Some Early Tools of American Science: An Account of the Early Scientific Instruments and Mineralogical and Biological Collections in Harvard University [Reprint 2014 ed.] 9780674368446, 9780674368439

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SOME EARLY TOOLS OF

AMERICAN SCIENCE

SOME EARLY TOOLS OF AMERICAN SCIENCE An Account of the Early Scientific Instruments and Mineralogical and Biological Collections In Harvard University

I. B E R N A R D C O H E N WITH

A

FOREWORD

BY

SAMUEL ELIOT MORISON

H A R V A R D U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS

Cambridge, Massachusetts 1 9 5 0

COPYRIGHT

·

I95O

B Y T H E P R E S I D E N T A N D F E L L O W S O F HARVARD P R I N T E D I N T H E U N I T E D STATES OF

LONDON · GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE

COLLEGE

AMERICA

· OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

T H I S BOOK IS R E S P E C T F U L L Y

D E D I C A T E D TO

THEODORE LYMAN A.B. 189η, A.M.

189p, Ph.D.

and Natural Philosophy cal Laboratory

1900, Hollis Professor

1921-1926, Director

1910-1941,

of

Mathematics

of the Jefferson

Physi-

whose warm personal interest in every

aspect of the laboratory, including its old instruments, and whose generous encouragement of the enterprise of cataloging and preserving the relics of Harvard's early scientific history, are in large measure responsible f o r this book and the exhibition w h i c h has been the occasion f o r writing it.

CONTENTS FOREWORD BY S A M U E L ELIOT MORISON PREFACE

XIII

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

I

IX

INTRODUCTION,

The History of Science at Harvard

XV

3

Note on the Government of Harvard College

23

II

Scientific Instruments at Harvard before the Fire of 1764

26

III

Instruments for the Study of Natural Philosophy after the Fire of 1764

45

The Beginnings of Chemistry at Harvard

66

The Biological Sciences, The Museum, and The Mineral Cabinet

96

IV V VI

Conclusion APPENDIX

124

I

Thomas Hollis's G i f t of Philosophical Apparatus APPENDIX

II

T h e Philosophical Apparatus in 1779 APPENDIX

145

III

Some Early Instruments and Specimens at Harvard University APPENDIX

133

152

IV

T h e Chemical Laboratory in 1821

172

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

179

REFERENCES

l8l

INDEX

AND NOTES

191

FOREWORD A n y o n e who has looked through old American college catalogues has come across the phrase "Philosophical Apparatus," and perhaps wondered what that meant. Here it is: the apparatus of Natural Philosophy, which we have come to call plain Science. There are telescopes, nocturnals and quadrants for astronomy; compasses and dip needles for terrestrial magnetism; apparatus to test the specific gravity of gases; solar, lucernal and chest microscopes; great whirling glass cylinders, eudiometers and Leyden jars with which contemporaries of Ben Franklin produced horrendous sparks and terrifying shocks; thunder houses with lightning rods mounted to bring down coelo julmen. And all are of the eighteenth century or the early Republic. There are specimens, too; even a bit of Saxon barite from that long-dispersed mineral cabinet presented to Harvard by the terrible Comite de Salut Public in the Year III, as a token of "the fraternal sentiments" between Harvard and the French Republic. Crowning all are the two Orreries, "instruments which by many complicated movements represent the revolutions of the heavenly bodies" (Dr. Johnson); the English one "finisht in the most Elegant and Workmanlike manner" for Professor Winthrop in 1767, and the less delicate but more imposing Orrery made in Boston twenty years later. Herschel, in the sophisticated nineteenth century, called orreries "very childish toys"; but in their day they taught students the movements of the solar system better than any amount of description. And Pope's Orrery was the objective of every visitor to Cambridge, as are today the Blaschka glass flowers. Dr. Cohen worked with David P. Wheatland (now Curator of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments), recovering these many pieces and specimens from the attics and cellars of college buildings where they had long been gathering dust, and having them cleaned, repaired and mounted in an imposing exhibition. T h e University archives proved so rich in correspondence and other docuIX

FOREWORD ments about the apparatus, and about the teaching of science at Harvard, that Dr. Cohen, with my hearty encouragement, wrote this book, which I do not hesitate to pronounce a major contribution to the history of education and science in America. It has too long been the fashion to disparage the science taught in our early colleges by applying to it the unhistorical yardstick of our own knowledge; as though we should write off Plato as an ignoramus on education because he knew naught of progressive schools and junior colleges. Dr. Cohen shows that, on the contrary, Harvard and her early rivals were well abreast of the science of their day; that the scientific attitude of mind was inculcated in their students who had ample apparatus for experiments; and that some of the professors organized scientific expeditions and made positive contributions to knowledge. The affectionate relations between Benjamin Franklin and Harvard over a period of almost half a century; the undoubted fact that Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, caught the sacred fire from Professor John Winthrop in the old "Philosophy Chamber" at Harvard Hall; the scientific work of a long line of clerical graduates — Mathers, Princes, Sewalls and the like — should forever dispel the false notion that the American colonial clergy and the colleges that they ruled, were hostile or indifferent to natural science. This whole subject is also a matter of vital interest to the social historian of America. For instance, there is that "critical period" 1782-1789, of which John Fiske made classic a sombre picture. Critical it was in a political sense, but a truly creative period in arts, letters, science and business enterprise. For a leading example, see Dr. Cohen's account of the Pope Orrery, built to order in 1787 while Shays's Rebellion was under way, at a cost of £450, with miniature statues of Franklin, Newton and Bowdoin, carved by a local artist and cast by Paul Revere, guarding the signs of the zodiac. And in 1780, the darkest year of the war in a military sense, Professor Samuel Williams, accompanied by "Stephen Sewall, Professor of the Oriental Languages, James Winthrop Esq., Librarian, Fortescue Vernon A.B., and Messrs. Atkins, Davis, Hall, Dawson, Rensselaer and King, Students in the University," borrowed the χ

FOREWORD Lincoln galley from the Massachusetts Board of War to sail Down East and observe a total eclipse of the sun. Besides restoring the apparatus, Dr. Cohen has rescued from obscurity a score of men like Samuel Williams, who contributed to the best of their means and capabilities to early American science. S . E . MORISON

XI

PREFACE The occasion for the present book was an exhibition of old scientific instruments and mineralogical and biological specimens at Harvard University, mounted on February 12, 1949 in the main lobby of the Edward Mallinckrodt Chemical Laboratory on Oxford Street, Cambridge. On pages 152-71 there will be found an illustrated catalogue of this exhibition, comprising a select number of Harvard's holdings from the period beginning 1764 (the year of the Fire in which practically all the then existing scientific instruments were destroyed) and ending somewhere about 1825. In the exhibition, the greater part of the instruments for use in astronomy and physics come from the 18th century, as do the microscopes, the mineralogical specimens, and the fishes, while the chemical equipment dates from the early years of the 19th century. This book was prepared as a commemorative volume for the exhibition, but in giving the background of the instruments — the way in which they were obtained, their use in teaching and research, and their preservation — I have found it necessary to sketch in certain aspects of the history of science at Harvard. The opening chapter delineates the nature of the book and some of the history of science at Harvard which will, I hope, prove valuable to students of American cultural history — a field which has embraced almost all aspects of American culture, but in which studies of American science have been conspicuously absent. At the end of the book, I have included a bibliographical note discussing the sources I have used and an explanation of the method of citation. I should like to acknowledge here my special indebtedness to Mr. Clifford K. Shipton, Custodian of the Harvard University Archives, who has been my mentor and guide throughout every stage of the preparation of this book, and to Mr. Samuel Eliot Morison who, during a busy period of teaching and writing his History of United States Naval Operations in World War 11, has generously given me more of his time than I had the right to call upon. xiii

PREFACE I should like to express my gratitude to: Mr. Kimball C. Elkins, and Mr. Robert W . Lovett of the University Archives for assistance in locating many documents; Dr. Henry R . Viets for information concerning Waterhouse and Dexter; Mr. Walter M. Whitehill for making available to me the transcripts of the Colman-Hollis correspondence; Miss Louise Diehl Patterson whose considerable research under the writer's direction uncovered much of the information contained in Chapters T w o and Three. The following persons read the whole or part of the typescript and offered valuable suggestions for its improvement: Mr. Samuel Eliot Morison, Mr. Clifford K . Shipton, Mr. Frederick G . Kilgour, Dr. F. T . Lewis (the part of Chapter Five concerning the microscope). A t every stage of preparing this work, I have profited by the assistance of Mr. David P. Wheatland, whose interest in the scientific instruments at Harvard is older than mine. Over the last decade, he has labored heroically to find, identify, and preserve these symbols of Harvard's early scientific history. The illustrated catalogue of the instruments placed on exhibition, forming Appendix Three of this book, was largely prepared by Mr. Wheatland, who is Curator of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments. Finally, I should like to express my deep feeling of gratitude to Provost Paul H. Buck for his encouragement, both moral and material, in making possible the exhibition and the publication of this book. I . BERNARD C O H E N

Harvard University September i, 1949

xiv

ILLUSTRATIONS The vignette on the title page is a reconstruction of the ship "Devonshire," Hugh Hunter, Master, which in i-j6$ brought a load of instruments to Harvard College from England — among them those listed as nos. j, 10, u, 12, 13, 23, 25 and 26 in Appendix Three.

PLATES ILLUSTRATING THE TEXT following page B. M A R T I N T E L E S C O P E P R E S E N T E D TO H A R V A R D LEGE BY THOMAS

90 COL-

HANCOCK

This telescope is the oldest surviving piece of scientific apparatus known to have been used in Harvard University. It was presented to Harvard in 1761 by Thomas Hancock, uncle of the patriot, who also founded the Hancock Professorship of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages. This telescope was taken by Professor John Winthrop on his expedition to Newfoundland to observe the transit of Venus in 1761—the first college-sponsored scientific expedition in the N e w World. In his Relation of a Voyage, . . . for the Observation of the Transit of Venus (Boston, 1761), Winthrop described this telescope as "a curious reflecting telescope, adjusted with spirit levels at right angles to each other, and having horizontal and vertical wires for taking corresponding altitudes; or differences in altitudes and azimuths . . . Presented to the Apparatus this year by the Hon. Thomas Hancock, Esq." A t the end of the barrel, the telescope bears the maker's name, "B. Martin, London," while on the barrel itself there is engraved "The G i f t of the Honble. Tho. Hancock Esq. of Boston to Harvard College Cambridge." Mr. Frederick E. Brasch, who is at present completing a biography of Winthrop, and who brought the existence of this telescope to my attention, informs me that it "is mounted on a substantial table stand of the folding tripod form with levelling screws and two levels. Slow motions in altitude and azimuth are effected by rack and pinion. The mirrors are of speculum metal, the diameter of the larger one being about 3 inches and its focal length about 14 inches. There are two eyepieces, each fitted with a sun cap, and two dust caps are provided, one for each end of the body tube." This telescope is the only scientific instrument from Harvard's Apparatus known to have survived the Fire of 1764 — presumably because it was in Winthrop's house, rather than in Harvard Hall with the remainder of the Apparatus. Formerly the possession of Thomas H. Court, Esq., this telescope is now the property of the Science Museum, South Kensington, London. The photograph is reproduced by permission. XV

ILLUSTRATIONS BROADSIDE VARD

ANNOUNCING

THE

DESTRUCTION

OF

HAR-

HALL

Harvard Hall, containing the College Library and the Philosophical Apparatus, "was entirely consumed by fire" during the night of January 24th, 1764. An "account of this fire, with the loss sustained by the College," was inserted in the Massachusetts Gazette of Thursday, February 2nd, 1764. This account, dated the day after the fire, was also printed on a single sheet, presumably for distribution to friends, alumni, and prospective benefactors of the College. In the extreme righthand column, there is a description of the major instruments in the Apparatus, "—all new, and of excellent workmanship. — ALL DESTROYED!" One error in this account concerns the Hancock telescope which, though listed as destroyed, is still extant [see previous plate]. The reproduction is made from a copy in the University Archives.

PROJECTION OF A L U N A R ECLIPSE B Y PROFESSOR

JOHN

WINTHROP

This projection, made by Winthrop and presumably shown to his Harvard classes as part of the instruction in astronomy, represents the lunar eclipse of August 10th, 1747 for the meridian of Cambridge. Winthrop added a note which states: "Aug. 10 by Observation it appeared that the Eclipse happen'd as Calculated, i.e. about 2'o Sooner than Mr. Ames' Calculation. N.B. Weather Cloudy, & only total Immersion Observable." This is one of the examples forming part of "The Method of Astronomical Calculations" [no. 6, see page 44] in Winthrop's "Course of Experimental Philosophical Lectures." Reproduced from the original manuscript in the University Archives.

THE

EARLIEST

REPRESENTATION

OF

"BAILY'S

BEADS"

One of the results of Samuel Williams's observation of the solar eclipse of 1780 was the discovery of the phenomenon known today as "Baily's Beads," and usually attributed to the British astronomer Francis Baily whose description of the beads was based on his observation of the solar eclipse of May 15, 1836. A number of observers gave a description of this phenomenon during the 18th century; of this company Williams gave one of the most complete accounts and included a plate showing the appearance of the phenomenon which we have reproduced from Volume One of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Williams wrote that "the sun's limb became so small as to appear like a circular thread, or rather like a very fine horn. Both the ends lost their acuteness, and seemed to break off in the form of small drops or stars; some of which were round, and others of an oblong figure. They would separate to a small distance: XVI

ILLUSTRATIONS Some would appear to run together again, and others diminish until they wholly disappeared." "Baily's beads" were also observed and described by Williams's successor as Hollis Professor, Samuel Webber, who later became President of Harvard. Webber's description may be found in Volume T w o of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in his account of the solar eclipse of April 3, 1791.

T H E L E C T U R E ROOM FOR N A T U R A L PHILOSOPHY THE EARLY I 9 T H CENTURY

IN

In 1800 Holden Chapel had been renovated so as to provide a number of rooms for the medical professors, "reciting rooms" for college tutors, and so on. After the removal of the Medical School to Boston in 1810, and especially after the completion of University Hall in 1814, the need for space in Holden Chapel was considerably lessened. It was then decided to refurbish old Holden. The upper story, which had formerly contained the anatomical amphitheatre, was made over into a "Philosophy Room" for the popular lectures of Professor John Farrar. The plan shows the arrangement of seats, the lecturer's desk, and cabinets for the apparatus. Reproduced from an original drawing in the University Archives.

W I L L I A M J O N E S ' S DESCRIPTION OF T H E PRINCE AIR PUMP The air pump supplied to Harvard College by W . & S. Jones of London was designed to incorporate the new principle introduced by the Reverend John Prince of Salem [see page 64]. A picture of the pump itself may be found in Appendix Three [no. 21 ]. Accompanying the sketch, Jones wrote the following description: "Inclosed you have a bill of lading for three cases shipped on board the Minerva . . . containing a capital air pump . . . Sketch of your Pump. When the piston A rises above B, the air in the receiver expands or rarifies and goes through C into the barrel. The descent of the piston afterwards, expels the air out of the barrel thro' the opening by a spring valve at the bottom D. Thus only one valve is used, as in Dr. Prince's. Ε represents the spring valve unscrewed from the barrel. Ν.Β. After some working the hard going of the pistons will be reduced to an easy proper state." Reproduced from the original in the University Archives. XVII

ILLUSTRATIONS C H E M I C A L A P P A R A T U S OBTAINED IN I 8 I 5 In i 8 i j Harvard placed a large order for chemical apparatus in London. The purchase was supervised by James Freeman Dana, who was sent to London for that express purpose [see page 89]. The instruments delineated in the engraved billhead show the kind of item with which Harvard's Chemical Laboratory was then supplied. Reproduced from the original in the University Archives. T H E C H E M I C A L L A B O R A T O R Y AND L E C T U R E R O O M IN THE EARLY I 9 T H CENTURY When Holden Chapel was renovated, as described above, so as to make a lecture room for natural philosophy on the second story, the first story was converted into a chemistry lecture room and laboratory. Professor John White Webster described the accompanying plan as follows: A Is a part appropriated to the audience, a entrance. Β Is the body of the laboratory, b lecture table containing c c cisterns for gases furnished with stop-cocks projecting through the covers, which can be removed when large jars are to be filled. To the stop-cocks flexible tubes may be connected to form the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, the tubes communicating with a jet formed of two cones, see section . . . [fig. 16 on the next plate], d, pneumatic table . . . e, furnace stove, f, mercurial cistern . . . g, Table with electrical machine, h, Table with air pump. i i i i, Cases for apparatus, k, Large Calorimotor. /, Deflagrator. m, Small universal furnace. C Table with drawers in the form of a double cross, for the general uses of the laboratory. D Table with vice, anvils, mortars, files, &c. Ε Table with balances in glazed cases. F Smaller table. G Sink, pump, bottle racks, &c. 7, Sand bath. 2, a furnace for the production of oxygen and other gases. 5, Wind furnace with air flues (13) under the floor of the laboratory. See Section . . . [fig. 2 on the next plate]. 4, Assay furnace. 5, Forge. 5, A copper boiler, . . . 7, Refrigeratory. 8, Anvil. 9, Universal furnace . . . [fig. 3 on the next plate]. 10, Copper gasometer, from which tubes pass into the lecture room. n , Gas holders. 12, Racks, with test tubes, &c. . . . [figs. 17 & 18 on the next plate]. 14, Large Mortar. / D o o r communicating with the lecture room. Plate and text reproduced from Webster's Manual of Chemistry (Boston, 1826). S O M E C H E M I C A L A P P A R A T U S IN T H E E A R L Y C E N T U R Y L E C T U R E ROOM & LABORATORY

19TH-

This plate is a companion to the one described immediately above and "exhibits sections of the furnaces, and views of several useful parts of the apparatus not described in the body of the work." XV111

ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. ι is a section of the sand furnace . . . ^ is a ditto of the wind ditto . . . 3 Knight's improved Black's portable furnace . . . 4 Κ cupelling or enamelling furnace . . . I A portable furnace of earthern ware which may be placed on a table. These furnaces are manufactured by Mr Miller, of Philadelphia, and are convenient for many purposes. 6 A filtering bag. 7, 8 and ρ Evaporating basins. 10 A platinum crucible and cover. 11 Skittle shaped crucible. 12 Covered do. 75 An iron ring covered with cloth for supporting retorts. 14 A small Calorimotor for exploding gases by the ignition of a fine platinum wire, in the glass vessel fig 15 . . . 16 Jet for the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe, formed of two cones, with an intervening space . . . 77 A filtering stand. 18 A rack for test-glasses. 19 A small anvil. 20 Alcohol blow-pipe . . . 21 is the muffle represented at d, fig 4. 22 Precipitating jars. Hessian crucibles. 24 The principal varieties of tongs useful in the laboratory. 25 A long funnel for introducing liquids into retorts without soiling their necks. 26 An adopter for lengthening the necks of retorts. Fig. 27, is a vertical section of one of the cisterns within the lecture table [c c of the previous plate] . . .

BENJAMIN

WATERHOUSE'S

LECTURES

ON

NATURAL

HISTORY These two broadsides give an idea of the contents of Waterhouse's "Lectures Intended as an Introduction to Natural History." Although someone has written the date 1794 on the earlier one, it seems likely that it was printed before that date. In 1810, Waterhouse had a slightly modified version printed as a little pamphlet rather than a broadside. Reproduced from the originals in the University Archives.

W I L S O N S C R E W - B A R R E L M I C R O S C O P E ON STAND COMPOUND

WITH

BODY

This microscope, made by the famous London instrument-maker Edmund Culpeper, and bearing his signature, is in the Clay Collection, Museum of the History of Science, Oxford University, Oxford, England. The photograph reproduced here was obtained through the courtesy of F. Sherwood Taylor, Esq., Curator of the Museum of the History of Science. This microscope, larger than most screw-barrels owing to the ivory tube that renders it a compound microscope and the stand on which it is mounted, is of the type that most nearly answers the descriptions of the gift made to Harvard College in 1732 by [the second] Thomas Hollis which perished in the Fire of 1764. [See page 112.] The accessories are all shown in the photograph, but not the case, which is of black fishskin lined with green velvet. XIX

ILLUSTRATIONS "PERCA MARINA" AND "SQUALUS ACANTHIUs" B Y W I L L I A M DANDRIDGE

DRAWN

PECK

These two drawings, made by Peck, are reproduced from the originals in the University Archives. T h a t of Perca Marina is seventeen inches long, while that of Squalus Acanthius is thirty-six inches long. For the fishes preserved by Peck, see Appendix Three, nos. 38-40.

THE PHILOSOPHICAL APPARATUS DONATED BY THOMAS HOLLIS IN 1727 following page

138

Although the original Hollis Apparatus perished in the Fire of 1764, w e can "reconstruct" the better part of it, owing to the existence of two old inventories made by Isaac Greenwood. One of these, printed as Appendix One, refers to F. Hauksbee's Course of Mechanical, Optical, Hydrostatical, and Pneumatical Experiments (London [?], 1712 [?]). T h e plates of Hauksbee's book are reproduced, retouched so that they exhibit only those pieces of apparatus specifically referred to by Greenwood as having been in the Hollis Apparatus. Each retouched plate bears a caption from the book, giving the name of the section, and the number of the plate, in the following order: Mechanicks Plate I, Mechanicks Plate II, Mechanicks Plate III, Mechanicks Plate I V , and Mechanicks Plate V ; Hydrostaticks Plate I, Hydrostaticks Plate II, and Hydrostaticks Plate III; Opticks Plate I, and Opticks Plate II; Pneumaticks Plate I, Pneumaticks Plate V , Pneumaticks Plate I V , Pneumaticks Plate II, and Pneumaticks Plate V I [devoted to electricity].

