 could give information of their authors, that they would 
 be summoned to appear before the court as witnesses.
 
 APPENDIX. 417 
 
 Whereupon a large body of the students assembled on 
 Monday morning, and adopted resolutions in which they 
 plainly avowed their determination to evade the Civil 
 Authority or resist it as far as possible. These resolutions 
 they handed by a committee to the Chairman to lay before 
 the Faculty. Being without signatures, the resolutions were 
 returned, and shortly after the assemblage of students from 
 which they apparently emanated, dispersed without again 
 presenting them ; and before the assembling of the Justices, 
 nearly all of these students left the precincts hi order to 
 evade the civil process, remaining absent during the time 
 the Justices were in session, although many of them re- 
 turned at night. 
 
 At a later hour on Monday, and when the Justices were 
 hourly expected to convene, an attempt was made by some 
 gentlemen of Charlottesville and the neighbourhood, without 
 any communication with the Faculty, to effect an arrange- 
 ment by which the interposition of the Civil Authority 
 should be prevented; and with this view a meeting of 
 students, amounting according to the highest estimate to 
 some seventy in number, was held at 10 o'clock, A. M., and 
 another at 4 o'clock, p. M. No resolutions adopted under 
 such circumstances and with the number present, could 
 have afforded any guaranty of the safety of the public 
 property and the peace of the University : much less could 
 they secure the removal from the Institution of those who 
 had so flagrantly violated its laws and the laws of the land. 
 But none were formally communicated to the Justices, and, 
 although induced by the representations made to them to 
 defer their meeting until the afternoon, they found no good 
 reason to believe that their interposition was in any degree 
 less necessary than when it was called for. On the same 
 night, a meeting of students was held and a pledge signed 
 by a considerable number to withdraw from the Univer- 
 sity. To this course, a part were moved most probably by 
 the conviction to which they were brought that the Civil
 
 418 APPENDIX. 
 
 Authority would render necessary their removal from the 
 University, and they were glad to make this cover to their 
 retreat. Others, it is believed, acted partly from the per- 
 suasion of those who were themselves committed, and partly 
 under a feeling of irritation produced by the disappoint- 
 ment of the hopes they had been led to entertain of 
 preventing the interposition of the Civil Authority. This 
 pledge, inconsiderately made, had the effect of carrying 
 away a number who would otherwise have gladly remained. 
 The Board of Visitors having assembled on Wednesday, 
 the 23d, continued their session through the following day. 
 After a full inquiry into the history of the riots and pre- 
 vious disturbances, they adopted the subjoined resolutions, 
 intended to mark their entire concurrence in the measures 
 adopted by the Faculty. 
 
 "Resolved, That it be recommended to the Faculty 
 through their Chairman forthwith to address to the parents 
 and guardians of the students of the University, a circular 
 letter setting forth a brief statement of events connected 
 with the recent disturbances; of the withdrawal of the 
 Civil Authority from the precincts; of the meeting and 
 adjournment of the Visitors, and of the resumption of the 
 lectures and exercises of the Institution. 
 
 " Resolved, That it be recommended to the Faculty, in 
 case of the recurrence of scenes similar to those which have 
 recently disturbed the peace and good order of the Uni- 
 versity, to endeavour through their Chairman to concert 
 such measures as may be deemed prudent to secure the 
 prompt and efficient aid of the Civil Authority in pre- 
 serving the peace and protecting the property of the 
 University." 
 
 The action of the Civil Authority in ordering a guard to 
 be stationed at the Rotunda, having been followed by an 
 immediate cessation of the riots, and the disturbers of the 
 peace having left the precincts, the continuance of the guard 
 was no longer deemed necessary by the Justices, and it was
 
 APPENDIX. 419 
 
 accordingly withdrawn after the second night. The lec- 
 tures were regularly resumed on Friday the 25th, and it is 
 expected that the parents and guardians of such students 
 as have left the University without having participated in 
 the disturbances or other acts of insubordination, and with- 
 out evading the Civil process, will cause them to return, 
 should it be their wish that they shall do so, at the earliest 
 practicable day. 
 
 By order of the Faculty, 
 
 WM. B. ROGERS, Ch'm.
 
 APPENDIX C. (Page 259.) 
 
 A PLAN FOB A POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL IN BOSTON. 
 
 1846. 
 
 A SCHOOL of practical science completely organized 
 should, I conceive, embrace full courses of instruction in all 
 the principles of physical truth having direct relation to the 
 art of constructing machinery, the application of motive 
 power, manufactures, mechanical and chemical, the art of 
 engraving with electrotype and photography, mineral explo- 
 ration and mining, chemical analysis, engineering, locomo- 
 tion and agriculture. It would require two departments. 
 
 First, one in which by courses of lectures, amply illus- 
 trated, a broad and solid foundation should be laid in 
 general physics, including especially the mechanics of solids, 
 liquids and airs, and the laws of heat, electricity, magnetism 
 and light, and in the chemistry of the more important 
 inorganic and organic principles. Without a sufficient 
 groundwork of this kind in general physical laws, it is 
 obvious that the details of applied science would have but 
 little attraction, and being but vaguely apprehended would 
 convey very little valuable instruction. This department 
 would, I think, give employment to two instructors, divid- 
 ing the various topics between them as might be found 
 convenient, and perhaps at the same time lecturing on 
 some of the applied branches, as portions of the chemical 
 arts, the strength of materials, motive powers, the steam 
 engine, or any of the practical subjects capable of being 
 taught in lectures with the aid of experiments, models and 
 diagrams. 
 
 The other, and entirely practical department, would
 
 APPENDIX. 421 
 
 embrace instruction in chemical manipulation and the 
 analysis of chemical products, ores, metals and other mate- 
 rials used in the arts, as well as of soils and manures. 
 Second, A course of practical, elementary mathematics, 
 and Third, full instruction in drawing and modelling. 
 This branch should also include special courses of teaching 
 in architecture, engineering and the various branches of 
 the arts not treated of in the first department. This 
 second division of the school besides employing two or 
 three tutors, or sub-professors, to give personal instruction 
 in the laboratory, workshop or room for drawing, might 
 yearly invite the aid of eminent practical men to give 
 courses of lectures on the various branches of applied 
 science not otherwise provided for, or it might engage the 
 services of such permanently for the more important sub- 
 jects after a trial of the practical benefits of their collabora- 
 tion. A scheme of this kind begun with two professors 
 in the scientific department and two subordinate instructors 
 in the other, under the direction of the former, would, I 
 am certain, prove so signally successful as ultimately to 
 require its expansion into a polytechnic college on the most 
 ample scale, in which, along with all the subjects above 
 referred to, would be embraced full courses in elementary 
 mathematics and instruction, perhaps, in the French and 
 German languages. In a word, I doubt not that such a 
 nucleus-school would, with the growth of this active and 
 knowledge-seeking community, finally expand into a great 
 institution comprehending the whole field of physical sci- 
 ence and the arts with the auxiliary branches of the mathe- 
 matics and modern languages, and would soon overtop the 
 universities of the land in the accuracy and the extent of 
 its teachings in all branches of positive knowledge. 
 
 According to my present notions of expediency and 
 usefulness, the two professors in the scientific, or more 
 properly the mixed department, should so frame their 
 general courses of lectures as to make them acceptable
 
 422 APPENDIX. 
 
 and useful to the public at large, and thus furnish annual 
 courses on general physics, chemistry and geology, which 
 might draw all the lovers of knowledge of both sexes to 
 the halls of the Institute, whether they proposed or not> 
 continuing their studies in the other and directly practical 
 branches of the Institution. This, of course, should be, as 
 it very well could be, done without any sacrifice of the 
 exactness of scientific or practical demonstration to mere 
 popular effect. We know how successful have been the 
 courses in the Royal Institute of London, where Brandt, 
 Faraday and Wheatstone have for years been the chief 
 instructors of practical science. The school in Boston, too, 
 might well adopt the valuable practice of the Royal Insti- 
 tute of having stated lectures for diffusing a knowledge of 
 important new inventions in the arts, and discourses in 
 physical science. By so doing besides the general benefit 
 of an early communication of valuable truths, often so 
 important to practical men, there would arise the special 
 advantage to the Institute itself of a reputation for being 
 foremost in the appreciation and promulgation of such use- 
 ful knowledge, and this would give it a strong claim upon 
 the respect and affection of the public. 1 
 
 The true and only practicable object of a polytechnic 
 school is, as I conceive, the teaching, not of the minute 
 details and manipulations of the arts, which can be done 
 only in the workshop, but the inculcation of those scientific 
 principles which form the basis and explanation of them, 
 and along with this a full and methodical review of all 
 their leading processes and operations in connection with 
 physical laws. When thus instructed in applied science, 
 the mechanician, chemist, manufacturer or engineer clearly 
 comprehends the agencies of the materials and instruments 
 with which he works, and is, therefore, saved from the 
 
 1 The six paragraphs (and one sentence) next folio-wing 1 have al- 
 ready been given on pp. 260-262, but are here introduced in their 
 proper connection.
 