SOME OF THE OLD SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS AND SPECIMENS IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY following page

154

T h e basis of selection of those instruments and specimens reproduced is explained in Appendix Three. Here too, one will find, beginning on page 1J4, a description of each of the following. 1. 2. 3. 4. j. 6. 7. 8.

James Short Telescope (Reflector) James Short Telescope (Reflector) with Heliometer J. Gilbert Telescope (Refractor) B. Martin Orrery Pope Orrery and Detail Cometarium B. Martin Octant Weights and Pulleys XX

ILLUSTRATIONS 9. Long Focus Lens 10. (a). Camera Obscura (Closed) (b). Camera Obscura (Open for use) 11. Model of the Eye 12. Large Electrostatic Machine (with Globe) 13. Large Electrostatic Machine (with Cylinder) 14. Portable Electrostatic Machine 15. Insulating Stand 16. Electric Air Thermometer 17. Profile of a House 18. Steeple with Lightning Rod 19. Thunder House 20. Electric Sparker 21. Large Standing Air Pump 22. Receiver 23. B. Martin Water Pump 24. Lodestone 25. Variation Compass 26. Dip Needle 27. Discharge Globe 28. 29, 30. Eudiometers 31, 32. Chemical-Equivalents Slide Rule 33. "Volta's Eudiometer" 34. Measurer for Use with "Volta's Eudiometer" 3j. Steam Temperature-Pressure Apparatus 36, 37. Apparatus for the Specific Gravity of Gases [38, 39], 40. Professor Peck's Fishes 41. Early Microscope 42. Chest Microscope 43. Solar Microscope 44. (a). Lucernal Microscope (Parts) (b). Pyramidal Wooden Box, forming Body of Lucernal Microscope 4j. Specimen of Barite from Saxony 46. Bowdoin Marbles

xxi

SOME EARLY TOOLS OF

AMERICAN SCIENCE

Harvard. Student's Lament, ι η N o w algebra, geometry, Arithmetick, astronomy, Opticks, chronology, and staticks, All tiresome parts of mathematicks, With twenty harder names than these Disturb my brains, and break my peace. All seeming inconsistencies Are solv'd by A's, or solv'd by B's; Our senses are depriv'd by prisms, Our arguments by syllogisms. If I should confidently write, This ink is black, this paper white, They'd contradict it, and perplex one With motion, light, and it's reflection, And solve th' apparent falsehood by The curious structure of the eye. Shou'd you the poker want, and take it, Glowing as red as fire can make it, And burn your finger, or your coat, They'd falsly tell you, 'tis not hot. The fire they say has in't, 'tis true, The power of causing pain in you, But no more heat's in fire, that heats you, Than there is pain i' th' stick that beats you. We're told how planets roll on high, How large their orbits, and how nigh; I hope in little time to know, Whether the moon's a cheese, or no; Whether the man in 't (as some tell ye); With beef and pudding fills his belly; Why, like a lunatick confin'd, He lives at distance from mankind; W h o at one resolute attack Might whirl the prison off his back; Or like a maggot in a nut Full bravely eat his passage out. [Anon., The American Magazine and Historical Magazine, February, 1744.]

I INTRODUCTION

The History of Science at Harvard The advantages for education offered at [Harvard College in] Cambridge are such, that whoever, having enjoyed them, does not go away a better scholar than any other American institution would have made him, has only his own incapacity to lament, or indolence to blame. . . To the best of our knowledge and belief, there is not in Europe, any more than in America, an institution which, year by year, sends forth a band of youth of like age, so well, or better fitted, in discipline and accomplishments, to do the intellectual work of the community to which it belongs. And this is the highest praise which could be bestowed. It is nothing to say that there are schools abroad, which teach more of Greek, or of mathematics, or of something else worth knowing. The sensible question is, Is there any one which can be shown to make better provisions than does our own, for the intellectual wants of the society which they are respectively to influence? If there be, it is one of which we have not heard. — The Christian Examiner, September 1834

T h e history of science is a field of activity somewhat different from the history of literature, of philosophy, of political theory, or of political institutions. T h e materials with which it deals are technical and difficult to understand, both for historians without scientific background and for scientists without historical background. W h e t h e r w e study the history of the sciences at one institution, or the growth of a scientific idea or concept, the result will remain narrow and parochial unless the author consciously relates his material to other aspects of culture and sets it in the broad matrix of human society and the intellectual temper of the age. A well-informed study of the growth of science teaching and research at any institution of higher learning during the period extending roughly from 1700 to 1 8 3 7 would be of great value if it exhibited the nature and development of the facilities for instruc-

3

S O M E E A R L Y T O O L S OF A M E R I C A N

SCIENCE

tion (the apparatus or tools), the extent of the financial support given science, and the place of science in the curriculum. What really interests the historian is not so much what was taught and how it was taught, but rather the degree of assimilation of science by the students; the effect of science on the students both during their college days and after graduation; the relation of scientific studies to other studies; the points of contact between science teaching and the religious, philosophical, and other intellectual issues; the connections between the subjects taught and the great practical, economic problems of the time; and the influence of science teaching, reading, and public lectures on the intellectual community at large of which the college is a part. Such a study could be made especially well at Harvard because, despite the loss of many records during the Fire of 1764, the richness of the University Archives provides the necessary raw materials to an astonishing degree in comparison to what is found in other colleges and universities. There are many ways in which one may study the sciences at an institution such as Harvard. One way would be to compose a series of biographical accounts of the teachers of the sciences. Who were they? What was the extent of their knowledge and training? What led them into the field of science? What attitude in general did they spread among the students concerning the relation of science to theology, to practical problems, and to other aspects of the students' lives? Another approach would be to collate the lecture notes of the professors, the textbooks they wrote or used, the memoranda of tutors, the subjects of the Theses and Quaestiones, and the students' "exhibitions," essays, notebooks, and other memorabilia. In this way one could form a composite picture of all the scientific facts and theories taught at successive periods — the sum, so to speak, of all the scientific knowledge available to the students. Such a picture could be given additional breadth by the introduction of comparisons with other colleges, both in America and in Europe, and a judicious evaluation of the material that was taught in terms of the state of science itself. Even so, such a study would primarily have a restricted value; it would be of interest to the specialist in

4

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the history of science, or of scientific education, but it would alter our views on the general character of the age only by implication. Anyone who studies the history of science in America must keep in mind the great difference between science as it existed in the N e w World (from the time of the planting of the first colonies until well into the 19th century) and science as it flourished in Europe. For in the N e w World there were produced neither a Newton nor a Lavoisier, nor any men of the caliber of Euler, Gauss, Harvey, Linnaeus, Laplace, or Pasteur. Hence the study of science in America prior to 1848 is not a study of the making of the great discoveries that have so vastly altered the course of human thought, but rather of their dissemination and acceptance, of the ways in which the advances of science were taught and applied, and their effect on other areas of intellectual activity. This is the sense in which the study of science in the N e w World prior to 1848 is more truly a part of the discipline of American social and intellectual history than of the history of science proper. So, if we wish to prevent our investigations from assuming a purely antiquarian character, we must relate them to the general theme of the development of American civilization. A truly useful work on American science must, therefore, be dedicated to the question: What has been the role of science in the development of American culture, or, more broadly, what part has science played in the growth of the American republic? Although studies have been made of American literature, of commerce and manufacturing, of political institutions and political theory, of theology and church organization, of education, and of the art of warfare, little serious scholarship has as yet been expended on science. The reason must be either that science was of little importance in the development of American civilization, or that the history of science itself is still but little cultivated. That the latter reason is more likely the true one may be seen in the fact that only a very few American universities offer graduate instruction in the history of science. Yet I believe it is plain that the study of the development of the sciences in America, or in our colleges, or even an account of the place of science in a single institution such as Harvard, will show the extent to which a consideration of 5

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science adds a wholly new dimension to our concept of American civilization.

The present work is not a history of the sciences at Harvard in the full sense I have just indicated. It was written to celebrate the first comprehensive exhibition of early scientific instruments at Harvard, and to provide some background for an appreciation of the larger values associated with these tools of early American science. Thus the heart of this book is the collection of photographs and descriptions of 40 items from the fields of astronomy, physics or natural philosophy, geomagnetism, chemistry, mineralogy, and natural history, which are reproduced in Appendix Three. None of these items is older than 1764, the year of the catastrophic fire in which perished practically all of the scientific equipment at Harvard, together with the budding Museum and the Library. The Philosophical Apparatus, as the collection of scientific equipment was then called, had largely been given to Harvard in 1727 by Thomas Hollis; we can gain some idea of it from a catalogue of this gift, with descriptions of the experiments for which each instrument was used and the principle or principles it was supposed to demonstrate, as well as a diagram or picture of each instrument, which is reproduced in Appendix One. As I searched through the manuscript records in the University Archives in an effort to learn more about these old instruments, I was struck by the large amount of hitherto unused material, relating not only to the instruments, their purchase, repair, and so on, but also to the teaching of the sciences and the scope of scientific research at Harvard in the early period. The most cursory examination of these documents showed at once that many of the judgments concerning science to be found in standard works on American civilization were poorly informed and stood in need of considerable revision. As a result, this book has grown considerably in scope. In addition to describing the circumstances under which the different pieces of the Apparatus were purchased or given to Harvard, I have attempted to delineate the nature of the instruction offered to the students in the sciences. This has meant sketching 6

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briefly the history of the sciences at Harvard, the kind of teaching offered, the contents of the lectures, and particularly the growth of teaching in the departments of natural philosophy, astronomy, chemistry, natural history, and mineralogy. I should like to emphasize, however, that this history is literally "sketched," only enough information being given so that the reader may visualize the role of the instruments described in the system of education then in operation. I have, in each department of science, limited the discussion to the founding period — the 18th century for astronomy and natural philosophy; and for chemistry, natural history, and mineralogy, which began as separate departments of study at Harvard at a much later time, the closing years of the 18th century and the first quarter or so of the 19th. So that impersonal material objects like scientific instruments, dried fishes, or minerals, may be endowed with the perspective of human values which gives them meaning, I have included brief sketches of the major figures associated with the early history of the sciences at Harvard — the professors and lecturers who used the Apparatus or cared for the collections in mineralogy or natural history. Thus the following account of the scientific instruments at Harvard actually contains some of the elements, though on a much smaller scale, that I have indicated as a desideratum in the study of the development of the sciences in American educational institutions. While there exists little published material on science at Harvard, Samuel Eliot Morison's volumes on The Founding of Harvard College and Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century present a clear picture of science in its broadest terms in the period ending just before this account begins; the collective volume on The Development of Harvard University 1869-1929 is devoted to the era that begins some time later than that at which my account terminates. A few learned articles, chiefly in Harvard periodicals, provide valuable information on this or that topic, but most of the facts I have presented are taken from the manuscript sources. Curiously enough, there is more secondary material on mathematics at Harvard than on any other field of science. This reflects a general situation in the history of science, in which we find excellent com7

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pendious and interpretive volumes on the history of mathematics, and even learned journals devoted exclusively to that subject, in great contrast to the levels of scholarship in the history of any other branch of science with the single exception of medicine. Since, in general, the study of American science has been barely begun, it is not surprising that there are few general accounts to which the reader may be referred for comparative material on other American colleges. Theodore Hornberger's Scientific Thought in the American Colleges 1638-1800 (Austin, 1945), a brave but all too brief pioneering effort, contains much useful information, and Dirk J. Struik's Yankee Science in the Making (Boston, 1948) is a mine of knowledge concerning all aspects of New England science in the first half of the 19th century. European material for the period under discussion may be found in Dorothy M. Turner's History of Science Teaching in England (London, 1927) and Pierre Brunet's Les Physiciens hollandais et la methode experimental en France au XVIIIe siecle (Paris, 1926). The Theses of Colonial Harvard and other American colleges have been partially studied by James J. Walsh in his Education of the Founding Fathers of the Republic (New York, 1935).

For at least half a century the prevailing opinion among many American scholars has been that the sciences were but little cultivated in American institutions of higher learning during the first half of the 19th century, that what there was was badly taught, and that during the 18th century the sciences barely even existed in our colleges. One may forgive Barrett Wendell for his statement of about fifty years ago, that at the close of the 18th century Harvard gave its students "a fair training in Latin and Greek, a little Mathematics, and a touch of theology if they so inclined"; after all, his History of American Literature was written before the activities of scholarly research had uncovered the essential data. Yet, when a similar statement is made in the Literary History of the United States,1 one cannot help but wonder why our literary and cultural historians have not turned to the primary sources for the facts of the scene they wish to portray. Is it true, for example, 8

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that at Harvard in 1829 "science was recognized in a few lectures and 'demonstrations' "? And why, we may ask, is "demonstrations" enclosed within quotation marks? Either the students were shown real demonstrations, i.e., experiments performed by the teacher in the lecture hall, or they were not. As a matter of fact, they were.

The first scientific instrument in Harvard's possession appears to have been the telescope presented by Governor John Winthrop in 1672, and other instruments were obtained during the next fifty years. During the early part of the 18th century, especially, the College was induced to acquire considerable apparatus, owing to the persuasion of Tutor Thomas Robie, and a special room in Massachusetts Hall was assigned for use as a Philosophy Chamber. The Apparatus at Harvard grew steadily, albeit slowly, until 1727, when a notable addition was made by Harvard's great benefactor Thomas Hollis — a gift specifically intended for the use of the Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy whose chair Hollis had endowed in the same year. It has been my privilege to make a "reconstruction" of the Hollis gift (Appendix One). It is clear that after 1727, the Harvard Apparatus must have made a stirring and magnificent display in the Philosophy Chamber, providing at the same time the tools for the study of all aspects of natural philosophy: astronomy, mechanics, optics, pneumatics, hydrostatics, and electricity. A study of these scientific instruments shows the deep-seated interest in the sciences at 18th-century Harvard. The place of experimental science in the Harvard community is clearly shown by the action taken immediately after the Fire of 1764, which destroyed Harvard Hall. This catastrophe cost Harvard more than her oldest existing building: both the Library and the Apparatus perished. Steps were immediately taken to replace both. A great deal can be learned by comparing the Apparatus at the time of Professor John Winthrop's death in 1779 (see the inventory made at that time, printed here as Appendix T w o ) with the Apparatus that was lost in the Fire (see the inventory made in 1738 by Winthrop's predecessor, Isaac Greenwood, printed as Appen9

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dix One). This comparison shows plainly that Harvard had in less than fifteen years assembled a new Apparatus which in scope, variety, and quality far surpassed that consumed in the Fire. It must have been a deep-seated conviction of the value of the sciences that spurred on the members of the Harvard community to repair that great loss in so short a time. N e w types of instruments were brought from Europe as rapidly as they were invented or improved, along with the equipment necessary to demonstrate the new discoveries in science as they were made. The progress of scientific discovery is therefore recorded, almost year by year, in Harvard's invoices. Harvard's Philosophical Apparatus, conceded the Rev. Samuel Miller of N e w York in 1803, in a comparative study of the facilities of American colleges and universities, is "generally said to be the best in America." 2 It was certainly that and it was equal, if not superior, to similar collections in many European colleges. Considering the ravages of time, the fact that so many different early instruments are still to be found in Harvard's collections testifies to the size and character of the Harvard Apparatus in those bygone days. Yet it must not be assumed that no other Colonial college displayed any interest in science or possessed any scientific instruments during the 18th century. Samuel Miller's account, to which we have just referred, gives brief characterizations of the scientific equipment in each of the American colleges. A t Yale, interest in mathematics and the sciences was strong in the 18th century. 3 Yet, except for celestial and terrestrial globes, "the college was probably without any apparatus other than its globes until 1734." A list of Yale's scientific apparatus, prepared by Ezra Stiles in the middle of the century, includes a variety of items: a telescope, globes, surveying instruments, an orrery, and miscellaneous instruments for demonstrations in the several branches of physics. Although less extensive than Harvard's Apparatus at the same period, Yale's was clearly well-chosen and of high quality. The collection was allowed to run down, to judge from Manasseh Cutler's description of it in 1787; but two years later a splendid new Apparatus was bought at a cost of some £206.4 ι ο

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While the other mid-18th-century colleges, such as Columbia, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, and Brown, all taught the sciences and owned scientific equipment, "Harvard's greatest rival in physics was probably William and Mary." 5 William and Mary's Apparatus received a notable addition in the 1760's, when William Small (remembered as the teacher from whom Jefferson received his "first views on the expansion of science, and of the system of things in which we are placed") accepted a commission to purchase an Apparatus valued at somewhat more than £300. Unfortunately, only a partial inventory of this Apparatus survives and, apparently, only three pieces survived a disastrous fire in 1859.®

One cannot discuss any aspect of American culture in the 18 th or the early 19th century without reference to its relation to established religion. The N e w England clergymen of the 18 th century, many of them Harvard trained, evinced no hostility to science; on the contrary, so many of them inserted scientific discussion into their sermons that the latter may be used as a basis for compiling a handbook of the science of the time. The study of the heavens revealed the handiwork of the Creator, while Newtonian physics showed the mathematical order which He had assigned to His created objects. Natural philosophy, from the 18th-century point of view, was thought to be the science that "considers the Works of the Supreme Wisdom, and sets forth, What Laws J E H O V A H to himself prescribed, And of his Work the firm foundation made, When He of Things the first Design survey'd." 7 Conceived in good measure as a complement to theology, physical science did not itself "meddle with the first Foundation of Things," but "the least Examination of Nature will shew plain Footsteps of Supreme Wisdom." 8 Cotton Mather's outline of studies, Manuductio ad Ministerium. Directions for a Candidate of the Ministry (Boston, 1726), contained the following advice: What we call N A T U R A L PHILOSOPHY, is what I must encourage you to spend much more Time in the Study of. ι ι

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Do it, with continual Contemplations and agreeable Acknowledgements of the Infinite GOD, whose Perfections are so display'd in His Works before you . . . When I said, Natural Phylosophy, you may be sure I did not mean, the Peripatetic. . . And therefore, as thorough an Insight as you can get into the Principles of our Perpetual Dictator, the incomparable Sr. Isaac Newton, is what I mightily commend unto you. Be sure, the Experimental Philosophy is that, in which alone your Mind can be at all established. . . But you must also soar Upwards, to the Attainments of ASTRONOMY. . . When Thomas Hollis drew up the "Rules and Orders relating to a Professor of the Mathematicks, of Natural and Experimental Phylosophy," he provided that the Hollis Professor, "of the Protestant reformed Religion, as it is now professed & practised by the churches in N e w England, commonly distinguished by the names of Congregational, Presbyterian or Baptist," 9 should be expected "to promote true piety & Godliness by his own Example and Incouragement." 1 0 The second Thomas Hollis, nephew and heir of the founder of the professorship, in 1732 presented a sphere, an orrery, and a microscope to be added to the Harvard Apparatus; on that occasion he wrote to the College Treasurer that he hoped "good use" would be made of each " f o r the promoting usefull knowledge, . . . the advancement of natural and revealed Religion." Even as late as 1788, when new "Regulations respecting the Hollis Professorship of Mathematics & Natural Philosophy" were adopted, it was provided: "That the Professor be directed, while he is delivering his Philosophical and Astronomical lectures, to make such incidental reflections upon the Being, Perfections and Providence of God, as may arise from the subjects, and may tend seriously to impress the minds of youth."

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^ While physics and astronomy flourished at 18th-century Harvard, chemistry and biology were taught only as incidental parts of ι 2

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natural philosophy. The teaching of these subjects as a formal part of the College curriculum was begun after the founding of the Medical School in 1782. This delay is mirrored in the Apparatus, which contains no chemical instruments, or biological or geological specimens, as old as the telescopes, electrical machines, and other appurtenances of physics and astronomy. The old scientific instruments show the importance of demonstration experiments in science teaching in Colonial Harvard; the exhibition of such experiments was an express duty of the Hollis Professor. When, during the early years of the American Revolution, "thro' the difficulty of the times, & the late dispersion of the College, the Professor of Mathematics & [Natural] Philosophy . . . [had] been unavoidably prevented hitherto from carrying the Students through his Experimental Lectures (a very important branch of their education)," the Corporation voted, on June 24, 1776, that the beginning of summer vacation be postponed so that the students might not suffer the loss of the experiments.12 Today, we take the performance of such experiments for granted, but in the 18th century, and even in the 19th, they were not a universally accepted sine qua non of instruction in the sciences. Even so late as the 1860's, it was seriously argued in England that the introduction of proofs or demonstrations of scientific principles by experiments would be morally harmful to students —the latter should learn to accept their master's world. 13 The fact that Harvard owned so many different scientific instruments should suggest the error of those who believe that up to the beginning of the 19th century Harvard education consisted wholly of dreary recitations from dull textbooks. T o a 20th-century mind, the Newtonian natural philosophy may seem elementary, and perhaps even trivial, but to the students of that era, the unsolved problems of gravitation, or the new discoveries in electricity, must have seemed to have the same character that nuclear theory and the unexplained properties of mesons have to students in our day. When William Ellery Channing was an undergraduate at Harvard in the 1790's, his love of natural science was kindled and his "very earliest attempt at sustained composition was an essay on Electricity." So delighted was he with his studies of geometry that ι3

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"he took the fifth book of Euclid with him as an entertainment during one vacation." 14 I have read in manuscript the lectures on Natural Philosophydelivered by Professor John Winthrop to his Harvard students, and those of his pupil and successor, Samuel Williams. They are far from being dull. Not only were they enlivened by experiments performed with the instruments in Harvard's Apparatus, but they continually evoked references to the applications of scientific principles to the affairs of daily life and discussions of the larger questions concerning the ultimate nature of things and primary causes. When Winthrop lectured on, and demonstrated, the "deceitful balance" (described in Appendix One), he paused to tell his students how "a Cheat by these Scales may be easyly Detected, for by Shifting the bodies they will by no means Equiponderate; and will not be in Equilibrio 'till there be more of the Commodity put into the Scale, which he intended to Defraud you of." He then showed how those "who Deal in Jewels & other Valuable Commodities" avoid being cheated by such balances, "whether they Suspect them or not." In discussing gravity and the mutual attraction of bodies, he expressed the hope that man "may one Day or Other Discover the Cause of Gravity." The parts of matter (the essential atoms), he noted, must be held together in some way. "That there is Such a power as Attraction of Cohesion," he explained, "Every Compact Body is a proof of; Some have thought this power to be from a mere Juxta possition of parts; Others have thought it to be from the parts of Matter being Hooky; butt then the Question arises what holds these Hooks together." 1 5 "Article 7 " of Thomas Hollis's Rules and Orders for his Professor required that he should "set apart two or three hours in Every week, to converse with his Pupils & Indeavour to clear such difficulties as lie upon their minds, relating to the Several parts of the Mathematicks, natural and experimental Phylosophy, of which he is Professor." Such time for individual help with the difficulties in science remained one of the distinguishing aspects of the science instruction. The Revised Regulations respecting the Hollis Professorship, adopted in 1788, expressly provided that "the Professor be directed, from time to time, to communicate to his pupils Arti-

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cle 7 th in the Rules and Orders of his Founder, and to inform them, that agreeable thereto, he shall devote such a proportion of his time, to attend to their applications for particular & familiar conversation on, and instruction in the subjects of their studies, in the branches of his profession; and shall at all times encourage such applications." Contrasted with the method of studying Locke, in which the students were required to "commit whole paragraphs to memory, and to repeat them to the tutor," the lectures on natural philosophy stand out as a bright light in 18th-century education at Harvard. Whereas the method of memorizing sections of An Essay concerning Human Understanding "saved both the tutor and scholar the trouble of thinking, — one to ask and the other to answer questions on the author's doctrines," 16 the science professor encouraged the students to come to him with their questions.