 APPENDIX. 423 
 
 disasters of blind experiment, is guided securely because 
 understandingly in a profitable routine, and is directed in 
 the contrivance of new and more efficient combinations. 
 We cannot but believe that, with a proper training in 
 science, the host of unprofitable inventors, living within the 
 last half century, would have contributed innumerable 
 valuable aids to human industry, and advanced the arts to 
 a far higher stage of improvement than they have yet 
 attained. Of this no stronger argument could be asked 
 than a glance at the encumbered cases of the Patent Office 
 in Washington. 
 
 Indeed, the unexampled progress, both here and in 
 Europe, of every branch of the arts for the last fifty years 
 is but the result of that general diffusion of a better 
 knowledge of physical laws which has flowed from the 
 researches and teachings of men specially devoted to 
 natural science ; bearing in mind too, how few of the 
 almost countless products of ingenuity, even in these times, 
 are of real and permanent value and how immense the 
 number of utterly barren inventions, the laboured con- 
 trivances of acute but undirected or misguided mind. 
 
 Among practical pursuits there are, perhaps, none whose 
 dependence upon the determination of physical science is 
 more generally recognized than those of the machinist, the 
 engineer and the architect. Yet even in these professions, 
 while all admit that many of the details are but immediate 
 applications of the leading laws of mechanical philosophy, 
 how few have formed a just conception of the variety and 
 extent of science they involve. 
 
 In the first place, the materials used in construction 
 must be studied in their more important chemical and 
 mechanical relations. Kules must be applied for comput- 
 ing the strength of beams and columns of timber and 
 metal of various shapes and dimensions, and placed in 
 various attitudes within buildings or machinery, and these 
 cannot be safely used without a knowledge of the experi-
 
 424 APPENDIX. 
 
 mental data and mechanical principles from which they 
 have been deduced. So likewise in resolving the often 
 recurring problem of the distribution of forces to the 
 several parts of a structure as dependent on the arrange- 
 ment of the parts and the position of the load, or other 
 pressure, the necessity for scientific principles is immedi- 
 ate and unavoidable. Of the durability of the materials 
 employed in masonry, it is evident that no confident judg- 
 ment can be formed without a knowledge of their compo- 
 sition and of the chemical action to which they are liable 
 from air, water and thermal changes. The machinist 
 should understand all the principles of equilibrium and of 
 the composition of forces ; in other words, the general doc- 
 trines of statics and dynamics, those of friction and resist- 
 ing forces generally, the mode of operation of the various 
 motive powers of which his machines are to be, as it were, 
 conductors, and the methods of computing the relation 
 between the force applied and the useful effect obtained, or 
 in other words the economical value of the combination. 
 
 The engineer of roads and canals with ample knowledge 
 in all these particulars should further have a good acquaint- 
 ance with the mineral and geological character of the 
 region in which he operates, should know when to interpret 
 the appearances on the surface either as an encouragement 
 or warning in directing his locations ; should be prepared 
 to judge of the value of the rocky materials he encounters 
 in building an embankment, and should be qualified to 
 form an estimate of the relative advantages of different 
 districts as influenced by the extent and nature of these 
 mineral products. 
 
 Instruction in all these and other kindred particulars, 
 essential as it is to the fullest success in the pursuits 
 referred to, involves, it will be seen, no insignificant ac- 
 quaintance with some of the leading branches of mechani- 
 cal and even geological and chemical science. 
 