Barrett Wendell's strictures on 18th-century Harvard were not confined to teaching; he wrote that the one "principal function of a true university ·— that of acquiring and publishing fresh knowledge— it [Harvard] had not attempted." I think we must agree that the acquisition and publication of fresh knowledge is a principal function of a true university. (But surely the training of humanists, scientists, and scholars is another!) We judge our universities to a considerable degree by the extent of research. While, in general, research activity was not the distinguishing feature of 18thcentury Harvard, nor for that matter of any other 18th-century university, in the special case of the sciences research was undertaken at Harvard, and the results were published — not only by the Hollis Professor assisted by his more able students, but by other members of the Harvard community including the President, the Librarian, the Professor of Divinity, and the Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages. From the time that Thomas Brattle sent his astronomical observations to England to be used by Isaac Newton in his Principia, and Cotton Mather sent to the Royal Society of London the first recorded observation of spontaneous hybridization in plants, the contributions to scientific knowledge made by Harvard men form a continuous unbroken record. Many 1

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of these contributions were published in the Philosophical Transactions, the scientific journal of the Royal Society of London, and won for their authors the coveted honor of writing after their names "F.R.S." — Fellow of the Royal Society. 17 Thomas Hollis had provided that, in addition to instructing the students in science, his Professor "Indeavour the advancement of true Learning." Professor John Winthrop was imbued with the spirit of research and devoted the major part of his free hours to scientific investigation. The published results of his research gained him international recognition and he was the leader of the first American scientific expedition to be sponsored by a college — the Harvard expedition to observe the transit of Venus in 1761. His successor, Samuel Williams, who had been a student-assistant helping Winthrop observe the transit, led Harvard's second scientific expedition, to observe an eclipse of the sun in 1780 — a dramatic event that occurred during time of war and was made, with British consent, in territory held by the enemy. In addition to such scientific expeditions, research of many kinds was carried on in Cambridge, in Harvard Hall and in the houses of both the President and the Hollis Professor. As witness to the scientific activity at late 18th-century Harvard, we may examine the first volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, published in Boston in 1785. Williams contributed an article on the latitude of Cambridge, which he determined from the Philosophy Chamber in Harvard Hall with the Sissons quadrant of two feet and a half radius (on permanent exhibition in the Jefferson Physical Laboratory), and in which were included "Observations on the variation and dip of the magnetic needle at the University in Cambridge," made with the two Nairne instruments (Nos. 25 and 26 in Appendix Three). While Williams observed the diurnal variation in the dipping needle, Stephen Sewall, Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages, observed the diurnal variation of the magnetic needle with the variation compass. (Sewall also published a separate contribution embodying his magnetic observations over a number of years.) Another of Williams's papers was devoted to the earthquakes of New England, and one presented a meteorological ac16

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count of "a very uncommon Darkness in the States of New-England, May 19, 1780." But his most important contribution was entitled "Astronomical Observations made in the State of Massachusetts," on eclipses of the sun and moon in 1761 and 1764, and 1770-1784, including an account of the eclipse expedition of 1780, with his own observations and those of his companions — Sewall, James Winthrop the Librarian, Fortesque Vernon (A. B. 1779), and "Messrs. Atkins, Davis, Hall, Dawson, Rensalaer, and King, Students in the University." This first volume of the Memoirs also contains James Winthrop's observations of a transit of Mercury in 1782, as well as a comparative study of temperature and atmospheric pressure in Cambridge during 1780-1783 by Edward Wigglesworth, Hollis Professor of Divinity. Finally, the volume was graced by a number of papers by President Willard on a variety of topics: astronomy, geomagnetism, and methods of computation, including an elegant determination of the longitude of Cambridge. The ideal of the volume, epitomizing the outlook of the members of the Harvard faculty, is expressed in Williams's remark that "the best method to promote the knowledge and science of nature is to proceed by way of observation and experiment." The instruments from Harvard's Apparatus are, therefore, not only a memento of the instruction in an earlier day, but a living memorial to the spirit of research in the sciences at Harvard. Bearing perpetual witness to the research activity of the Harvard faculty of more than a century and a half ago, these instruments prove that the ideals of investigation, observation, and publication of results which characterize the modern university were already present in Cambridge in the 18th century. Whether or not this research provided world-shaking results is a wholly separate question, whose answer is no. But from the point of view of cultural history, we cannot help but admit that the sciences were devotedly cultivated in the intellectual community of late 18th-century Harvard, were esteemed and valued, and were advanced to the capacity of the faculty and student body.

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The period referred to disparagingly by the authors of the Literary History of the United States was that of Oliver Wendell Holmes's class — 1829. At that time, Harvard undergraduates were offered instruction in many of the sciences, chemistry, mineralogy, astronomy, the major branches of physics, anatomy, health, natural history, the application of science to the useful arts, and elementary and advanced mathematics. Let us examine in detail one of these subjects — chemistry. The Chemical Laboratory was well equipped; in 1815 a large quantity of chemical apparatus and reagents, purchased at a cost of some $1500, was added to the already existing materials. An inventory made in 1821 (printed at the end of this book as Appendix Four) shows the extent of this equipment; it could not have entirely disappeared by 1829. Three years before, in 1826, John W. Webster, then Lecturer on Chemistry and later the third Erving Professor, published a book entitled: A Manual of Chemistry on the Basis of Professor Brande's; containing the principal facts of the science, arranged in the order in which they are discussed and illustrated in the lectures at Harvard University, N.E. "Designed as a textbook for the use of students and persons attending the lectures on chemistry," the book opens with two interesting and revealing plates: the first shows a ground plan of the "Chemical Laboratory and Lecture Room in Harvard College," while the second "exhibits sections of the furnaces, and views of several useful parts of the apparatus not described in the body of the work." (These plates are reproduced in Chapter Four following page 90.) Webster was obviously proud of the chemical set-up at Harvard, and described the laboratory and its apparatus in detail so that teachers in other institutions might emulate Harvard; to the latter end, he even supplied the names of the manufacturers in America who produced various items of equipment. From the instruments that survive, from the early inventories, invoices, and other manuscript records, and from the descriptions given by Webster in his book, one can practically reconstruct the old Chemical Laboratory. From Webster's text, and from the records of his pupils, one can even revivify the old lectures. One of Webster's students was Robert C. Winthrop, whose copy of ι8

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Webster's Manual is in the Harvard College Library; Winthrop wrote on the top of page one, "Commenced this at the beginning of the ist term, Junior Year, 1826, under the direction of the compiler." Webster, like his predecessors in the teaching of chemistry to Harvard undergraduates, John Gorham and Aaron Dexter, performed a great many experiments f o r his students in order to illustrate the facts and principles of the chemical science being taught. T h e stress on "illustrations" and experiments is manifest on every page of Webster's book, and even in the title. Of course many students disliked chemistry because they quite naturally objected to the loud noise of the explosions, the unpleasant odors, and so on. But Webster himself was later described by Oliver Wendell Holmes as "pleasant in the Lecture room, rather nervous and exciteable, I should say, and judiciously self-conservative when an explosion was part of the program." Professor Charles Loring Jackson, of the Class of 1867, recalled one aspect of Professor Webster's lectures that had been described to him by Professor Josiah Parsons Cooke, of the Class of 1848. In the second or third of Webster's lectures, he showed the students his "volcano." This was a pile of chlorate, potash, and sugar on a slab of soapstone; Webster ignited it with a drop of sulfuric acid and immediately bounced out the side door. Professor Jackson declared: I think the flame must have gone up to the ceiling. When I tried the experiment with less than % 0 th of the quantity, it made the room so intolerable that I had to do it at the end of the lecture. The air would be full of small lumps of half-burned charcoal, and an overpowering smell of caramel. The class left abruptly, some by the door and more by the windows. . . A good many years later, Professor Cooke found under the belfry of Harvard Hall, the floor of which was covered with boxes and minerals that Professor Webster had collected, the volcano. When he took possession of them, Professor Cooke pointed to a slab of soap-stone two feet across and three inches thick and said, "That was Webster's volcano." This account, despite the obviously humorous aspect of the story, 1

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indicates that Webster showed experiments to his classes, and did so on a large scale. Incidentally, the experiment described by Cooke to Jackson is still performed in the course on elementary chemistry annually offered to undergraduates in most American colleges. Oliver Wendell Holmes, who attended Webster's lectures, recalled many of the demonstration experiments performed in the Chemistry Lecture Room — then located on the ground floor of Holden Chapel. In a lecture given on September 26, 1879, Holmes described these experiments while discussing education in general. Holmes said: I have no right perhaps to speak of chemistry, but from my intimate knowledge of it as its exists today, I believe that the same caution which applies to my own branch [anatomy] is not superfluous with reference to this. Chemistry used to be a charming study in my younger days, perhaps it is so now. . . A course of chemical lectures was one of the most agreeable of entertainments. To redden a vegetable blue, to precipitate a cloud of some carbonate or sulphate; to burn iron into oxygen; to inflate bubbles with hydrogen; on great occasions to solidify carbonic acid; to make a light with electricity or phosphorus which should blind everybody with its intensity; to make a smell with sulphurated hydrogen which should cause all to hold their noses; such was a specimen of chemical teaching as I remember it. But . . . chemistry has waded beyond its depths . . . [and] is no longer a matter of a retort, a crucible, a few test glasses, a few reagents, a balance and such other delightful toys, but a stern and difficult complication of problems, which to deal with as a master takes the devotion of a whole life. 18 The experiments which Holmes remembered many years later clearly cover a wide variety of topics, including both organic and inorganic chemistry. One item that catches the reader's eye is: ". . . on great occasions to solidify carbonic acid. . ." When Holmes attended Webster's chemistry lectures, he and his fellow students were given an up-to-date course which included all the latest discoveries. Among the latter was the liquefaction of common gases (including carbon dioxide or "carbonic acid"), a revolutionary new phenomenon that had been announced only five or six years 2ο

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earlier by Michael Faraday. T o the best of my knowledge, Webster's pupils were the first American undergraduates to witness lecture demonstrations of Faraday's discovery. Today we call the snowlike substance "dry ice" and think of it as one of the common marvels of the 20th century, but Webster showed his Harvard students how to make it a century and a quarter ago.

Demonstration experiments were also used extensively in the teaching of astronomy and natural philosophy (including the major branches of physics), and in the Rumford Lectures on the Application of Science to the Useful Arts. When Jared Sparks was an undergraduate, he had the privilege of learning astronomy and natural philosophy from John Farrar, one of the most inspired teachers and lecturers ever to grace a Harvard lecture platform. Sparks, in a letter of March 9, 1815, referred enthusiastically to the teaching and the demonstrations: "I am now attending an elegant course of lectures on Astronomy with the advantage of orreries, telescopes, and other apparatus." 19 Farrar was a most skillful manipulator of demonstration experiments, and he was able to draw on Harvard's extensive Philosophical Apparatus as well as the Chemical Laboratory. Andrew Preston Peabody, a member of the Class of 1826, relates: I have no hesitation in saying that he was the most eloquent man to whom I ever listened. I doubt whether, after his early sermons, he was ever heard except in a college lecture-room; but he delivered, when I was in college, a lecture every week to the junior class on Natural Philosophy, and one to the senior class on Astronomy. His were the only exercises at which there was no need of a roll-call. N o student was willingly absent. T h e professor had no notes, and commenced his lecture in a conversational tone and manner, very much as if he were explaining his subject to a single learner. But, whatever the subject, he very soon rose from prosaic details to general laws and principles, which he seemed ever to approach with blended enthusiasm and reverence, as if he were investigating and expounding divine mysteries. His face glowed with the inspiration of his theme. His voice, which was unmanageable as he grew warm, broke into a shrill falsetto; and with the

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first high treble notes the class began to listen with breathless stillness, so that a pin-fall could, I doubt not, have been heard through the room. This high key once reached, there was no return to the lower notes, nor any intermission in the outflow and the quickening rush of lofty thought and profound feeling, till the bell announced the close of the hour, and he piled up all the meaning that he could stow into a parting sentence, which was at once the climax of the lecture, and the climax of an ascending scale of vocal utterance, higher, I think, than is within the range of an ordinary soprano singer.20 The lectures on "Technology" were given by Dr. Jacob Bigelow (A.B. 1806), famous in his day as a botanist, for forty years professor of materia medica, and from 1816 until 1829 the Rumford Professor and Lecturer on the Application of Science to the Useful Arts. Peabody tells us that "his lectures as Rumford Professor were second only to Professor Farrar's in attractiveness." He relates that with the use of "a well selected but meagre apparatus of models and diagrams" he gave the students "a wonderfully clear and vivid description of all the more important implements, processes, and products of arts as they then were." 21 These lectures were later written up by Bigelow in his Elements of Technology, taken chiefly from a Course of Lectures delivered at Cambridge, on the Application of the Sciences to the Useful Arts (Boston, 1829). This book, like his lectures, was devoted to the proposition: " A certain degree of acquaintance with the theory and scientific principles of the common arts, is found so generally important, that most educated men, in the course of an ordinary practical life, are obliged to obtain it from some source, or to suffer inconvenience for the want of it." Bigelow began with a discussion of materials (form, condition, and strength), followed by accounts of various arts: writing and printing, engraving and lithography, architecture and building, heating and ventilation, illumination, locomotion, machinery, horology, metallurgy, preservation of organic substances, etc. Bigelow, an M.D., tells us that he had been won to his profession by "the eloquence of Dr. John Warren . . . who, at that time [1806], lectured on anatomy to the senior class of undergraduates." 22 As the years went by, sums of money from the Rumford fund were spent to improve the collection of apparatus and models so that the dem22

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onstrations accompanying these lectures improved in quality and quantity until they reached the high level of the lectures themselves. W e shall have more to say about the lectures and demonstrations in natural philosophy and astronomy in the succeeding chapters, but I think the above account makes it plain that the uninformed judgment concerning the small quantity of science instruction and its poor quality at Harvard in the first half of the 19th century can no longer stand unchallenged. Indeed, the very survival of the instruments used at this time in the lectures on science at Harvard forms, of itself, an ample rejoinder to those who have scorned this part of the instruction and who, therefore, have presented a one-sided picture of education in American colleges during the first half century of the Republic. N O T E ON T H E G O V E R N M E N T

OF H A R V A R D

COLLEGE

Harvard College was founded by a vote of the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay on October 28, 1636; on November 20, 1637, the General Court appointed the first Board of Overseers, consisting of Governor Winthrop, Deputy-Governor Dudley, four other magistrates, and six ministers. The composition, duties, and powers of the Board of Overseers were defined in an Act of the General Court on September 27, 1642: "It is . . . ordered that the Governour & Deputy for the time being, & all the ma[gis]trats of this iurisdiction, together with the teaching elders of the sixe next adioyning townes . . ., & the president of the colledge for the time being, shall have from time to time full power & authority to make & establish all . . . orders, statutes, & constitutions . . . for the instituting, guiding, & furthering of the said colledge & the severall members thereof . . . [&] shall have full power to dispose, order, & manage, to the use & behoofe of the said colledge & members thereof, all gifts, legacies, bequeathalls, revenues, lands, & donations . . ." In order to give the College a corporate personality, and a less cumbrous government, President Dunster petitioned the General Court for a charter, which was granted during the spring session of 1650. According to this charter, it was ordered that "the said Colledge . . . shalbe a Corporation" consisting of seven persons: the President of the College (Dunster) as President of the Corporation, "a Treasurer or Burser," and five "Fellowes," all of whom were young Harvard graduates — four were Tutors in the College, and the fifth entered upon his teaching duties shortly after. The "said seuen persons 23

SOME EARLY TOOLS OF AMERICAN SCIENCE or the greater Number of them procuring the presence of the Ouerseers of the Colledge and by their counsell and consent shall haue power and are heereby authorized at any tyme or tymes to elect a new President Fellowes or Treasurer so oft and from tyme to tyme as any of the said persons or person shall dye or be remoued, which said President and Fellowes for the tyme being shall for euer heereafter in name and fact be one body politique and Corporate in Lawe to all intents and purposes, and shall haue perpetuall succession And shall be called by the name of President and Fellowes of Haruard Colledge . . . And the President & Fellowes or the maior part of them from tyme to tyme may meete and choose such Officers & servants for the Colledge and make such allowance to them and them alsoe to remoue and after death or remoueall to choose such others and to make from tyme to tyme such orders & Bylawes for the better ordering & carying on the worke of the Colledge as they shall thinck fitt. Prouided the said orders be allowed by the Ouerseers . . ." Under the Charter, the delimitation of powers between the Corporation, or the President and Fellows, and the Overseers was still doubtful; the General Court passed an "Appendix" to the Charter on October 23, 1657, ordering that "the corporation shall haue power from time to time to make such orders & by lawes for the better ordering & carrying on of the worke of the colledge, as they shall see cawse, without dependence vpon the consent of the ouerseers foregoing; provided, alwaies, that the corporation shall be responsible vnto, & those orders and by lawes shallbe alterable by, the ouerseers according to theire discretion. And when the corporation shall hold a meeting, & agreeing with colledge servants, for making of orders & by lawes, for debating & concluding of affaires concerning the proffitts & revenues of any lands or guiftes, & the disposing thereof, . . . for mannaging of all emergent occasions for the procuring of a generali meeting of the ouerseers & society in great & difficult cases, & in cases of non agreement, & for all other colledge affaires to them pertaining, in all these cases the conclusion shall be valid, being made by a major part of the corporacion, the president having a casting vote; provided alwaies, that in these things also they be responsable to the ouerseers as aforesaid. . ." The Corporation was given "perpetual succession" by the Charter, which, excepting for two periods of abeyance (1686-1690, 1692-1707) has been in force from the date it was granted, and is still the fundamental law of the University. Until 1692, every teacher in the College was also a Fellow of the Corporation, although several retained their

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T H E HISTORY OF SCIENCE A T HARVARD fellowships, without stipend, after they ceased to reside in College and teach. During the eighteenth century, the practice began of appointing as Fellows distinguished members of the community who were not expected to teach in the College; and in the nineteenth century, this became the rule. The Charter of 1650 was guaranteed by the Constitution of Massachusetts, adopted in 1780. In the course of expansion of Harvard College into Harvard University, considerable authority was by necessity delegated by the Corporation to the several faculties, councils, deans, and administrative boards. But the President and Fellows of Harvard College are still the principal governing board of the University, subject only to the consent of the Board of Overseers. Among various changes in the composition and determination of the governing boards since 1810 have been the gradual introduction of elective members in the Board of Overseers, by joint ballot of the senators and representatives of the General Court of Massachusetts, finally by holders of any Harvard degree, and the removal of qualifications for Overseers, including a proportion of clergymen, and residence in Massachusetts, save that officers of government and instruction, other than emeriti, are still ineligible to vote for Overseers, or serve as Overseers. [Summarized from "History and Government of Harvard University," pp. vii-xvii of Harvard University Catalogue (Cambridge, Published by the University, June 1948).]