 If we turn now to the manufacturing arts, we shall find
 
 APPENDIX. 425 
 
 an equal and, in many cases, even more urgent demand for 
 scientific guidance. 1 Beginning with those connected with 
 metallurgy, we see in the various processes by which iron, 
 copper, lead, zinc, silver and other metals are obtained 
 from their ores the most direct application of chemical and 
 mechanical science. The form and materials of the furnace, 
 the character of the fuel and flame, the preparatory pro- 
 cesses of roasting, or washing, the due modification of the 
 procedures according to the nature and proportion of the 
 foreign substances present, with numerous other practical 
 details in the various stages of the operation, are only intel- 
 ligible through the medium of scientific principles, and are 
 most likely to be successfully pursued, or improved, when 
 these principles are clearly understood and habitually re- 
 curred to. So also in the fabrication of steel and the 
 mixed metals, such as brass, bronze and tinned iron, and 
 in casting, rolling, wire drawing and other mechanical and 
 chemical processes of the same kind, the truths of science have 
 many important applications, and are capable of affording 
 suggestions of high utility. In gilding, plating and the 
 processes of electrotype, in engraving in all its branches, 
 including lithography, zincography and the various depart- 
 ments of photographic art, we see the most varied agencies 
 of physical laws, involving the mechanical properties of 
 materials, their relations to solvents, and the powers of 
 heat and light. In the fabrication of pottery and porcelain 
 in all the varieties, and in the colouring and painting of 
 both these classes of products, every step is but an applica- 
 tion of some well-known scientific principle. 
 
 Of the refining of sugar and the manufacturing of alum, 
 copperas, white lead, bleaching salts, the acids, and a 
 hundred other important chemical products, it is needless 
 to say more than that the processes they involve are but 
 the vast practical enlargement of the common experiments 
 1 See p. 262. The letter there begun is here continued.
 
 426 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the laboratory and lecture-room. The production of 
 illuminating gas from coal, fats or rosin, and the processes 
 for its purification, the manufacture of stearine, wood 
 vinegar, and all the whole variety of soaps, the purification 
 of oils, the making of cements and varnishes, the arts of 
 tanning, bleaching, dyeing and calico printing, with a hun- 
 dred others extensively practised at the present day, are 
 either the direct results of modern scientific research, or 
 are largely indebted to it for those experiments in mechan- 
 ical and chemical details which have bestowed on many of 
 them a more than hundred-fold productiveness. So clearly 
 indeed has the importance of a scientific guidance been 
 proved in some of these arts, that we now in many cases 
 see them claiming the superintendence of skilful chemists 
 to direct their daily operations, and I need not add that 
 the fruits of this happy union of science and art are 
 nowhere better exemplified than in the dyeing and printing 
 works for which Lowell has been so celebrated. 
 
 In the various forms of mechanism devoted to spinning 
 and weaving in all their branches, in mill work of almost 
 endless variety, in the steam engine, as applied to stationary 
 or locomotive uses, in water wheels, turbines, propellers and 
 the innumerable forms of hydraulic and hydro-pneumatic 
 machinery, we have almost numberless applications of the 
 laws of mechanics, which those only who clearly under- 
 stand can guide or improve to the best advantage. 
 
 In the business of mining in all departments, including 
 that of exploration on the surface and by borings, every 
 important step calls for the suggestions of geology, chemis- 
 try and mechanical science. 
 
 To close this long but still incomplete catalogue of illus- 
 trations, we may safely affirm that there is no branch of 
 practical industry, whether in the arts of construction, 
 manufactures or agriculture, which is not capable of being 
 better practised, and even of being improved in its pro- 
 cesses, through the knowledge of its connections with
 
 APPENDIX. 427 
 
 physical truths and laws, and therefore we would add that 
 there is no class of operatives to whom the teaching of 
 science may not become of direct and substantial utility 
 and material usefulness. It would, I think, be especially 
 adapted to fulfil another, and in some respects a higher 
 purpose by leading the thoughts of the practical student 
 into those wide and elevated regions of reflection to which 
 the study of Nature's laws never fails to conduct the mind. 
 Thus linking the daily details of his profession with the 
 grander physical agencies around him, and with much of 
 what is agreeable and ennobling in the contemplation 
 of external things, it would insensibly elevate and refine 
 his character and contribute to the cheerfulness as it aided 
 the efficiency of his labours. In this respect it is, I think, 
 demonstrated that physical studies are better capable of 
 being useful to the operative classes than the study of lit- 
 erature or morals, because their truths are more readily 
 and eagerly seized upon by such minds and form the 
 strong staple of practical usefulness thus firmly infixed. 
 It is easy to extend the golden chain of relations until these 
 may embrace every realm of nature and of thought. 
 
 A polytechnic school, therefore, duly organized, has in 
 view an object of the utmost practical value, and one which 
 in such a community as that of Boston could not fail of 
 being realized in the amplest degree.
 
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