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II Scientific Instruments at Haryard before the Fire of 1764 But instead of entering here into a detail, which would probably answer no valuable end, I choose rather to turn your thoughts to that consummate Wisdom, which presides over this vast machine of nature, and has so regulated the several movements in it, as to obviate the damage that might arise from this quarter [collision between a planet and a comet]. None but an eye able to pierce into the remotest futurity, and to foresee, throughout all ages, all the situations which this numerous class of bodies would have towards the planets, in consequence of the laws of their respective motions, could have given so just an arrangement to their several orbits, and assigned them their places at first on their orbits with such perfect accuracy, that their motions have ever since continued without interfering, and no disasters of this sort have taken place; unless we except the case of the deluge. For though so many Comets have transversed this planetary system, and some of their orbits run near to those of the planets; yet the planets have never been in the way, but always at ä distance from the nearest point, when the Comets have passed by it. The foresight of that great Being, which has hitherto prevented such disorders, will continue to prevent them, so long as He sees it fit the present frame of nature should subsist. Longer than that, it is not fit that it should subsist. — Professor John Winthrop, 1759

T h e greater part of the surviving scientific instruments at Harvard that were used during the first two centuries of her existence belong to the category then usually denominated "Philosophical Apparatus." They were used in demonstrating or exploring the field known to the 18th century as "natural philosophy," which comprised the major parts of what would be called today physics and astronomy, together with their mathematical explanation — the subjects to which the great Isaac Newton had devoted himself in the Principia. A n y discussion of the early scientific instruments and collections at Harvard must naturally be divided into two periods, sep26

HARVARD INSTRUMENTS BEFORE THE FIRE arated by that fateful night of January 24, 1764 when, to quote the official account: suffered the most ruinous loss it ever met with since its foundation. In the middle of a very tempestuous night, a severe cold storm of snow attended with high wind, we were awaked by the alarm of fire. Harvard-Hall, the only one of our ancient buildings which still remained, and the repository of our most valuable treasures, the public LIBRARY and Philosophical APPARATUS, was seen in flames. HARVARD COLLEGE

Some account of the valuable instruments destroyed in that fire may be found in the third column of the broadside reproduced herewith. The major portion of this collection had been the gift of Harvard's great benefactor, Thomas Hollis of London (1659— 1730/1), who had also given many books to the library and who had endowed two professorships — the Hollis Professorship of Divinity in 1721 and the Hollis Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 1727. But even before Hollis had made his magnificent donations to Harvard, there had been a considerable school of science. After studying the astronomical work in late 17th-century Harvard, 1 Mr. Morison concluded: "Copernican astronomy was formally taught at Harvard at least as early as 1659; the young Harvard graduates who compiled the New England almanacs, used them as a vehicle for popular essays on the new astronomy; and one Harvard astronomer even provided the great Newton with observations useful for his Principia." However, until 1672, when Harvard acquired a telescope from John Winthrop the younger, the heavens would seem to have been studied only·through the medium of the printed page and whatever might be revealed by naked-eye observation. The telescope acquired by Winthrop during his visit to London to obtain a charter for Connecticut, and later presented by him to Harvard, is in all likelihood the first scientific instrument, in the literal sense, to be used at Harvard. With its aid, its donor had studied the heavens and thought he had made a splendid discovery— a fifth satellite of Jupiter.2 This telescope, "3 foote and hälfe with a concave ey-glasse," was used by Thomas Brattle (A.B. 2

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1676) to observe the great comet of 1680; his observations were used by Newton and gratefully acknowledged by him in the

Principia.3

Winthrop's telescope did not remain long the only instrument for studying the heavens. B y 1689, the College had acquired a quadrant, which Brattle referred to as a "Brass Quadrant . . . with Tellescopick Sights" in an observation that he made on June 12, 1694; and at the end of the century Harvard possessed a second telescope, a foot longer than Winthrop's gift, and described by Brattle in a report on the solar eclipse of 1703 as "a Telescope of one joynt, 4 foot and a half in length, and had only 2 Glasses, so that it inverted the object; and I had a red Glass which suited it, so that I could screw it in just before the Eye-Glass . . . which was a great convenience." 4

During the second half of the 17 th century, when the earliest Harvard school of astronomy was being established, the intellectual world witnessed that first culmination in one of the greatest revolutions in the history of man — the establishment of modern science as we know it today. Of course, our modern science has ancestors both immediate and distant, and there is kinship with the efforts of many who lived before the time of Galileo and N e w ton. Yet the kind of activity symbolized by the work of these two men was then something very new — a "new philosophy," as the poet John Donne declared, and it "calls all in doubt." The "experimental philosophy" or the "new science" of Galileo, Kepler, Boyle, Huygens, Hooke, and Newton brought about a radically different way of looking at the data of the external world, and of exploring and demonstrating its properties. These in turn required new methods of teaching, and set apart those who practised the new science from those who did not. The success of the "experimental" approach to the understanding of the world caused its adherents to band together with similarly minded virtuosi into learned societies such as the famed Royal Society of London and the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris. Governor Winthrop, donor of Harvard's first telescope, was one of the founding spirits of the Royal Society, 28

HARVARD INSTRUMENTS BEFORE THE FIRE and Harvard men formed a sizable proportion of the Colonial Americans elected Fellows of that Society, including two more Winthrops, President Leverett, and James Bowdoin — whose election as "foreign" member symbolized the society's recognition of the new American nationality.* A "Mock Thesis" of 1663, to the effect that "the Physicist is a ripper-up of natural bodies and of Nature," 6 seems, in the light of almost three hundred years of physics since that time, to be a better description than its author could possibly have guessed. But no matter what disturbing implications the new science might seem to have held, Puritans were almost unanimous in their affirmation that science is "no enemy"; several independent investigations made during the last decade or so have shown, furthermore, that the kind of Puritanism which Harvard represented was a most fertile soil for science. During this late 17th-century and the early 18th-century period, there occurred at Harvard, as at the British universities, a transition first from scholastic to Cartesian physics and then from the Cartesian to the new science of Newton. Of primary importance in these transitions was the famous textbook of Charles Morton (16271698), the Compendium Physicae,7 which that Puritan divine brought with him when he deserted his academy at Stoke Newington, near London, "the chief school of the dissenters," 8 in 1686 to come to Massachusetts in the hope of becoming president of Harvard. This book, copied by generations of Harvard students, remained the foundation of science at Harvard from 1687 to 1713-15 and was used until 1728, when Greenwood became the first Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. While this book was in large measure Cartesian, and presented what it did of the new science in terms of the old scholastic "categories," it was, nevertheless, "the first to inculcate among Harvard students that •Colonial Harvard Fellows were Cotton Mather (A.B. 1678), William Brattle (A.B. 1680), President John Leverett (A.B. 1680), Paul Dudley (A.B. 1690), Thomas Robie (A.B. 1708), John Winthrop (A.B. 1700), Professor John Winthrop (A.B. 1732), James Bowdoin (A.B. 1745), Benjamin Franklin (A.M. hon. 1753), Peter Livius (A.M. hon. 1767), Arthur Lee (LL.D. hon. 1780). Benjamin Thompson, later Count Rumford, while not a Harvard graduate, may be claimed as an alumnus since he began his scientific studies at Harvard under the tutelage of Professor John Winthrop.·

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observing and curious attitude toward the physical world which, in modern times, marks the educated man." 9 More than one Harvard man of the early 18th century was able to go much deeper into the new science of his time than would have been possible from studying Morton alone. Prior to the founding of the Hollis Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, at least two Colonial Fellows of the Royal Society of London who had been graduated from the College showed their knowledge of science and their grasp of its methods: Cotton Mather (A.B. 1678) and Thomas Robie (A.B. 1708). Mather, like his father before him, was genuinely interested in all aspects of the scientific study of nature. His Christian Philosopher, published in 1720, was the first general survey of the sciences written by an American, and it shows a full comprehension of the recent discoveries in astronomy and physics, the principles of Newtonian mechanics, and the latest findings in biology. 10 Cotton Mather's book, with its oft-expressed unbounded admiration for Isaac Newton, set a general tone for the scientific age that was now at hand. The dedicatory preface, " T o Mr. Thomas Hollis, Merchant in London," declared: "Your surprizing generosity to the Academy in New-England, [i.e., Harvard] has made this Dedication more proper to you than any other Person." In 1721, Hollis had endowed his Professorship of Divinity and although his scientific professorship was not to be founded until a half-dozen years later, he presented to the College many scientific books and, in 1722, a 24-foot refracting telescope. The College's 24-foot refractor was used by Tutor Thomas Robie, F.R.S., who also had at his disposal an 8-foot telescope which the College had acquired in 1712. 1 1 Robie, "the most famous New Englander in science in his day," 12 made studies of various aspects of physical science and was familiar with Newtonian principles, but eventually deserted the path of mathematics and physics for that of medicine. The name of Hollis, as Josiah Quincy observed,13 "is applicable not to a single star, but a constellation. Six individuals bearing it 30

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are entitled to rank high in the list of . . . [Harvard's] benefactors." * The greatest of these was the first Thomas Hollis, whose various activities have been mentioned earlier. The Hollis Professorship of Divinity is the oldest endowed professorship in the country. The second oldest is the Hollis Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, which he established in 1727, after having meditated on it for some years. The first incumbent of the new professorship was Isaac Greenwood (A.B. 1 7 2 1 ) , who had all the scientific and intellectual qualifications, and almost all the virtues, requisite to his post. After initial scientific training in the sciences at Harvard under Thomas Robie, he pursued further studies in London, chiefly under the tutelage of the greatest demonstrator of scientific experiments of the age, J . T . Desaguliers. While in London, Greenwood made the acquaintance of Hollis, who appears to have been much taken by the youth. Indeed, it is clear from Hollis's letters to Benjamin Colman that it was Greenwood's presence in London and his apparent success in mastering his subject that brought to a head Hollis's plans. On hearing that the Hollis Professor of Divinity, Edward Wigglesworth, was to be married, Hollis wrote Colman on February 10, 1725/6: . . . perhaps you may be willing to see . . . [Wigglesworth's] present chambers inhabited by a Professor of the Mathematicks and experimental Philosophy, setled in your College — I have from the beginning meditated such a thing, and given a dark hint of what I designed to do at my death by Will; but seeing I am yet preserved I now think of doing it in life my self if God please. . Alas! Greenwood proved to be a frail vessel, and the temptation of the London metropolis was too much for him, as witness the letter written by Hollis to Colman on July 27, 1726, describing "the surprise and feare of disapointment in our projected Professor * Three of the six bore the name of Thomas. T h e first Thomas, Nathaniel, and John Hollis were brothers; the second Thomas was the son of Nathaniel and the heir of his uncle, the first Thomas Hollis. His son was the third Thomas Hollis (sometimes known as Thomas Hollis of Lincoln's Inn), heir of his grandfather Nathaniel and his father, the second Thomas. Timothy Hollis was the son of John. T h e heir of Thomas Hollis of Lincoln's Inn was Thomas Brand, w h o changed his name thereafter to Thomas Brand-Hollis; he, in turn, was a benefactor of Harvard.

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of Mathematicks, who is gone away privatly via Lisbon for Boston." In addition to debts for money which "was all spent in a ramble of a few weeks," Hollis was grieved that: he owes for his bord etc. to Mr. Desaguliers, and to sundry tradesmen — one demands money for 3 pair perle colour silk stockings and divers others — this caridg[e] and behaviour has greatly grieved me — and so much the more because I know not where to find one for to fill up the place we have proposed for him — nor where you will find one. . . . . . If he see his past folly, in spending his pretious time and patrimony in so profuse and extravagant manner and give due signs of his Repentance I shall be glad — perhaps now he is freed from his rakish company — and confined for weeks a shipbord, he may bethink himself. Pride and expectation of honorable preferment of a Professorship may have lifted him up, but now he is humbled, and under great disgrace here.15 The homeward passage evidently had the desired effect, and Hollis was pleased to note that Greenwood was offering "lectures of Mathematicks" on his return to New England. If he were to be "religious, dilligent and becoming his Profession and calling, and if the Corporation shall be unanimous in electing of him," Hollis wrote Colman on January 9, 1726/7, " . . . I think I shall accept him as my Professor, to enter on his office at your next July Commencement. . ." 16 It is clear from a supplement to this letter dated January 12 that the acceptance of Greenwood for the new post was hastened by the fear of Hollis's plan to send to Harvard "in case Mr. Greenwood disappointed us," a "Baptist Professor." From all accounts it would appear that Greenwood was a competent teacher and lecturer. In addition to contributions to the Philosophical Transactions, the journal published by the Royal Society, he wrote a notable work entitled Arithmetick, Vulgar and Decimal (Boston, 1729), the first such written by an American and the second arithmetic published in the English Colonies. But Greenwood's career at Harvard lasted only a decade, owing to his having been found "guilty of Various Acts of gross Intemperance, . . . excessive drinking, to the dishonour of God and the great hurt and

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HARVARD INSTRUMENTS BEFORE THE FIRE Reproach of this Society." 17 He was succeeded in 1738 by his pupil John Winthrop. The terms of the Hollis Professorship of the Mathematics, of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, as it was first called, provided: 1. That the Professor be a Master of Arts, & well acquainted with the several parts of the Mathematicks & of natural and Experimental Phylosophy. 2. That his Province be to Instruct the Students in a System of natural Phylosophy & a course of Experimental, in which to be comprehended Pneumaticks, Hydrostaticks, Mechanicks, Staticks, opticks etc. in the Elements of Geometry, together with the doctrine of Proportions, the Principles of Algebra, Conic Sections, plain & Spherical Trigonometry, with the general Principles of Mensurations, Plains and Solids, in the Principles of Astronomy & Geography, viz. the doctrine of the Sphere, the use of the Globes, the Motions of the Heavenly Bodies according to the different Hypotheses of Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe & Copernicus, with the general Principles of Dialling, the Division of the world into its various Kingdoms, with the use of the Maps etc. . . . 1 8

Such experimental demonstrations required a more complete collection of scientific apparatus than Harvard possessed. Hollis wrote to find out what scientific instruments the College owned. On October 10, 1726, Hollis thanked Colman for an "account of what Mathematicall instruments you have at the College." 19 During that fall and winter, Hollis was busy assembling a complete Apparatus for Harvard and it was with the greatest pride that he wrote to Colman on March 5, 1726/7: I have yesterday Shipt in the Totness, Capt Curling — Consigned to Mr Ε Hutchinson as usual, 5 chests of Mathematical instruments and glasses for Experiments — these with what you wrote word, were alreddy in the College will make a fine Apparatus for my Professor — and if well used, may be of singular service to the Gentlemen Students in your Country. 20

All was now ready for the teaching of experimental philosophy and Hollis noted in a letter to Wigglesworth on July 27, 1727, "Mr Greenwood being chosen by your College and approved by 33

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your Overseers — and my Apparatus arrived safe at Cambridg, I hope about this time he may be reddy to begin his Lectures. . . " 2 1 The same day, apparently conscious of the precedent the new professorship established, Hollis wrote to Greenwood wishing him success, reminding him that he was "the first Professor of these Sciences in America," and hoping that he might "have the divine guidance." ^ ^ A t a meeting of the Harvard Corporation on June 12, 1727, it was "Voted, that the Southwest chamber on the second story in Massachusetts Hall, be assigned for the receiving and keeping the Apparatus for the Hollitian Professor of the Mathematicks; and that a strong Lock be put upon the Door of the said Chamber." 22 W e know from a memorandum of September 30, 1725 that prior to the receipt of the Hollis equipment, the "Apparatus Chamber" had been in the "old College," i.e. old Harvard Hall. 23 From "Benjamin Wadsworth's Book" we learn that "The Apparatus from Mr. Tho. Hollis merchant in London for his Mathematical Professor here at Cambridge came hither Jun. 13, 1727. The next day 'twas brought into the Library, and Mr. Greenwood the Mathematical Professor began to open the Boxes." 24 May we infer from these records that when the Hollis equipment arrived it was stored in Massachusetts Hall apart from the earlier apparatus which had been kept in the Apparatus Chamber in old Harvard Hall? Such an interpretation would be consistent with the apparent meaning of the vote of the Corporation of October 24, 1738, upon Greenwood's dismissal, that a committee "inspect (with all convenient Speed) the Apparatus belonging to the College & take Care, that all the Instruments thereof be deposited in the Apparatus Chamber." 25 This interpretation would further agree with the statement in Greenwood's inventory of 1731 that the Hollis equipment was in his "sole Custody at Mr. Hollis's Chamber" rather than in the Apparatus Chamber.26 ^^ The arrival of enough scientific apparatus to set up a wellequipped physics laboratory fulfilled one part of the great ambition of President Leonard Hoar, as expressed in a letter of December 13, 34

HARVARD INSTRUMENTS BEFORE THE FIRE 1672 to the Honourable Robert Boyle. Hoar believed that "readings or notions only are but husky provender," and announced the design for a "large well-sheltered garden and orchard for students addicted to planting; an ergasterium for mechanick fancies; and a laboratory chemical for those philosophers, that by their senses would culture their understandings." 27 "The Hollissian Professor of the Mathematicks etc. began his private Lectures in the College, Nov. 27, 1727, & his Publick Lectures. Feb. 21, 1727/8." 28 The public lectures were "read" every Wednesday afternoon at two o'clock and the private lectures * every Monday and Friday afternoon at the same hour 29 — the latter for the benefit of such "scholars" as were graduates, and the "Senior and Junior sophisters" who were required to be in attendance.30 At a meeting of the Corporation on November 27, 1727, it was voted that both graduates and undergraduates who were under age, or who depended upon parents or guardians for support, must obtain their consent before being allowed to attend the Hollissian Mathematical Lectures.31 This consent was probably required to insure payment of the forty shillings fee for attending the lectures. From two manuscript lists dating from the time of Greenwood, it is possible to reconstruct in great detail the nature and extent of the Hollis gift of apparatus. The first of these lists is entitled Apparatus Mathematicus32 and bears at the end the following annotation: "The particulars of the Foregoing Catalogue the Generous Benefaction of Mr Hollis to Harvard College I acknowledge to be now in my sole Custody at Mr Hollis's Chamber for the use of such as are his Students, and Subscribers to the Hollitian Lectures." It is signed: Isaac Greenwood, and dated September 6, 1731. The items in the list are numbered under five categories: Mechanicks, Opticks, Hydrostaticks, Pneumaticks, and Miscellanies; following each item is its cost, and the total cost is reckoned by Greenwood at £114.1.0. * T h e publick lectures were open to the entire University, while the lectures were given to selected classes.

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The second apparatus list (which is reproduced here as Appendix One) contains references to Francis Hawksbee's A Course of Mechanical, Optical, Hydrostatical, and Fneumatical Experiments (London?, 1712?). On the last page of this book in the well-worn copy in the Harvard Library appears the annotation: "This book belongs to Harvard College Library in Ν. E. and was borrowed of by Charles Frost 1729," presumably referring to Charles Frost (A.B. 1730), who must have been studying the subject under Greenwood. By the use of the diagrams and descriptions in Hawksbee's book, one can tell what the Hollis instruments actually looked like, as well as the experiments for which they were intended. This second apparatus list of Greenwood's, dated April 19, 1738, was made by him while his dismissal was under consideration. That summer Greenwood was "ejected" and "upon a Message to him from the President, Came & delivered him the Key of the Apparatus Chamber July 11, 1738." 33 When Greenwood's successor and former pupil John Winthrop was inaugurated as Hollis Professor on January 2, 1738/9 (1739 new style), one of his first acts was to check the instruments now under his care with the inventory made by Greenwood. On February 7, he acknowledged receipt of the apparatus and noted that all the items on the inventory were to be found save four brass balls, a single concave lens, a pair of blue spectacles, and an aerometer for use in demonstrating the principles of hydrostatics.34 Professor John Winthrop (A.B. 1732), F.R.S., was one of the great luminaries of 18th-century Harvard, a gifted scientist and a man of sterling character whose name will ever be great in the annals of Harvard. Although he was only 23 years of age at the time of his appointment, there was no question as to his knowledge of mathematics and the sciences. For some reason, it was finally decided not "to examine Mr. Winthrop about his Principles of Religion." 35 Winthrop's scientific fame was made as an astronomer, although his endeavors also embraced mathematics, meteorology, and geology.36 His first recorded scientific observation — made in 1739 — 36

HARVARD INSTRUMENTS BEFORE THE FIRE was on sunspots.37 Observations of the transit of Mercury and a lunar eclipse in the following year produced his first communication to the Royal Society of London. While this is not the place to discuss in detail Winthrop's scientific achievements, we may point out that they were sufficiently great to bring him honors both at home and abroad; he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1766 and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1768, and he received the LL.D. from the University of Edinburgh in 1771 and from Harvard in 1773. In addition to research and classroom teaching, Winthrop on occasion gave lectures on general topics of scientific interest. One such, on earthquakes, was given in 1755 in Holden Chapel following news of the great Lisbon earthquake. Again, in 1759, after observing Halley's comet, he delivered two lectures on comets in the Chapel. Winthrop, "skilled as a teacher, . . . had the privilege of introducing four decades of undergraduates to the scientific point of view, and of imparting the first impulse to at least one greater American scientist than himself— Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford). . ." 3 8 The latter described him as "that happy teacher." 39

An important scientific event in the life of Colonial America was Winthrop's expedition to Newfoundland to observe the transit of Venus. The occasion may best be described in terms of the vote of the Corporation, entered under the date May 5, 1761: Whereas the General Court have voted that they will bear the charge of Mr. Winthrop, our Mathematical Professor in a voyage to Newfoundland or some of the parts adjacent, if he shall be willing to take such voyage, to observe the transit of the planet Venus over the Sun's disc, which will be on the sixth day of June next. And as it will be necessary in order to make observation of that phenomenon, that he should carry with him diverse of the astronomical instruments belonging to the apparatus of Harvard College, — W e therefore being willing to do what is proper to accommodate that affair, do vote, that he may take with him upon his said voyage, such astronomical instruments of our Apparatus, as he thinks he shall need, for the afforesaid observation, provided, that he shall see to it that all such instruments 37

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shall be insur'd, that so the College may not suffer either by the loss of any of them or any damage that shall happen to them on the said voyage. Mr. Winthrop our Mathematical Professor has signifyed . . . by letter, that the astronomical instruments which he shall want for the observation referr'd to in the above vote, are the time piece, a small refracting Telescope given by C. Kilby, Esq.; the reflecting Telescope lately given by the Honble. Thomas Hancock, Esq., & Hadley's Octant given by Ezekiel Goldthwait, Esq.40 The importance of an observation of the transit of Venus in the middle of the 18th century can hardly be exaggerated. Newtonian mechanics, founded on Kepler's laws of planetary motion, had been expressed in terms of the relative distances of the planets from the sun. In other words, discussions of the planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn never referred to the actual distances of these planets from the sun, say in miles or feet, but rather to their distances from the sun compared to the earth's distance from the sun. Thus, if the earth's distance from the sun were taken arbitrarily at iooo units, then Mercury's distance from the sun was reckoned at 387, and Venus's at 723. 4 1 Hence, if it were possible to determine the solar parallax — the angle subtended at the sun b y the earth's radius — one could compute first the actual distance from the earth to the sun, and then the actual distances of the several planets from the sun. A method for determining the solar parallax, usually attributed to Edmond Halley, used observations, made at different places on the earth, of the time in which Venus was seen to cross the face of the sun. This phenomenon, a transit of Venus across the sun, is an infrequent occurrence. Since 1600, transits of Venus have occurred in 1 6 3 1 , 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, and 1882. T h e next pair will be in 2004 and 2012. T h e transit of 1631 occurred during the night, and that of 1639 was imperfectly observed. Hence in 1761 there occurred one of a pair of events, to be repeated in eight years, and then not again for some 120 years more, of supreme importance for astronomical science. Winthrop's account of his expedition to observe the transit was printed in a little booklet entitled Relation of a Voyage from Boston

38

HARVARD INSTRUMENTS BEFORE THE to Newfoundland for the Observation of the Transit of June 6, ιη6ι (Boston, 1 7 6 1 ) . On pages 8-9 he wrote:

FIRE Venus,

The Reverend the President and Fellows of Harvard College, in order to promote so laudable an undertaking, granted their Apparatus of astronomical instruments, to be imploy'd in this affair. Accordingly, I carried an excellent Pendulum clock; one of Hadley's Octants with Nonius divisions, and fitted in a new manner to observe on shore as well as at sea,* a refracting telescope with cross wires at half right angles, for taking differences of Right Ascension and Declination; and a curious reflecting telescope, adjusted with spirit-levels at right angles to each other, and having horizontal and vertical wires for taking corresponding altitudes; or differences in altitudes and azimuths.f And taking with me for assistants two young Gentlemen my Pupils,$ who had made good proficiency in mathematical studies . . . Winthrop and his pupils, together with the apparatus loaned b y the College, embarked at Boston on May 9, 1761 in the Province sloop, furnished for this purpose of advancing science by the General Court with the concurrence of Governor Bernard. This was the first scientific expedition sponsored by a college in America. (Winthrop was unable to make a proposed trip to Lake Superior to observe the 1769 transit owing to the state of his health, but others in America observed this second 18th-century transit of Venus in his stead.) A photograph of the Hancock telescope (made in London by B. Martin) may be found elsewhere in this book; it is the only scientific instrument used at early Harvard that is known to have survived the Fire of 1764. During Winthrop's early tenure of office, expenses f o r the apparatus collection were met as they arose, as witness, for example, the itemized list f o r the period from April 1740 to April of the following year, which came to a total of £9.6.10 f o r ivory balls, two sheepskins, four "Hoops for Electrical Experiments," a "plain * Presented to the Apparatus last year b y Ezekiel Goldthwait, Esq. [Winthrop's note]. t Presented this year b y the H o n . Thomas Hancock, Esq. [Winthrop's note]. t Messr's Williams and Rand. [Winthrop's note].

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Mirrour for optical Experiments," and miscellaneous repairs made by John Dabney, such as "fixing the astronomical Quadrant by making a Skrew, putting in Cross hairs & turning a Sell [cell] to hold a Smoak'd glass & cleaning it throughout," "fixing Cross hairs in a Sell in the 8 foot-Telescope," etc.42 Later in 1741, there was spent £3.3.6 for "1 Yard of Black Stuff for Optic Experiments, A piece of Box-wood turn'd for a Hydrostatic Experiment, A New hook for the Pully of the Telescope, A New Tube for the long Telescope." 43 In the years between Winthrop's appointment to the Hollis Professorship and the catastrophic Fire, many persons offered gifts to Harvard's scientific Apparatus, which was then housed in Harvard Hall (sometimes called the Old College). In 1747, John Vassall presented a "handsom Present . . . of a reflecting Telescope" and in 1749 or 1750 Admiral (Sir Peter) Warren presented a "Fine, Large reflecting Telescope." 44 In April 1755 thanks were given for a gift "of a very large pair of fine globes," subject to the restrictions of the donor, Andrew Oliver, Junior, Merchant in Boston, that "they shall be alwaies kept in the Library, only when the Mathematical Professor shall need them for the instruction of the pupills that attend his lectures, he may take them into the apparatus chamber." 45 On January 9, 1756, thanks were voted to Christopher Kilby, a London merchant, for a gift of "a fine Spirit-level with telescopic sights, & every way fitted with a curious apparatus proper to such an instrument";46 on September 4, 1758, to James Bowdoin (A.B. 1745) for the gift of a microscope;47 on August 25, 1760, to Ezekiel Goldthwait of Boston for a gift of a Hadley's octant; on April 6, 1761 to Thomas Hancock of Boston for a "fine reflecting Telescope"; 48 on January 5, 1762 to Gilbert Harrison of London "for his valuable present to the College of a horizontal magnetic needle in a box" and to John Hancock, of Boston, "for his handsom present to the College of a curious neat dipping needle"; 49 and on April 5, 1763, "to the Honble. Jona. Belcher Esq. Lt. Govrnr. & Commander in Chief of the Province of Nova Scotia, for his valuable present of a Solar Microscope to the College." 50 40

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Among the pre-Fire gifts was a group of scientific instruments sent b y the second Thomas Hollis, who apparently had inherited his uncle's interest in Harvard along with the latter's estate. In a letter from him to Edward Hutchinson, the College Treasurer, dated July 20, 1732, we find: Inclosed I send you a Bill of Lading for two cases . . . [of which] the one contains a Sphere·, the other a new Invented Engine or Macheen called an orrery, shewing the dayly & annual motion of the Sun, Earth & Moon. I have also delivered [to] the Captain a Small Shagreen Case with a Double Microscope & its Utensils, which upon receipt, I desire you to present, with my Humble Service to the Corporation for the use of the College. I hope Mr. Professor Greenwood will make good use of each, for the promoting usefull knowledge, and the advancement of natural and revealed Religion. 51 T h e microscope referred to is apparently the first such instrument at Harvard 52 and may well have been the first compound microscope in the possession of an American college. 53

Some idea of the scope of Winthrop's teaching may be had from his "Summary of a Course of Experimental Philosophical Lectures," contained in a small-sized notebook of some 180 pages. On page 100, there is the following annotation: "This Course of E x perimental & Philosophical Lectures, Was Concluded on the 16th of June 1746, by Mr. John Winthrop, Hollisian Professor of the Mathematics, Natural & Experimental Philosophy at Harvard College." These hundred pages of notes cover the material presented by Winthrop in 33 lectures, of which the first was delivered on March 10th and the last on June 10th. A methodical man, Winthrop divided the text into 20 chapters as follows: Chapter ist: [Definitions]. Chapter 2nd: Of Mechanical Powers. (This chapter begins with a list of the "7 mechanical Powers, tho' some writers think there are but 6. Viz.— 1. The Ballance. 2. The Pulley. 3. The Lever. 4. The Axis in Peritrochio. 5. The Screw. 6. The Wedge. 7. The Inclined Plane." The remainder of the chapter dis-

41

SOME EARLY TOOLS OF AMERICAN SCIENCE cusses the various types of balances, and the examples refer to pieces of apparatus on the list given in Appendix One.) Chapter 3d: [The Lever]. Chapter 4th: [The Pulley]. Chapter 5th: Of the Axis in Peritrochio. ("The axis in Peritrochio is a Small Wheel joyn'd with a Larger, to the Smaller is fix'd the Weight to be Rais'd; & to the Larger wheel the Power is apply'd.") Chapter 6th: Of the Inclined Plane. Chapter 7th: [The Wedge]. Chapter 8th: [The Screw]. Chapter 9th: Of Compound Engines. Chapter 10th: The Laws of Motion. ("Sir Isaac Newton has laid down 3 Laws of motion, by which every thing that belongs to Motion may be Explained." This is followed by a discussion of the first law.) Chapter 1 ith: [The Second Law of Motion]. (Including two supplements, "Of Pendulums" and "Of Projectiles.") Chapter 12th: [The Third Law of Motion]. (Concluding: "Thus much for the 3 Laws of Motion or Nature, by which all its Phaenomena may be Solved, & Indeed all Mechanicks are nothing but Different Applications of These Laws.") Chapter 13 th: Of Gravity. (Gravity is defined as "that power by which all bodies tend toward one another." This chapter concludes: "What is here Said of the Earth may be Said of all the Planets. Hence, i st it may be Inferred that Gravity affects every particle of Matter, & 2d that the Satellites of Saturn & Jupiter Gravitate to their Primarys; as the Moon (which is our Satellite) Doth towards the Earth; & as all the Planets & Comets Do toward the Sun. But Whether the Power of Gravity is Infinitly Extended or not is not yet known; though it is known to extend 5 times the Distance of Saturn's Orbit, by the Eccentricity of Some of the Comet's Orbit's. 3dly it follows that Gravity is the Same in all bodies whatever be the constitution & texture of their Parts, & 4thIy whatever be the Cause of Gravity it Penetrates through all Sorts of Bodies, & that even to the very centre.") Chapter 14th: Of Attraction of Cohesion. Chapter 15th: Of the Power of Repulsion. Chapter 16th: Of Magnetism. Chapter 18th: Of Fluids.

42

HARVARD INSTRUMENTS BEFORE THE FIRE Chapter 17th: Of Electricity. (". . . This Electricity Since the Year 1743 has made a Considerable noise in the World; upon which it's supposed several of the (at present hidden) Phaenomina of Nature Depend." A postscript at the end of the chapter explains: "This Chapter of Electricity Should have been Added in the 28th Page. But the Instruments not being Ready, it was Referred to this place.") Chapter 19th: Of Opticks. (Divided as follows: Section ist. Of Catoptricks. Section 2nd. Of Dioptricks. Of Lenses [including vision and the eye, telescopes, and microscopes]. Of the Magick Lanthorn. Section 3rd. of Light & Colours, in which "Sir Isaac Newton had Laid open a new Scene.") Chapter 20th: Of Astronomy. ( " W e shall here, (in Order to Explain the Motions & Phaenomina of the Planets & Planetary System) consider a Spectator in the Sun, which is of all the most Simple Case." Following a brief discussion of the nature of the orbits, Winthrop concludes: "The Rest of this Lecture was on the Orary [Orrery], a Machine Whereon was admirably Shown the motion of the Moon round the Earth, & of both round the Sun, as their Center.")

Following a few pages of addenda to the lectures, added in 1747, the remaining 60 pages of the notebook are devoted to "The Method of Astronomical Calculations," both the general principles to be followed and a long series of solved problems. From the foregoing account, we can see that Winthrop devoted the major part of his "Course of Experimental Philosophical Lectures" to straight physics: mechanics (both statics and dynamics), hydrostatics, pneumatics (the study of gases), electricity and magnetism, and optics (geometric and physical). Out of a total of 33 lectures, only the last dealt with descriptive astronomy, although the portion of the course devoted to celestial mechanics of necessity invoked astronomical examples, and some further descriptive material. The astronomical calculations taught to the students included the following problems: 1. T o find the Mean Time, of the mean Conjunction & Opposition of the Sun and Moon. 2. T o find the Sun's place in the Ecliptic at any given Moment of Time. 43

SOME EARLY TOOLS OF AMERICAN SCIENCE 3. T o find the Moon's place in the Ecliptic, & its Latitude for any assign'd time. 4. From the Mean Conjunction or Opposition of the Sun & the Moon, to find the Time of their True Conjunction or Opposition. 5. From the Mean Time of any Astronomical Phaenominon, to find the Apparent Time; & the Contrary: & to reduce the time of its Appearance on one Meridian, to the time thereof on another. 6. T o find the Moments, Duration, & Other Affections of Lunar Eclipses, at any place proposed. 7. T o Project a Lunar Eclipse. 8. T o Determine the Moments, Duration, & other General Affections of Solar Eclipses, according to the time of any Meridian. 9. T o calculate the principle Phaenomena of a Solar Eclipse & to Determine the places on the Earth to which they belong. 10. T o Determine the phaenomena of a Solar Eclipse for any particular place assigned on the Globe, according to the Incomparable method of the Rev. Mr. Flamsteed. 11. T o Calculate the Solstices & Equinoxes. 12. T o Calculate the Momments of the Immersions or Emersions of Jupiter's first Satellite, according to the Ingenious Method of the Rev. Mr. Pound. 13. T o Calculate the Place of the Planets at any Given Time. The Newtonian natural philosophy, espoused by Cotton Mather, Prince, and Robie, was taught at Harvard by Greenwood and Winthrop. Harvard, which had welcomed the Copernican system by 1659, was strongly receptive to the mechanical philosophy of Newton, and throughout the 18th century, especially after Greenwood's appointment, emphasized the newer concepts of mathematics and astronomy and physics. Winthrop's course gave the students a thoroughgoing account of the science of Newton's Principia and Opticks and in works on Newtonian science; it also included later discoveries, as in electricity, recorded in the Philosophical Transactions, other journals, and books; furthermore, the Apparatus provided tools for experimental demonstrations and observations, while calculations in astronomy removed the subject from abstract discussion to a firm foundation in the actual problems of science.

44

III Instruments for the Study of Natural Philosophy after the Fire of 1764 The general course, productions, and laws of nature, should be carefully and steadily attended to: and when any new phenomena appear, all the circumstances and effects, relating to them, should be particularly noted and collected. In this way we shall be most likely to arrive at the knowledge of their causes: or, at least, we shall prepare those materials which may enable posterity to determine, with certainty and precision, on what at present may be but imperfectly understood. . . From contemplating these mighty works of nature, a philosophic mind will naturally rise in admiration and reverence, to the F I R S T G R E A T C A U S E OF ALL! In all the works of nature, we find plain marks of that wisdom, power and goodness, with which the whole plan, frame and constitution of it, was first formed and adjusted. As all natural effects take place in consequence of causes and laws derived at first from GOD, true philosophy agrees with the holy scriptures, in ascribing all such events to his agency. It was no doubt with a view ultimately to moral purposes, that the laws of nature were first established: and nothing can be better adapted than many of their operations, to awaken and direct the attention of mankind to the supreme Governor of the world. — SAMUEL WILLIAMS,

1785

W h e n ' 'by the holy & righteous providence of G o d , the most antient of our buildings" had "been consumed with fire, wherein [ w e r e ] our Library & Apparatus, which greatly exceeded in value the building itself," Harvard College faced one of three major crises that were to arise in the latter half of the 18th century, the other t w o being the removal from Cambridge during the Revolution and the inflationary days of unsettled monetary conditions following the T r e a t y of Paris. T h e rebuilding of Harvard Hall was assured b y the General Court, which had been meeting there at the time of the Fire. But, as the President and Fellows noted on February 13, 1764, "there is no provision as yet made for the reparation of the Library & Apparatus."

1

It was agreed to "sollicit the charity of any

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that may be disposed to assist us in the repair of the great losses we have sustain'd." Stones and mortar alone do not make a college and new instruments and books had to be obtained as quickly as possible. Aid and advice were sought from every available quarter. N e w Hampshire, so many of whose sons had been educated at Harvard, came through with magnificent donations of books, while loyal alumni, and friends and benefactors, both in England and in America, made gifts of instruments or ready cash so that the Library and the Apparatus might once again reach its high estate. Ezekiel Goldthwait, who had earlier given an octant to the College (the one Professor John Winthrop had used on his transit expedition of 1 7 6 1 ) presented in 1764 a new one made by B. Martin, one of the most famous instrument makers of late 18th-century England. James Bowdoin, ever loyal and generous to his College, presented a most handsome brass orrery, likewise made by Martin. (Both of these instruments are described in further detail in the list of instruments forming Appendix Three.) The aid of Harvard's good friend Benjamin Franklin, who had been awarded an honorary degree in 1753, was solicited, and he responded most generously with a cash gift, with presents of books and instruments, and, above all, with advice on what instruments to purchase and his personal inspection of them in London before they were shipped. Franklin, a friend of Winthrop's, had helped the College to obtain scientific instruments even before the Fire. In a letter to Thomas Hubbard of April 28, 1758, he wrote: In pursuance of Mr. Winthrop's memorandum, which I lately received from you, through the hands of Mr. Mico, I have procured and delivered to him the following things, viz. A mahogany case lined with lead, containing thirty-five square glass bottles, in five rows, seven in a row. A glass globe of the same size and kind with that I used at Philadelphia, and mounted in the same manner. A large glass cylinder, mounted on an iron axis with brass caps; this form being most used here, and thought better than the globe, as a long, narrow cushion will electrify a greater surface at the same time. . . 2 46

HARVARD INSTRUMENTS AFTER THE FIRE When Franklin heard of Harvard's loss, he wrote immediately to Winthrop, on July 10, 1764, "I shall think of the affair of your unfortunate College, and try if I can be of any Service in procuring some Assistance towards restoring your Library." 3 From his correspondence with Winthrop we learn of the many different items purchased at Franklin's recommendation — a transit instrument made by Bird and a telescope begun by James Short and completed after his death on June 14, 1768 by his brother (Appendix Three, No. ι). Franklin also obtained gifts for the College and wrote: I have got from Mr. Ellicot the Glasses, etc. of the long Galilean Telescope, which he presents to your College. I put them into the Hands of Mr. Nairne, the Optician, to examine and put them in Order. I thought to have sent them by this Ship, but am disappointed. They shall go by the next, if possible.4

In token of these activities, the President and Fellows voted on April 25, 1769, "That the thanks of this Board be given to Dr. Franklin for his many very obliging acts of friendship; particularly for his care in procuring several valuable Instruments for the Apparatus, and that he be desired to continue his kind regards to the College." 6 Bit by bit, a new Apparatus was assembled; if anything, it was even better than the one lost in the Fire. Thanks to the generosity of Col. John Hancock, the place in which the Apparatus was kept was decorated in a state of splendor befitting the new collection, and we find that in 1772 a vote of thanks was given to him for "elegant carpets for the Library — the Apparatus and Philosophy Chambers and rich paper for the walls of the latter." β Chiefly responsible for ordering the new Apparatus for the College was its London agent Joseph Mico, who was instructed by the treasurer of the College, Thomas Hubbard, as to what was wanted. That Harvard set its sights high and wanted exceptionally fine and unusual pieces is made clear in a letter from Mico to Hubbard dated August 17, 1765, in which he writes: On receit of the first of your aforementioned Letters, I gave immediate orders, to the several Persons therein mention'd, to prepare 47

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and get ready, as soon as possible, the sundry Mathmatical, Philosophical, & Optical Instruments etc., which you wrote for the use, & on account of the above College, which they told me they would do, but that as many of the Instruments, were of a very nice & curious nature, & not usually made for Sale in their Shops, they must be made on purpose, & by the most expert & skillful Workmen, & that it would require a great deal of time, before they could be finished.7 Mico had been instructed to apply to John Canton, a friend of Franklin's, but, the agent found, "a Gentleman who keeps an Academy, for teaching Mathematicks etc., & I believe never made an Instrument in his Life. He recommended me, to apply to Mr. Edward Nairne, to supply his part of the order; Mr. Nairne has executed his order, & shewed the various Instruments, to the above Mr. Canton, who approves of them." 8 Nairne was a famous instrument maker of the period, as was B. Martin, who supplied a good part of the apparatus. In an invoice dated August 17, 1765 Mico listed the "Goods Shipt on board the Devonshire Hugh Hunter Master bound for Boston in N e w England." The total cost of the shipment was £408.1.9, and included an Ellicot "Regulator" clock; an astronomical quadrant of 2-foot radius made by Sisson (now on exhibition in the Jefferson Physical Laboratory); a reflecting telescope of 12-inch focal length made by James Short with an "Object Glass Micrometer of 2 y2 feet focus"; a 4-foot achromatic telescope made by Dolland; an air pump obtained from B. Martin with various attachments, such as "a pair of large Brass Hemispheres," the guinea-and-feather experiment, and many others; a "Whirling Machine with all its Apparatus compleat"; a B. "Martin's Microscope complete with a set of spare Magnifiers"; "a Solar Microscope, Megalascope & single Microscope in a Shagreen Case"; a theodolite; a "Portable Electrical Machine"; various other electrical instruments; a "Modell of the fire Engine Compleat"; "a large Convex lens 7% Diameter, Brass Semicercal handle & foot in Mahogony very neat"; a "Magic Lanthorn"; "an Artificial E y e in Brass"; a Hadley's quadrant of 15-inch radius "in Brass with Mahogony Case lin'd"; "a large Book Camera Obscura"; a "Mariners Compass best sort in Wainscott box"; an "Azimuth Compass best sort in Wainscott box"; "a Variation Compass in a neat Mahogony box 48

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lin'd with green Cloth Lock & K e y " ; "a Diping Needle in a neat Mahogony box lined with green Cloth lock & key"; and a great many more beside.9 (See Appendix Three, Nos. 9, 10, 1 1 , 23, 25, 26.) Other orders were filled in rapid succession. A n invoice of September 24-25, 1765 for goods obtained from B. Martin contained a great quantity of miscellaneous optical apparatus, including prisms, lenses, an instrument for measuring angles of incidence and reflection, as well as refraction, mirrors, etc.; thermometers and barometers; various types of levers and other implements for the study of mechanics; " A Compleat Sett of Mechanecal Pullys with a Larg Square frame to which they are fixed"; ivory and brass balls, wheels and axles, and other small pieces of equipment.10 (See Appendix Three, No. 8.) As one reads Mico's invoices to the College, one cannot help being moved by the notation: " T o my Commission being for the College Use ." As the official vote of thanks to him declared, Mico had "generously given his commissions, as well as his time and trouble." 1 1 Josiah Quincy did well to give a prominent place among the benefactors of Harvard to "Joseph Mico, Esq., of London, for services as agent in Great Britain for more than forty years without taking any commissions." This is not the place to list all the benefactors who contributed instruments, or money for their purchase, after the Fire. 12 But a f e w may be singled out from the others because of their intrinsic interest. Among these are a gift of £200 for the Apparatus from Thomas Hollis of Lincoln's Inn, a reflecting telescope costing £ 1 3 . 1 1 . 6 from the Hon. Nathaniel Sparhawk as guardian to his son, William Pepperell, and a "Telescope of 28 feet with its Apparatus" given by Dr. E. A . Holyoke, the son of the late President of the College.

B y the time of the Revolution, through benefaction and purchase Harvard had once more acquired a collection of scientific apparatus second to that of no other college in the N e w World and easily the peer of many in the Old. But hardly had the new 49

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collection been fully assembled when the Revolution altered all habits and plans. On May i, 1775 the Massachusetts Committee of Safety ordered that the students be removed from Cambridge and on June 15 "the Massachusetts Provincial Congress at Watertown voted that the Library and the Apparatus be transported to Andover." 1 3 In August a change was made and it was decided that Harvard would move to Concord. On Nov. 7, 1775 the Corporation obtained a "Resolve of the General Court" empowering that body "to remove as many boxes of the Library Books & Apparatus as they may judge necessary for the use of the College, to Concord. The account of the expences to be laid before the Court." 14 On December 18, a committee was appointed to "go to Cambridge, & pack up & remove the Remainder of the Apparatus, Philosophy Room, Library, & Museum, to Concord, in the cheapest & safest manner they can: & likewise to remove the fire Engine belonging to the College, to the aforesaid town of Concord, or likewise commit it to the Care of some trusty Person or Persons in Cambridge, who may secure it for the benefit of the College, & keep it in good Order." 15 The Apparatus, during these Concord days, seems to have been kept in the two-story white house where Professor Winthrop lived. This house belonged to Captain John Stone, who later drew the plans for the first bridge across the Charles. It is believed that Stone, formerly a trader in York, Maine, acquired some of his technical knowledge from his "mathematical boarder" and the instruments and books that the latter had with him in Stone's house.

Winthrop was honored by Harvard to the fullest extent possible. He had been elected a Fellow in 1765; in 1773 he was "desired to accept of the degree of Doctor of Laws" and on January 31, 1774 was elected President of Harvard College, an honor which he declined. In 1779 "that great & worthy man" 16 passed away, leaving the Hollis Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy vacant for the second time since its foundation.17 5°

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Winthrop's successor was his pupil, the Reverend Samuel Williams of Bradford (A.B. 1761), elected Hollis Professor in November 1779. 18 Then as now the housing shortage was acute, and in order that a home might be provided for Williams, a memorial was presented to the General Court soliciting their aid. The new professor, the memorial declared, "has been endeavoring ever since his coming to Cambridge to procure a house into which he might remove his family." The only house that was available was, unfortunately, "one in which he shall not be able to make astronomical observations of any sort." It was hoped that one of "several estates, lately the property of absentees," which would be suitable might be granted to Harvard College. Thus Williams, who "is in possession of the best astronomical apparatus in America" and who "can make no use" of it would no longer be "obliged to disappoint the expectations of the public" nor to bring "dishonor" upon "the University by inactivity," by having to neglect "those observations which will be expected of us in Europe." 1 9 One of the dramatic events that occurred during Williams's tenure of office was the expedition to observe the solar eclipse of 1780, the second time in the century that Massachusetts subsidized a Harvard astronomical expedition. This observation was all the more remarkable in that it was made on Long Island in Penobscot Bay, in the present state of Maine but then still part of Massachusetts, in territory that was in the possession of the enemy. Science could at that time be considered "above the battle," as was evidenced not only in this example but also in the safe-conduct issued by Benjamin Franklin to make sure that American ships of war would not molest Captain Cook, who was returning from a voyage of exploration in the South Seas during the years of the Revolution. On August 28, 1780 the Corporation resolved that "The present from the Royal Society of Maskelyne's Astronomical Observations, & also that from Monsieur de Gebelin, is referred to a future meeting." The official vote of thanks, not tendered until Feb. 27, 1781, expresses the sentiment at Harvard College that scientific activity and the interchange of scientific information should not be affected by the state of hostilities between Britain and America. It reads: 5ι

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That the thanks of this Board be presented to the Royal Society in London, for their very valuable present to our public Library of the Astronomical Observations made at Greenwich by the Royal Astronomer, the Rev. Mr. Maskelyne; a donation the more acceptable as those observations could not have been obtained at a time when Great Britain & America were in a state of hostility, but by the favourable interposition of that very learned & illustrious society; and as this donation presages an increasing intercourse between the arts & sciences in Europe and America: And that the Hollis Professor of the Mathematicks & Natural Philosophy be desired to communicate the same to one of their Secretaries.20 T h e Harvard eclipse expedition was sponsored jointly b y the College and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Williams submitted the following petition: T o the Honble. and Revd. the Corporation of Harvard College, Gentlemen, Upon the application of the Committee of the Corporation & American Academy, I have received a copy of a resolve of the Honble. the Council & House of Representatives of this State, directing the Board of War to make provision for my repairing to Penobscot, with such attendants as may be necessary, to observe the Solar Eclipse which will happen on the 27th of Oct. next. — Mr. Professor Sewall, James Winthrop, Esq. Librarian, Mess. Atkins, Davis, Hall secundus & Dawson, students in the University, have offered their assistance. I would therefore request that we may have leave to repair to Penobscot; and that I may be allowed to take such instruments & books belonging to the College, as may be necessary in making the observation. I am, Gentlemen, . . . SAMUEL WILLIAMS

21

Permission was granted on September 15, 1780, and Williams was asked to leave a certificate of books and instruments which he thinks proper to take with him. 22 From Williams's account of his expedition, published in the first volume of the Memoirs of the new Academy, w e learn that when a favorable opportunity arose f o r viewing the eclipse the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the University at Cambridge, were desirous to have it properly observed in the eastern

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parts of the State, where, by calculation, it was expected it would be total. With this view they solicited the government of the Commonwealth, that a vessel might be prepared to convey proper observers to Penobscot-Bay; and that application might be made to the officer who commanded the British garrison there, for leave to take a situation convenient for this purpose. Though involved in all the calamities and distresses of a severe war, the government discovered all the attention and readiness to promote the cause of science, which could have been expected in the most peaceable and prosperous times; and passed a resolve, directing the Board of War to fit out the Lincoln galley to convey me to Penobscot, or any other port at the eastward, with such assistants as I should judge necessary. Accordingly, I embarked October 9, with Mr. Stephen Sewall, Professor of the Oriental Languages, James Winthrop, Esq; Librarian, Fortesque Vernon, A. B. and Mess'rs. Atkins, Davis, Hall, Dawson, Rensselaer, and King, Students in the University. We took with us an excellent clock, an astronomical quadrant of 2 Y2 feet radius, made by Sissons, several telescopes, and such other apparatus as were necessary.23 T h e British officer in command set a time limit for the observations that "was wholly inadequate to our purpose," so that the opportunity for preparing the camp properly was poor and there was not sufficient time to make an accurate determination of the longitude and latitude of the site, which it turns out was given incorrectly on the maps of the time.24 Several years later, in the summer of 1786, Williams was granted a leave of absence and allowed to take some of the Harvard instruments with him "to determine the running of the dividing line between the States of Massachusetts and N e w Y o r k , " f o r which task he had been "appointed by the General Court." 25

Williams was less original as a scientist than his predecessor Winthrop, but he was more interested than Winthrop had been in the details of elementary instruction. His students began the famous series of "Mathematical Theses," projections of astronomical phenomena for the meridian of Cambridge (both solar and lunar eclipses), accurate surveys of the Cambridge Common and 53

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other plots of land, purely mathematical exercises (in geometry, algebra and the calculus), and perspective views of Cambridge buildings with orthographic projections. 26 Williams also submitted a plan f o r a complete course in practical and theoretical astronomy which was approved on M a y 2, 1785. T h e plan was as follows: Lect. I. Solar Astronomy. — The apparent motions of the sun; — the phenomena which arise from them; these motions the best measure of time, and the most natural division of it. Represented and explained by the Tellurium. The phenomena of the solar spots explained and shewn to the students, in this lecture. Lect. II. Solar Astronomy. — The various methods of drawing a meridian line; rectifying a clock; observing the transits of the heavenly bodies over the meridian; the obliquity of the ecliptic; — time of the solstices, equinoxes etc. The theory briefly explained by the Tellurium, and the problems performed by observation. Lect. III. Sydereal Astronomy. — The appearances, magnitude and constellations of the fixed stars. Lect. IV. Sydereal Astronomy. — The phenomena of double and cloudy stars; — lucid spots; — the milky way; zodiacal light etc. The appearances represented by diagrams, and the phenomena shewn by Telescopes. Lect. V. Lunar Astronomy. — The motions, inequalities, and theory of the moon. Represented and explained by the Lunarium; the moon observed with a Telescope. Lect. VI. Lunar Astronomy. — The phases, spots, atmosphere, diameter, light of the moon etc. — Most of these represented by diagrams, served with a telescope. Lect. VII. The theory of solar and lunar eclipses, and the best methods of calculating, protracting, and observing them. Represented by the Lunarium, by calculation, and observation, as far as the subject admits. Lect. VIII. The theory and phenomena of Mercury and Venus. Represented and explained by the Planetarium: The Phenomena observed with a telescope. Lect. IX. The theory and phenomena of Mars and Jupiter. Represented and explained by the Planetarium, and observed with a telescope. Lect. X. Jupiter's Satellites. Their theory, phenomena, eclipses, and use. Calculated, observed with a telescope, and applied to practical purposes. 54

HARVARD INSTRUMENTS AFTER THE FIRE Lect. XI. The theory and phenomena of Saturn; his ring and Satellites. Led. XII. The several methods of determining the Latitude and Longitude of a place upon the earth. — Explained by the globe and illustrated by observation. Lect. XIII. The several methods of observing the apparent diameters, places, distances, parallax, refraction, and real magnitude of the heavenly bodies. — Explained by the nature of the subject and instruments, and by actual observation. Lect. XIV. The theory, motions, and phenomena of Comets.— Represented and explained by the Cometarium. Lect. XV. The theory and phenomena of the planet Herschell [i.e., Uranus]. Explained and observed with the large Reflector. The course then concludes with a review of the whole, as exhibiting the various arguments, which establish the truth and certainty of the Copernican System. — Exhibited and demonstrated by the Orrery. The equal altitude and transit instruments, quadrants, telescopes, micrometers, and other astronomical instruments, belonging to the University, will be used in this course of lectures; and their nature, construction and use will be particularly explained as they come to be applied in observation. About four or five of these lectures may be exhibited in the day time: The others can be had only in the evening.27

Some four years after Williams had become Hollis Professor, he had the great joy of communicating to the President and Fellows a letter from "Mr. Hemmer, Fellow of the Academy of Sciences of the Palatinate, Director of the Elector's Physical Museum and Perpetual Secretary of the Meteorological Society of the Palatinate," declaring that the Meteorological Society would send to Harvard at the expense of the Elector such instruments for meteorological observations as were used by them and others throughout Europe. The proposed gift of meteorological instruments was accepted with thanks on May 18, 1784, and assurance was given that "the utmost care shall be taken of them; and they shall not be considered as belonging to any individual, but as the property of the University, for the purpose designed by the Meteorological Society, so that observations may be continued, as long as the instruments shall last." 28 55

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The course of instruction in the different branches of the sciences during Williams's tenure of office may be reconstructed in considerable detail, owing to the survival of a large number of notebooks containing his lectures. A t the end of each notebook Williams listed the dates in successive years on which he delivered the lecture or lectures in question. The topics covered are, in addition to astronomy: "On the Motion and Phenomenon of Heat as it respects the Earth," "Air," "Astronomy of Comets," "Electricity," "Magnetism," "Philosophical and Astronomical Lectures." There is also in the University Archives a book of "Notes on Samuel Williams' Lectures on Natural Philosophy" taken by Thomas Crafts in April 1782.

In May 1788 the first rumblings were heard of that affair which resulted in the resignation of Williams and his removal to Rutland, Vermont, to the great loss of Harvard. A committee was appointed to inquire into reports to the discredit of Professor Williams and reflecting "dishonor upon the University" in a matter relating to the settlement of an account between him and the administrator of the estate of the Rev. Joshua Paine.29 On June 25, Williams's letter of resignation was read and accepted. Once again the Hollis Professorship was vacant. There being no candidate in prospect, the mathematical tutor, Samuel Webber (A.B. 1784), was asked to give instruction in mathematics and to continue the astronomical lectures. It was voted "that the President be desired to give Mr. Webber such assistance in the Astronomical Lectures as he may find convenient." 30 The President at that time was Joseph Willard (A.B. 1765), a versatile man with a catholic interest, whose hobby was the study of mathematics and astronomy. He was Corresponding Secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and published in their first volume of Memoirs three papers on astronomy, one on magnetism, and one on earthquakes, as well as several on other subjects. B y any account, he was well qualified to give all the astronomical lectures if necessary.

56

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Samuel Webber apparently made good at the new teaching assignment and on June 5, 1789, he was chosen "Hollis Professor of the Mathematics and of Natural and Experimental Philosophy." 3 1 In M a y of the following year, it was voted that Webber begin to make meteorological observations such as had formerly been made by Williams with the instruments sent by the Elector Palatine through the Meteorological Society at Mannheim, and which had been interrupted for two years, and that he send them to the Secretary of the Meteorological Society "agreeably to their expectations." 3 2 A few months before Webber's appointment as Hollis Professor, a committee had been appointed to draw up Regulations Respecting the "Hollis Professorship of Mathematics and Natural and Experimental Philosophy." The report of this committee, adopted on October 16, 1788, reads as follows: T h e Hollis Professor of the Mathematics etc. shall carry the four classes forward by private lectures in the Mathematics in the following order, viz. — In Arithmetic and Mensuration — In Algebra, as far as through adfected quadratic equations and infinite series — In plain Geometry and Trigonometry; in the teaching of which, there shall be a full explanation of the plain Scale and Sector — In Conic Sections, as far as shall be necessary for well understanding those parts of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy where these Sections are applied — In Surveying in which branch there shall be a particular description of the construction and use of the various surveying instruments — In the application of plain Trigonometry to the mensuration of Heights & Distances, and to Navigation; with the uses of the several instruments, and particularly, an explanation of the principles and construction of that very important instrument, Hadley's Quadrant — In Dialling — In the Projections of the Sphere — In Spheric Geometry and Trigonometry, with the application to the solution of Astronomic Problems etc. If any individuals among the students chuse to pursue the study of 57

SOME EARLY TOOLS OF AMERICAN SCIENCE Fluxions or any other abstruse parts of the Mathematics, the Professor shall give them all proper assistance. The Freshmen shall attend the private instructions of the Professor on Fridays, and the Sophimores on Saturdays at such hours as the President, Professors and Tutors shall direct, — The Juniors on Mondays at nine o'clock in the forenoon, — the Seniors on Mondays at three o'clock in the afternoon. After the beginning of the Experimental Lectures, in the Spring, the Seniors shall cease to attend these instructions, and the Juniors shall attend on Mondays at three o'clock in the afternoon. That it be recommended to the Professor, in his public lectures, which he shall deliver once a week, Viz. on Wednesdays, at two o'clock in the afternoon, as has been customary to be as systematic as may be, and to endeavor to go through a regular course, on the theory of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in four years. But this systematic pursuit shall not prevent the Professor's interspersing lectures upon any important phaenomena that may turn up, though they may, for a short time, interrupt the general course. The lectures which shall be delivered in the Philosophy Chamber to the resident Bachelors and the two Senior Classes, between the twentyfirst day of March and the twenty-first of June annually, shall contain a complete course of Experimental Philosophy, in the various branches of it; and in the progress of the experiments, the principles and construction of the various machines made use of, shall be explained. The Professor shall also deliver a course of Astronomical lectures, every fall, to the Senior Class, agreeably to a plan exhibited to the Corporation and accepted by them and the Overseers: Which plan is recorded in the Corporation Book, under the Votes of May 2, 1785. And in addition to the Articles in that plan, he shall under Solar Astronomy, particularly explain the Precession of the Equinoxes, the Nutation of the Earth's axis, and the motion of the Apogee: — Under Lunar Astronomy, the Moon's Libration and the motion of her Apogee and Nodes: And under Sydereal Astronomy, the Aberration of Light. These lectures shall be considered as a part of the Professor's duty, founded upon the Rules and Orders of Mr. Hollis: And he shall also, from time to time communicate and explain to the students any discoveries which may be made in Philosophy and Astronomy; for all which he shall receive no fee or special allowance. That the Professor be directed, while he is delivering his Philosophical and Astronomical lectures, to make such incidental reflections upon

58

HARVARD INSTRUMENTS AFTER THE FIRE the Being, Perfections and Providence of God, as may arise from the subjects, and may tend seriously to impress the minds of youth. That the Professor be directed, from time to time, to communicate to his pupils Article 7th in the Rules and Orders of his Founder, and to inform them, that agreeable thereto, he shall devote such a proportion of his time, to attend to their applications for particular & familiar conversation on, and instruction in the subjects of their studies, in the branches of his profession; and shall at all times encourage such applications. The Professor at the time of his Inauguration, after promising religiously to observe the statutes of his founder, shall also promise, that he will, in the same manner, observe all such Rules and Regulations as have been, and shall be established, agreeably thereto.33

Webber's career as Hollis Professor was undistinguished. The most notable event that occurred during his tenure was his service with the Commissioners appointed to settle the Northeastern boundary of the United States. The terms of this event are best stated in the following letters. Boston 6th Aug. 1796 Sir The Commissioners appointed, persuant to the Treaty with Great Britain to Settle the eastern boundary of the Untied States, are directed to ascertain to each Government, the latitude, and longitude of the river mentioned in the Treaty of 1783, as the river Saint Croix. For that purpose, it has become my duty as Agent to the States, to procure, by loan, such Instruments as cannot be had in this country by purchase. There are wanted for the purpose, besides what we now have, An Astronomical Clock — A Sextant — A Telescope & An Astronomical Quadrant. Mr. Webster [i.e., Webber] the Professor at Cambridge, is engaged to go down on the business, & wishes to procure Margetts Longitude Tables, & Dr. M. Maskelynes observations from 1765 to 1769. W e wish to borrow the above mentioned articles of the College Corporation. Mr. Webster [i.e., Webber] will receive and pack them up, and on his certificate that he has them I will, as agent to the United States, Sign a receipt that I have received them for the use of the General Govern59

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ment, to be returned when the business for which they are borrowed shall be finished. I am with respect your Most humble Servt J A . SULLIVAN

NB We wish to receive them on Monday or Tuesday next Ebenezer Storer Esqr Treasurer of Harvard College 34 Boston 8th Aug. 1796

Sir

Since I wrote to you respecting the Loan of Astronomical Instruments for the Saint Croix commission I have received a request from professor Webber to apply for a Barometer & Thermometer for the same use I am with respect Your most humble Servant J A . SULLIVAN

35

Ebenezer Storer Esqr Upon Willard's death, Webber, a man "without friends or enemies," was elected President of Harvard on March 3, 1806, two days after Fisher Ames's letter declining that office was read. Webber, who has been described as "perhaps the most colorless President in our history," 36 died after four years in office, on July 17, 1810, and is often remembered only for the "erect declining sundial" that he constructed for Massachusetts Hall. After Webber's elevation to the Presidency, the instruction in his department was carried on by Tutor John Farrar (A.B. 1803). Nathaniel Bowditch of Salem (A.M. hon. 1802) 37 and the Rev. Joseph McKeen (A.B. 1794) were both offered the Hollis professorship, but declined; finally, on March 20, 1807, Farrar was elected to, and accepted, the post.38

The field of science that Webber had loved best was apparently astronomy. While he was Hollis Professor, plans were begun to 60

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establish an Observatory at Harvard, although nothing came of this idea for many decades. On December n , 1805, a vote of thanks was tendered to Messrs. Dupont and Delambre for "their prompt attentions to the inquiries made of them respecting an Observatory, & that Professor Webber be requested to transmit the same to Mr. Lowell, to be communicated to them." 39 The Lowell in question is John Lowell (A.B. 1786), at that time in Europe. On June 6 of the preceding year, he had been officially thanked for "his communication respecting Galvanism, and for his kind and generous present to the University of two Galvanic Batteries." 40 He was a Fellow from 1810 to 1822. The extent to which Harvard was willing to go in making plans for its observatory may be seen in a vote of the Corporation of January 13, 1806: Voted, that Professor Webber be requested to obtain such farther information, as he may think requisite, relative to the most approved method of constructing Observatories in Europe and for that purpose to correspond with experienced artists & scientific men, & to procure accurate & satisfactory drawings, & if in his judgment the plans and drawings, which have been or may probably be obtained will not give information on the subject sufficiently precise, that he be authorized to procure a model or models of one or more of the most approved European Observatories. And that Mr. Webber be requested to avail himself of the assistance of John Lowell, Esq. while he may remain in Europe in the accomplishment of the aforesaid objects; Mr. Lowell having generously offered & afforded his aid relative to this business.41

Although the Hollis Professor's duties embraced both mathematics and natural philosophy, we have, in the preceding pages, dealt exclusively with science teaching as related to the old instruments. In order to round out the picture a little more, a f e w words about the teaching of mathematics are in order. This is especially the case with regard to John Farrar, appointed Hollis Professor in 1807, because his chief claim to remembrance is as "the man who introduced Continental mathematics to N e w England's college students." 42 6ι

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The calculus — in the English or Newtonian form, the method of "fluxions" — had gotten a foothold at Harvard as early as 1719. The commencement theses for that year include the following: Fluxio est Augmentationis vel Diminutionis quantitatum fluentium Velocitas.

A fluxion is the velocity of an increasing or diminishing flowing quantity.

Fluxio ex quantitate fluente Invenitur.

A fluxion is found from a flowing quantity.43

Miss Simons observes that a "radical change and a very interesting one" may be noted in the Harvard Commencement Theses in 1751. For the first time, "fluxions occupy a leading place among the mathematical commencement theses to the exclusion of practically all the mathematical topics that had hitherto appeared, and this subject did not recede from its prominent position at Harvard during the eighteenth century. The fact that all problems in fluxions require a familiarity with the handling of algebraic expressions and operations should not be lost sight of at any time." Other colleges also showed an interest in fluxions and, as Miss Simons observes, "at Yale fluxions appeared in 1758, and during 25 years thereafter only a few sets of theses lack problems in this subject." 44 While algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and some calculus (the latter largely an elective, rather than a required subject) were being taught to Harvard students during the 18th century, it was not until Farrar's time that truly modern mathematics arrived on the Harvard scene. The latter years of the 18th century had seen a reorganization of French higher education; the £cole Polytechnique, cherished by Napoleon, had grown into a great center for research and teaching in mathematics, engineering, and the exact sciences. Here were produced a series of remarkable textbooks, such as Legendre's Elements of Geometry and Monge's Descriptive Geometry. These books, we are told, "have not lost their educational value even today and . . . are the prototypes of many of our present textbooks in the exact sciences and in engineering."45 Farrar began the introduction of Continental mathematics in 1818 with an adaptation of Lacroix's Elements of Algebra for students of the 62

HARVARD INSTRUMENTS AFTER THE FIRE "University at Cambridge." Later he presented, in translation, portions of works by Legendre, Bezout, Biot, and also Euler. Struik tells us, furthermore, that it was Farrar who introduced the Leibnizian form of the calculus into our country, "to replace the antiquated forms of Newtonian algorithm, which were not only taught in the colleges, but also for many years presented in articles in Silliman's Journal, in perfect innocence of what had happened in Europe during the past hundred years." 46 When Farrar resigned in 1836, he was succeeded as Hollis Professor by Joseph Lovering.47

$·>

The instruments in Harvard's early Apparatus were obtained almost exclusively from England, the center during the 18th century and early years of the 19th of a flourishing industry of precision-instrument manufacture. Harvard's collection contains representative items from the major British instrument makers: Edward Nairne, J. Gilbert of Tower Hill, Benjamin Martin, George Adams, and the latter's successors, W. & S. Jones. Not only were the instruments themselves obtained from England, but they had to be sent back to England for repairs in most cases. The extent of England's virtual monopoly in the manufacture and supply of scientific instruments may be seen in the fact that when, in 1796, an Apparatus (greatly resembling that at Harvard in both its scope and the nature of the instruments) was ordered for the School of Mines in Mexico, it was obtained exclusively from London.48 But there was one Colonial instrument maker of particular interest in this account, the Rev. John Prince (A.B. 1776), who had been a pupil in divinity under Samuel Williams and in natural philosophy under John Winthrop. Prince, whose father had been a mechanic and a hatter by trade, was ordained in the First Church in Salem on November 10, 1779, his teacher Williams preaching the ordination sermon. Although an amateur, Prince achieved considerable skill and a wide reputation for the excellence of his instruments. He advised a number of colleges concerning their apparatus and supplied them with instruments which he had made, or had "improved" from those he had obtained from London.

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Among these colleges were Harvard, Brown, Rutgers, Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst, and Union. While other ingenious Americans in the late 18th and early 19th century made excellent clocks, orreries, or astronomical instruments, such as Joseph Pope and Simon Willard in Boston, and David Rittenhouse in Philadelphia, no one was able to make, sell, or repair scientific instruments for the use of colleges, schools, and academies to the extent of Prince. Thus, in addition to the services of the London instrument makers, Harvard could and did call on one American in connection with her Apparatus. Prince repaired or rebuilt several Harvard instruments, among them one of the electrical machines purchased after the Fire (Appendix Three, No. 13), and he sold to Harvard a variety of different instruments, among them one of the "thunder houses" (Appendix Three, No. 19) and a lucernal microscope which cost £30.0.0, plus 12 shillings for alterations in its mounting (Appendix Three, No. 44). Prince corresponded with the London instrument maker George Adams during 1792-1795, and the claim has been made that Prince's improvement of the lucernal microscope was adopted by Adams without acknowledgment to Prince. Adams, who had a large private collection of instruments, owned several pieces made by Prince which were described as having been "beautifully constructed." Thomas Jefferson recommended Prince to William Jones and showed Jones a description of Prince's "improved" air pump, probably the description that had appeared in the first volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Boston, 1785). Prince later corresponded with Jones, and the latter then constructed "a large double barrelled air pump on the American construction improved," that is, one having "only one valve . . . as in Dr. Prince's" (see Appendix Three, No. 21). A portion of Jones's description of this air pump is reproduced following page 90 of this book.49 One of the best-known pieces in the Harvard Apparatus — the Pope orrery — was made in Boston (see Appendix Three, No. 5). This orrery, completed in 1787, was described by Pope in the second volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.50 Pope, a local watch maker, constructed the orrery 64

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for Harvard; but, since the College lacked sufficient funds to purchase it, application was made and granted to hold a public lottery. The latter was more than successful, so that £450.3.0 was available for payment to Pope, with a remainder of £71.14.9 which was paid into the College treasury.

65

IV The Beginnings of Chemistry at Harvard The end of all physical investigation is the knowledge of the nature, properties, and relations of Matter, and of the laws by which its motions are regulated. . . The laws which govern the actions of the minute or elementary parts of bodies at distances too minute to be recognized by the senses, or calculated by the formulae of the mathematician, constitute the science of Chemistry. These actions terminate in the production of bodies exhibiting properties differing from those of which they are composed . . . The connexion between this science and the arts, and the improvements in the one, from the application of principles derived from the other, are seen and acknowledged. Chemistry now constitutes an essential part of a liberal and enlightened education, and while the senses are gratified by the demonstration of its phaenomena, these phaenomena become the medium through which the mind perceives a general physical truth. But the pleasure which is experienced in pursuing this interesting science, and even the benefits that result to society from the application of its laws, ought to be considered as subordinate to the influence which a cultivation of the knowledge of nature should exert upon the moral character . . . — John Gorham, 1819 I n contrast to the s t u d y of a s t r o n o m y and physics, w h i c h had b e g u n at H a r v a r d in the 1 7 t h c e n t u r y and had

flourished

during

the 1 8 t h c e n t u r y , the s t u d y of c h e m i s t r y (like the s t u d y of biolo g y , or natural h i s t o r y ) did n o t t r u l y g e t u n d e r w a y in C a m b r i d g e until the closing y e a r s of the 1 8 t h c e n t u r y and the o p e n i n g y e a r s of the 1 9 t h . President H o a r , in a letter to the H o n . R o b e r t B o y l e , had expressed the hope of establishing at H a r v a r d the s t u d y of all the m a j o r branches of science, c h e m i s t r y included, b u t there is little trace of the latter subject during most of the 1 7 t h c e n t u r y . A

f e w H a r v a r d men, to be sure, w o r k e d at c h e m i s t r y in some

f o r m ; one, G e o r g e Stirk or S t a r k e y ( A . B . 1 6 4 6 ) , b e c a m e the bestk n o w n m e m b e r of this g r o u p . T h e " v e r y g o o d f r i e n d " of B o y l e , he asserted in a tract published in 1 6 5 8 that " i n the y e a r of

Our

L o r d 1 6 4 4 , " w h i l e still an undergraduate at H a r v a r d , he " f i r s t b e -

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gan the studie of Chemical Philosophie." This study must have been indeed "individual and private." 1 Although Starkey is not well known to students of the history of science, he was deemed sufficiently interesting to have a fullpage advertisement devoted to him in a recent number of the British journal Research; this was one of a series of sketches of chemists sponsored by the Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd. The barest trace of chemistry may be conjectured during Greenwood's tenure of the Hollis Professorship; his successor Winthrop had but slight interest in this science; and the third Hollis Professor, Samuel Williams, gave lectures on the chemistry of gases. Not until the founding of the Medical School does systematic instruction in chemical science begin at Harvard. At that time, lectures on chemistry for undergraduates in the College were undertaken by Aaron Dexter (A.B. 1776). Just before the end of the Revolutionary War, on September 19, 1782 the Medical School was officially organized. Dexter was the third appointee to the new venture; his title was Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica. Dexter's training had been chiefly a course of private study in chemistry and medicine under Samuel Danforth (A.B. 1758), supplemented by a term as ship's surgeon during the war.

Prior to Dexter's time, Charles Morton's Compendium Physicae had provided an introduction to chemistry. In Chapter 6, Morton presented 2 the four "elements" of Aristotle, "Fire, Water, Earth, and Air"; the "3 matters" of Descartes; the "one kind of matter for all things" of "Gassendus and other Atomists"; the "5 Principles (Elements, or Matters) . . . [that] by art of fire they can Separate, and make Sensibly distinct" (i.e. salt, water, sulfur, mercury or spirit, and earth); and the sole "two Elements namely particles" that "Other Chymists will have," namely "Active and passive": 4 Antient Elements, 3 now will doe Atomists [one], Chymists some 5, some 2. 67

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Morton's Compendium, introduced in 1687, marks the beginning of formal, collegiate chemical instruction in America. Commencement Theses and Quaestiones following 1687 reflect an interest in chemical subjects and Tutor Thomas Robie, who learned his first chemistry from the Compendium, published a paper on a chemical subject. Isaac Greenwood must have included some chemistry in his teaching, and at least one chemical demonstration. In the invoice of the Hollis gift of apparatus which Greenwood made on September 6, 1731 appears the item "Solid Phosphorus," which had cost 5 shillings; but when he made a new inventory on April 19, 1738, he now listed " A Solid Phosphorus all consum'd in Experiments Several years agoe." 3 Greenwood's successor, John Winthrop, evinced some interest in chemistry, because the Quaestiones for public disputation at the Commencement of the class of 1744 included the following: 4 An Solidorum Dissolutio in Whether the Dissolution of Menstruis per Attractionem Solids in corrosive Liquors be perficiatur. performed by Attraction. Affirmat respondens Affirmed by SAMUEL G A Y .

SAMUEL

GAY.

Furthermore, in the first invoice of apparatus sent by Mico after the fire, one finds among the glass tubes, "Jarrs," and "Ballances," an item called "Chemical Expt." costing 11 shillings.® What the nature of that chemical experiment was, I have not yet been able to discover. Among the manuscript lectures of the third Hollis Professor, Samuel Williams, one, on "Air," is devoted to the chemistry of gases. This lecture was read to the undergraduates in May every year from 1785 to 1788. Williams's outline of the lecture now in the University Archives, follows: Lecture XV. On the different kinds of Air. i. Common or atmospherical Air. — Atmospherical air generally combined or charged with other substances — Necessary to the 68

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4. 5. 6.

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support and preservation of animal life — Diminished and corrupted in various ways — Methods by which its purity is restored — Observations and remarks on the nature and constitution of the atmosphere. Fixed Air. — Experiments on the production of this air — Its properties and effects — The use and applications of fixed air. Nitrous Air. — Experiments on the production of this Air — The uncommon effect of nitrous upon atmospheric Air — The nature, construction, and use of the Eudiometer — The nature and properties of nitrous air. Inflammable Air. — Experiments on the production of this Air — Its inflammability represented — The properties and effects of this air — Serves to explain several of the curious Phenomena of nature. Marine Acid Air. — Experiments on the production of this air — Its nature and appearance — The properties and effects of this air —The acid vapor exhaled from the sea. Alkaline Air. — Experiments on the production of this air — Its nature and properties — The curious effect of mixing akaline and acid air.

In the first part of the lecture, on common or atmospherical air, after being told that this air may contain water, the students were given to understand that common or atmospherical air is generally charged with a large quantity of Fire or Phlogiston. The Chemists sometimes speak of Fire and Phlogiston as being the same thing, or signifying the same element. But, we are not absolutely certain that this is the case. By Phlogiston we mean no more than the principle of Inflammability, or that by which bodies become combustible, or capable or burning. Williams showed his students a variety of experiments, among them the diminution in volume of air when burning charcoal was placed in a container of air inverted over a pneumatic trough; the effect of sunlight on green vegetable matter "in a Jar filled with water and exposed to the direct light of the sun — Effect. A considerable quantity of Air will be produced this way which will be manifest by the subsiding of the water"; the production of fixed air by "mixing together Chalk, Oil of Vitriol, and Water"; "the most 69

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convenient w a y of generating" nitrous air " b y the Nitrous A c i d and Steel Filings. . ." And when the Experiment is made in common air, upon pouring the Nitre upon the Steel Filings a remarkable appearance takes place. A strong ebulition instantly appears; fumes arise in great quantities; attended with a tinted redness, or deep orange colour. A strong Heat is produced. And the Smell is very remarkable and strong. . . Upon mixing this air with common air a still more remarkable phenomenon takes place. The air becomes phlogisticated and diminished. And a very large part of it appears to be instantly devoured and destroyed. . . [Dr. Priestley uses this diminution] as a test of the purity . . . of common or respirable air. . . T h e lecture concluded with the following comments: From what has been exhibited you will readily perceive that this subject is as yet but very imperfectly understood. Discoveries in air are indeed among the capital discoveries of the present age. And no part of philosophy seems at present to be more attended to. From the number and industry of the laborers it is natural to expect that much more will yet be brought to light. And indeed there will always be room for new improvements and discoveries, for the works of God are like himself; they are inexhaustible, and they are infinite.

A s soon as medical instruction was contemplated, it was seen that Harvard would need a variety of equipment. On November 4, 1782, even before Dexter's appointment, it was voted: That a compleat anatomical and chymical apparatus, a sett of anatomical preparations, with a proper theatre, and other necessary accomodations for dissection and chymical opperations be provided, as soon as there shall be sufficient benefactions for these purposes.® Dexter's election to the Medical Faculty took place on M a y 22, 1783 and he was inducted into his office on October 16. Williams was still Hollis Professor at the time of the founding of the Medical School and the appointment of Harvard's first professional chemist, Aaron Dexter. Since Williams had the equipment necessary to demonstrate the various chemical phenomena just de7 °

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scribed, while the Professor of Chemistry had none, permission was granted on January 29, 1784 to the new medical professors to borrow apparatus for their lectures (which are not needed by the Hollis Professor at the same time), "giving a proper receipt to the Hollis Professor." 7 This was clearly a temporary arrangement and not a very satisfactory one; and on October 20, 1784, the Treasurer was authorized to "send to England for the medical books in a Catalogue made out by the Medical Professors, . . . also for a Chymical Apparatus. . . , " the whole to cost about £80 for books and instruments.8 As usual, Harvard's good fortune did not fail her, and a welcome gift was recorded that fall of a eudiometer presented by Treasurer Ebenezer Storer, to be added to the eudiometers used by Williams.

The Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica, Aaron Dexter, at first suffered the disadvantages of being confined to the basement. The committee that examined the Library, Museum, and Apparatus on July 9, 1793 reported: That the Chymical Apparatus is in the same state as it was the last year; but that the subterranean apartment destined for chymical operations, is, in many respects, inconvenient and improper for that purpose. The Committee therefore recommend that some part of the old Chapel, or some other place may be prepared for the use of the Professor of Chymistry.9 The available records do not tell why the rooms for chemistry were ever put in the basement. It may have been that this subterranean chamber was the only space available at the time, or some may have reasonably believed that it would be safest for all concerned to have the "chymical operations" performed underground and out of harm's way — for chemical manipulations are apt to be dangerous if improperly conducted, and it is no great novelty for a chemistry professor to blow up the lecture table, even in our own times. Yet another reason suggests itself from the experience of Professor Benjamin Silliman at Yale, whose chemical laboratory was

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built for him in his absence. When he returned to N e w Haven in 1803, he found his new laboratory "placed . . . almost under ground. . . I found that a groined arch of boards had been constructed over the entire subterranean room." " I suppose," wrote Silliman, that Mr. Bonner, an able civil architect . . . had received only some vague impressions of chemistry, — perhaps a confused and terrific dream of alchemy, with its black arts, its explosions, and its weird-like mysteries. He appears, therefore, to have imagined, that the deeper down in mother earth the dangerous chemists could be buried, so much the better; and perhaps he thought that a strong arch would keep the detonations under.10 Yet despite the recommendations, the Library Committee was forced to report again, on August 28, 1797, that "they think it highly expedient that a room should be prepared for the purpose of this Professor in Holden Chapel or elsewhere; that which he now occupies being totally unfit for his use." 1 1 Apparently, the "unhealthy, inconvenient and disgraceful situation of the room where the Chymical Lectures are read" 1 2 had not been ameliorated. But, at last, rooms were provided that were suitable, and the report of the Library Committee in 1803 takes on a new tone: The Chemycal Apparatus your Committee were happy to find in the new and convenient apartment prepared for its reception. T o improve this important establishment they recommend to the Board to consider the expediency of providing a rainwater cistern, and also importing a sett of tests for the use of the Professor of Chemistry.13 Parenthetically, one cannot help remarking that basement quarters seem to have been long associated with chemistry at Harvard. When Josiah Parsons Cooke in the 1850's finally persuaded the Corporation to give him a chemical laboratory, they fitted "up with a floor and tables a cellar room in the north end of University Hall immediately under a room which he secured for the chemical lectures." 14 A t the end of the century, we are told, "the greatest difficulty was to find room enough for the 400 and more students in Chemistry I. N e w laboratories were equipped, which gave them 7

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quarters — but such quarters! T w o cellars, one beneath Boylston Hall, the other a new one excavated between it and the street!" 1 5 The basement tradition at Harvard continues; the lecture rooms in the Edward Mallinckrodt Chemical Laboratory are all located sub

terra. The records apparently yield no direct evidence as to what basement it was in which Dexter had been confined. W e are told that it is reasonably certain, however, that all of the early lectures in the Medical Department were given in the basement of Harvard Hall. 16 Yet the complaints, during the 1790's, concerning the subterranean quarters mention only those occupied by Dexter. Benjamin Waterhouse, who was then lecturing on natural history as well as medicine, gave his course on the former subject in the Philosophy Chamber adjoining the Library in Harvard Hall, where the "Philosophical Apparatus" was kept and where the Hollis Professor also lectured. When Professor Webber, naturally enough, objected to the stuffed birds, the minerals, and the other "impedimenta" of natural history, Waterhouse wrote a letter to the President, dated May 19, 1800, declaring: During the 18 years that I have been a Professor of the Theory & Practice of physic in this University, I never have been accomodated with a lecturing-room, but have been obliged repeatedly to quit my chair & dismiss my pupils in the middle of a lecture to give place to the stated teachers. I gave one whole course in a Tutor's room. In one, or two instances, I have been compelled to the derogatory step of giving my medical lectures in the room of an undergraduate; and for these three years past, I have been forced to give my medical lectures at my own house, altho' very inconvenient on account of the smallness of our rooms & largeness of my family. 17 In order to provide space for both the regular undergraduate instruction and that conducted by the Medical Department, the Library Committee recommended on July 10, 1800, that Holden Chapel should be fitted up in such a manner as to accomodate the Professor and Tutors with four rooms for their private Lectures and recitations, and 73

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the Medical Professors with three rooms for their Lectures, viz., on the ground floor one, for the Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic; and one for the Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica; and the chamber over them for the use of the Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, and for the purpose of accommodating the lectures on Natural History, when not occupied by the Professor of Anatomy. 18

After the necessary alterations, rooms in the renovated Chapel were assigned in December 1801 as follows: 1. Medical Room No. 1, East Chamber, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery. The Lecturer in Natural History to have permission to use it when not used by Prof. Anat. & Surg. 2. Medical Room 2, North East Chamber, Professor of Theory and Practice of Physic. 3. Medical Room 3, South East Chamber, Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica. 4. Lecture Room, South West Chamber, other Academical Professors. Senior class recite there when not "improved" by either of said Professors. 5. Reciting Room No. 1, North West lower room, Freshmen with Tutors. 6. Reciting Room No. 2, South West lower room, Sophomores with Tutors. 7. Reciting Room No. 3, North West Chamber, Juniors with Tutors. 19

Looking at Holden Chapel today and thinking of the number of rooms it then contained may give the reader an idea of how small was the institution it accommodated.

While the quarters for Harvard's first formal instruction in chemistry were improved, that branch of knowledge also profited by a handsome bequest from Major William Erving, who died in 1790 and who, as he wrote in his last will and testament, was "unwilling to pass through existence without profiting the community." Erving's bequest to Harvard was in part a token of regard and affection for his friend and physician, Dr. Aaron Dexter. Had Dexter done no more for his College than to obtain the endowment of 74

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the Erving Professorship of Chemistry, its debt to him would still be very great. The first significant Chemical Apparatus to come to Harvard was that imported from England and described in an invoice of March 22, 1785. There we find listed "a Portable Furnace . . . agreeable to Dr. Lewis's Plan"; 28 glass tubes; 2 quires of "large filtering paper"; 25 "Retorts of different sizes"; and other items.20 On April 14, 1788, an invoice includes chemical supplies such as sublimate of mercury, spirits of sal ammoniac, etc. Alas! on December 10, 1798 a report is recorded of the theft during the preceding summer, after Commencement, of the following articles: Wedgwood Thermometer with its case & pieces of Clay — all the Glass Tubes except one — several Christal Bottles of different sizes part of which belonged to me particularly a large Bottle with a glass stopper that contained six pounds of water. A bent Copper tube made for air experiments one dozen tumbler, & perhaps other things, that have not been missed. Cambridge Deer. 10th. 1798 A. Dexter 21 In January 1805 Dexter requested the Corporation to procure for the use of the Chemical department a Machine for the purpose of mixing & inflaming the Gasses for the formation of water — also a water box with a shelf for the purpose of obtaining the Gasses in Jars — a Marble trough with mercury for gaseous experiments — a proper set of chemical tests and a small rainwater cistern in the chemical room & one dozen glass jarrs of different sizes Vi doz. Glass tubes with stopped cocks mounted with brass — 22 Further details concerning this equipment may be found in the following memorandum, containing also a reference to the expenditures at Dartmouth: Jan. 7, 1805 Dr. Dexter's request to the Corporation The Machine for inflaming Gasses will by my estimation not exceed twenty dollars. A Compleat set of Chemical tests inclosed in Bottles about twenty dollars. ι dozn. of Glass Jars six dollars. 75

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glass tubes with stop-cocks — three dollars Mercury for a Marble Bason may be obtained at $ ι pr lb. The Pneumatic box lined with lead ρ shelf — the Cistern —

mercury— trough— P. trough — Cistern — At Dartmouth Colledge $600. is granted for a Chemical Appt. 23

$20 20 6 3 100 149

Dexter was never renowned for his research in chemistry, although he published an occasional paper, and it is said that he was not a very successful teacher.24 He resigned his office in October 1816 after having taught chemistry at Harvard for thirty-three years. From the Corporation he received a vote expressing their appreciation of "his good services to the cause of science, and of his zealous attachment to the interests of the University." One of his pupils, John Gorham, M. D., was immediately chosen his successor. «, Information concerning Dexter's teaching is extremely meager. Some f e w notes, gathered mostly at second hand, are to be found in an address given by Oliver Wendell Holmes on October 17, 1883 at the time of the celebration of the Medical School's centenary. The first Professor of Chemistry [declared Holmes] was Aaron Dexter. It was the forming period of that science. Black, Priestley, Lavoisier were building it up with their discoveries. A Course of Chemical Lectures delivered in Boston or Cambridge at that day was probably as it certainly was at a later day very entertaining and not wholly uninstructive. I doubt whether phlogiston had yet taken itself to the limbo of negative entities. But however crude the theories, we may be pretty sure that it left in the student's mind a memory of startling precipitations, of pleasing changes of color, of brilliant corruscations, 76

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of alarming explosions, and above all of odors innumerable and indescribable. It is sad to think that Professors honored in their day and generation should often be preserved only by such poor accidents as a sophomore's jest or a graduate's anecdote. The apparatus of illustration was doubtless very imperfect in Dr. Dexter's time compared to what is seen in all the laboratories of today. We may admire his philosophy and equanimity therefore in recalling the story I used to hear about him. "This experiment, Gentlemen," he is represented as saying, "is one of remarkable brilliancy. As I touch the powder you see before me with a drop of this fluid, it bursts into a sudden and brilliant flame" — which it most emphatically does not do as he makes the contact. "Gentlemen," he says with a serene smile, "the experiment has failed, — but the principle, Gentlemen, the principle remains firm as the everlasting hills." 26 Since Dexter learned his chemistry before the American Revolution, and therefore before the Chemical Revolution associated with the great name of Lavoisier, he could not have helped beginning in the mire of the old phlogiston theory. Dexter's interest in the achievements of the French school of chemistry is related in a description of Harvard to be found in Brissot de Warville's New Travels in the United States of America, performed in M.DCC.LXXX VIII. The author of this work was pleased to find at Harvard an interest in French writings of all sorts. Describing the library, he wrote: " T h e heart of a Frenchman palpitates on finding the works of Racine, of Montesquieu, and the Encyclopaedia, where, 150 years ago, arose the smoke of the savage calumet." H o w much more excited he was to find that the chemistry instruction was based on the new French theories of combustion is made evident when one recalls that Brissot de Warville was a student of Fourcroy, whose able treatise was used by Dexter. Dr. Aaron Dexter, Brissot wrote, was a man of extensive knowledge, and great modesty. He told me, to my great satisfaction, that he gave lectures on the experiments of our school of chemistry. The excellent work of my respectable master, Dr. Fourcroy, was in his hands, which taught him the rapid strides that this science has lately made in Europe.26 77

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There seems to be no way of determining which of Fourcroy's books was used by Dexter. Brissot's account was written after a visit to Cambridge in 1788. At this time there were available two works by Fourcroy in French: Memoires et observations de chimie, published in 1784, and Legons elementaires d'histoire naturelle et de chimie, published in 1782. More than likely it was the latter that Dexter used, since this work had been Englished by T . Elliot under the title, Elementary Lessons on Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, and had been published in Edinburgh in 1785, three years prior to Brissot's visit. Fourcroy presented simultaneously both the old phlogiston theory of Stahl with the many additions that had been made to it and the newer theory of combustion and chemical change associated with the name of Lavoisier. "I declare," wrote Fourcroy in his preface, "that I neither reject the one nor adopt the other: I assume the simple part of an historian." Writing of Lavoisier, who had "proved by a great number of nice experiments, that a part of the air was combined with bodies which were calcined or burnt," Fourcroy noted: "Since that time he has given rise to a class of chemists, who begin to doubt of the presence of phlogiston, and attribute to the fixation or the disengagement of the air all the phenomena which Stahl thought were owing to the separation or combination of phlogiston." We must agree, he continued, "that this doctrine has the advantage of that of Stahl in a more rigorous demonstration, and that it is so much the more seducing at this moment, since it appears to proceed solely on palpable and confirmed facts." One gets the general impression here and elsewhere in the book that Fourcroy makes out a stronger case for the theory of Lavoisier than for the phlogiston theory. For example, after presenting the theory of Macquer, who "does not think that the action and separation of phlogiston . . . ought to be entirely rejected," and who has substituted "light" for the phlogiston of Stahl, Fourcroy lists the obvious objections to this theory, "as, for example, . . . the considerable increase [in weight] of metallic calxes, the reduction of several of these calxes without the concourse of the light, the brilliant and deep colour which some of them assume in spite of the separation of this colouring principle." But, bowing to weight of authority, Fourcroy states: "Although we could make

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several objections to the theory of this celebrated man [Macquer], we think, however, that the respectable authority of so great a master constrains us not to reject phlogiston entirely." 27 Since the greater weight of Fourcroy's text, and especially of the translator's notes, is in favor of the theory of Lavoisier rather than the phlogiston theory, Dexter's lectures based on Fourcroy's book more than likely introduced the students to the Chemical Revolution that was rapidly making of chemistry a French science. H o w interesting it would be to discover more information concerning Dexter who, from our limited knowledge, remains a shadowy figure on the Harvard scene. For all we know, Dexter may have been the first man in America to teach the new French chemistry of Lavoisier et al. to college students. There is definite evidence concerning the conversion of Dexter from advocacy of the phlogiston theory to that of Lavoisier; 28 alas, it is not dated. The only records I have been able to find concerning Dexter's teaching are the "Minuits from a Course of Lectures on Chemistry & Materia Medica, delivered by Aaron Dexter P. C. & Μ. M. [Professor of Chemistry & Materia Medica] of Harvard University. Selected by Lyman Spalding." This is one of three notebooks containing Spalding's summaries of lectures on medicine at Harvard; the other two contain notes on the courses of Waterhouse and Warren. These three notebooks, the prized possessions of the Boston Medical Library, are among the oldest student material of the Harvard Medical School. The first of Dexter's lectures, given on October 12, 1795, was devoted to "the History of the Origin & Rise of Chemistry," and discussed the contributions of Paracelsus, Stahl (one of the founders of the phlogiston theory), Boerhaave, Haller, Priestley, Lavoisier, and Fourcroy. This was followed, on the next day, by what Spalding described as a "disjointed lecture," in which Dexter "said something of the properties of fixed air, and many things which he would more fully prove another time." In the third lecture, the students were told: "Chemistry is defined to be that art which mixes bodies by heat, or is known by the effect heat & moisture have on all bodies — Heat on a body is a fine elastic fluid generated by motion between two bodies, e.g., the flint & steel, rubbing two columns of 79

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wood together which generate heat & at length take fire & blaze. . ." Heat as generated by motion and friction was also discussed later in connection with the reports of Rumford. Some time was devoted by Dexter to the three states of matter: gaseous, liquid, solid; the expansion of bodies when they are heated; the change in volume accompanying a change in state; condensation; thermometry; and other topics of a similar kind. "Heat is considered as a fluid sui generis & has more affinity to some bodies than it has to other, i.e. nonconductors. W e generally wrap ourselves in wollen cloaths in the coldest season not because those cloaths are [more] easily heated than linnen but because they are more imperfect conductors & retain the heat . . . generated by the body." It will be noted that, throughout the discussion of heat, no mention is made of the phlogiston theory; in fact the word "phlogiston" never occurs in Spalding's notes. Lecture 11 discussed "Affinity of bodies — two bodies having affinity one with the other, being put in contact immediately combine & form a third substance different from both of those of which it was compounded — observe the union of Spt. Nit. Fort, [concentrated nitric acid] & Marble — observe the combination of melted lead and Oil [of] Vitriol which produces flours of sulphur which is materially different from either of its compounds [i.e., components] — But the Doctor's vessel cracking when he poured his hot lead into it — & the lead not being hot enough he did not produce any sulphur but only the smoke or fume of it." T w o further notes contain references to Lavoisier. The first is: " W h y should mineral acids which contain so much of Lavoisier's absolute heat, in liquefying in, so greedily attract heat from surrounding bodies? Is it the change in capacity for heat, in the altered form . . . ? " The other is: " T w o grains & an half of diamond" will produce "by combustion carbonic gas which occupies the place of 10 ounces of water; thus diamond is carbon crystalized, for this is the same quantity of air" that would have been produced by "2 yz grains of carbon," according to Lavoisier. Spalding, the writer of these brief notes, was later one of the faculty of the Dartmouth Medical School and its first lecturer on chemistry, known as the originator of the United States Pharma80

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copoeia. The founder of the Dartmouth Medical School, Nathan Smith, was also a pupil of Dexter's, as was Parker Cleaveland, who taught chemistry and mineralogy at Bowdoin College and who became famous for his work in geology. Dexter's successor as Erving Professor at Harvard, John Gorham, was yet another of his pupils.29 John Gorham (A.B. 1801), Dexter's successor, attended the Medical School, from which he obtained his M.B. in 1804. He thereupon embarked on a two-year period of study at Paris, London, and Edinburgh. While some of this time was spent in the study of his chosen profession of medicine, he also advanced his knowledge of chemistry. From the journal kept by Benjamin Silliman the elder, we learn something of the Edinburgh period: M y banker and friend, Mr. Samuel Williams, of Finsbury Square, London, [wrote Silliman] gave me an introduction to two very worthy gentlemen from Boston, U. S., — Mr. John Codman and Dr. John Gorham. With them I became associated. W e occupied the square apartment of a house in F y f e Street in the old town, and near the University . . . M y associates were, except myself, the only men from N e w England in the University, and as we were congenial, we formed a happy domestic society. There were attending the lectures more than thirty Americans, chiefly from the South. My companions became distinguished in after-life, — Dr. Gorham as a Professor in the Medical College of Cambridge and Boston, and Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Codman, as an eminent Congregational minister . . . Dr. Gorham died before attaining the meridian of life. Dr. Codman enjoyed a long life of usefulness.30

Both Silliman and Gorham followed the chemistry lectures of Thomas Hope, who had been associated with Joseph Black. Later, in London, Gorham became acquainted with Fredrick Accum, an assistant to Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution, a consulting chemist, a popular lecturer, and, above all, a manufacturer and seller of chemical apparatus and supplies. From him, undoubtedly, Gorham learned some of the fine points of lecture demonstration for which he later was renowned; and from Accum's establishment Gorham bought up-to-date equipment for the Harvard chemical laboratory.31 8ι

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Gorham returned to Boston in 1806 and began the practice of medicine. Following are the circumstances under which he became the Professor of Chemistry: The late Dr Dexter . . . had been at that time professor of chemistry in our University for more than twenty years. The business of this office was necessarily secondary, his time having been principally occupied in professional practice. He was now getting advanced in life; and since he had arranged his lectures the science of chemistry had undergone a great revolution. He had not been withheld, by bigotry to early opinions, from adopting the current principles, which had been so splendidly announced from the French school. But the study of the modern improvements in their details could not well be prosecuted by him, in the circumstances in which he was placed. He felt desirous to lead some young man, who had commenced his studies under better auspices, to devote himself to this interesting branch of science, and to fit himself for a teacher in the university. . . Within a year or two after Dr Gorham's return from Europe, Dr Dexter stated to him his own views, and offered to use his influence with the proper authorities to have Dr Gorham appointed adjunct professor of chemistry, if he would devote his attention particularly to that science.32

One interesting aspect of the above account is that it indicates that Dexter had, as we observed earlier, accepted the views of the French school of chemists, although it does not tell us when. Yet Dexter was apparently unable to keep up with the work of Berthollet, Gay-Lussac, Vauquelin, Thenard, Dulong, Berard, De la Roche, Biot, Arago, and the many other French authors cited by Gorham in his lectures, to say nothing of those of other nationalities, Dalton, Wollaston, Higgins, Thomson, Davy, Brande, Stromeyer, Döbereiner, and Berzelius. Appointed Adjunct Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica in 1809, Gorham succeeded to the Erving Professorship in 1816. Until 1824, he not only gave his courses at the Medical School, which had moved to Boston in 1810, but also lectured to the undergraduates in Cambridge on chemistry and mineralogy and had charge of the Chemical Laboratory and Apparatus. In 1824, Gorham refused to accept a new condition of office, 82

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namely, residence in Cambridge. A new appointment was therefore made in the college; John White Webster (A.B. 1 8 1 1 ) , who had been graduated from the Medical School in 1815, was made Lecturer on Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology in 1824 and he now taught the College undergraduates, while Gorham continued to teach in the Medical School. 33 Under Gorham, chemistry began to flourish at Harvard. In addition to papers on such subjects as "Analysis of Heavy Spar from Harfield," "Chemical Examination of Sugar," "Chemical Analysis of Indian Corn," "Indiogene," 34 he was the author of a splendid two-volume work on chemistry: The Elements of Chemical Science (2 vols., Boston, 1819, 1820), whose influence was both wide and profound. While not the first book by an American on the subject of chemistry, it is apparently the first systematic treatise on that subject from an American pen. 35 Dedicated to his teacher Aaron Dexter, Gorham's treatise was, in the words of his preface, "intended by the author as a textbook to the lectures delivered by him to the medical students and undergraduates at Harvard University." It begins with an historical critique of chemistry and is permeated by a philosophic spirit which makes the book interesting to read even today. It attracted the attention of Ralph Waldo Emerson 86 and was given a full meed of praise by the elder Silliman, who declared: " T h e work is not surpassed by any one with which we are acquainted, as a perspicuous, chaste and philosophical treatise." 37 A t the end of the general introduction, Gorham discussed the work of Black and Priestley and then pointed out the supreme importance of the discoveries and theoretical system of Lavoisier. After indicating that the great work begun by Lavoisier was continued by others, notably Fourcroy and Berthollet, and that "from this period chemistry assumed the character of an exact, beautiful and useful science," Gorham turned to the new science of electrochemistry, the work of Sir Humphry Davy and of those others who worked in England, Germany, Italy and Sweden, most of whom have been listed on page 82 above. Yet, from the time that the doctrines and nomenclature of Lavoisier were firmly established, Paris became the focus of chemical philosophy.

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Her chemists took the lead, and for a long period were without rivals. . . It was in fact principally by the exertions of this class of men, that her [the Republic's] armies were furnished with the means of pursuing their victorious career; and France was indebted to the chemists for the knowledge of resources within her own bosom, which, until that period, had been derived from foreign aid, and external commerce. . . Under the imperial dynasty, the chemists were not only protected, but caressed, titles of nobility were conferred upon the distinguished philosophers of France, and though the motive which produced the patronage of Napoleon may be questionable, the world must have viewed with pleasure the honourable alliance of mind with rank, and knowledge with power. Gorham next turned to a discussion of the law of definite proportions and the hypothesis of the atomic theory. Pointing out that although there are great difficulties in the way of the atomic theory (such as how to tell, when there is only one known compound of two elements, whether it be composed of one atom of one element united with one of the other, or two or more of the former element combined with two or more of the latter, etc.), yet the science of chemistry "is greatly indebted to the philosophers who maintained it for most of the facts upon which the laws of definite or multiple proportions are founded." Gorham described "the beautiful generalization of M. Gay-Lussac, that the elastic fluids [i.e., gases] always combine in volumes which bear simple ratios to each other" as one which "has contributed in a remarkable degree to establish those laws, and to facilitate investigations into the composition of gaseous bodies." Finally, Gorham called the attention of his readers to the general subject of crystallography and the recent researches on the polarization of light, which "promises to develope still more perfectly" our knowledge of "the structure of crystals, and the laws by which the connexion between mechanical philosophy and chemistry may be more completely established." From the descriptions given by Gorham, we can identify or reconstruct a considerable number of items from the Chemical Apparatus. Considerable stress was laid on "Galvanism," or the applications of electricity to chemistry, and the production and behavior of gases (see Appendix Three, Nos. 27, 28-30, 33-34). 84

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Among the items figured in the plates accompanying Gorham's first volume may be found a chemical slide rule, "Dr. Wollaston's Scale of Chemical Equivalents." T w o such slide rules survive (see Appendix Three, Nos. 3 1 - 3 2 ) . A thoroughly up-to-date book, Gorham's treatise must have had a wide appeal, presenting a clear picture of the state of chemistry; it gave descriptions of many experiments, showed the relations between physics or biology and the subject of chemistry whenever the opportunity presented itself, and its discussion was always couched in vivid and humane terms. T h e reputation of Gorham's book was noted — in Europe as well as in America. When Dr. Usher Parsons was returning to America from Europe in 1820, he wrote a letter to Dr. Lyman Spalding containing the following interesting comments: . . . Among the American books on Medicine and its collateral branches that have found their way to Europe, no one has been so well received as Cleaveland's "Mineralogy," and Gorham's "Chemistry." Cleaveland's will be reprinted and generally circulated through England, and Mr. Brande told me that he considered Gorham's "Chemistry," a most excellent and complete digest of everything at present known on that science. . . Rush: "On the Yellow Fever," and "On the Mind," are, however, from their greater age in more extensive circulation. . . 3 8

Under Gorham's tenure of the Erving Professorship, the Chemical Laboratory and Lecture Room were considerably enlarged. A n alteration of Holden Chapel in 1800 had divided the building into two stories and a number of rooms, some for the medical professors and others which were used as "reciting rooms" f o r the college tutors.39 When the Medical School moved to Boston in 1810, various members of the medical faculty continued to give lectures to undergraduates in Cambridge, among them Dr. Warren who lectured on anatomy, Dr. Jackson who lectured on health, Dr. Bigelow who lectured on the application of science to the useful arts, and Dr. Gorham who lectured on chemistry and mineralogy until 1824.

85

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In 1814, with the completion of University Hall, the pressure on Holden Chapel was relieved when "reciting rooms" for undergraduates were provided in the new building. It was then decided to renovate and refurbish old Holden. The upper floor, which had contained the anatomical amphitheater, was "fixed up for a Philosophy Room" in accordance with a vote of the Corporation of August 27, 1814, so that Professor Farrar might have suitable quarters for his popular lectures on astronomy and natural philosophy.40 A t the same time, the lower floor was made over into quarters for undergraduate chemistry. In a letter of August 26, 1814, Professor Gorham wrote to President Kirkland: The following is a sketch of the alterations and additions which appear to me absolutely necessary in the chemical laboratory. ι. That the whole of the ground floor of Holden be appropriated to that Department. 2. That the partition between the reciting rooms be removed, and the whole be made into a lecture room with 4 or more circular seats. 3. A table or counter, about 12 feet long be made. 4. That a brick platform be raised behind the counter, about 3 feet broad & 2 y2 high, to suffer the operations which require heat, to come into view of the students. 5. That a set of furnaces be made contiguous to the wall, the lowest part on a level with the brick platform. Laboratory

1. That a door be cut thro' the brick wall to communicate with the lecture room. 2. That a set of furnaces be formed near the wall similar to those in the lecture room. 3. A small forge with blacksmith's bellows. 4. That the small room now containing anatomical nuisances be removed — otherwise the room will not be sufficiently large. 5. Large Cases with Locks and Keys to contain the most valuable apparatus and if the government think proper, the mineralogical cabinet. 6. A pipe communicating with the pump to furnish water for the Troughs, etc. 7. A small celler to deposit wood, coal, etc. 8. Iron bars at all the windows of the laboratory to prevent steal86

EARLY CHEMISTRY AT

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ing the more valuable apparatus & tests, which I am sorry to say has been too common.41 The degree to which these suggestions were carried out may be seen by examining the plan of the Lecture Room and Laboratory reproduced following page 90. Clearly, however, a fine lecture room and a relatively spacious laboratory were of little use without proper equipment. Three years before the alterations in Holden Chapel, Gorham and Dexter had submitted the following petition: To the Honourable and Reverend President and Fellows of Harvard College, the Subscribers beg leave respectfully to state — 1. That it is now some years since any addition of Instruments or of Reagents has been made to the Laboratory at the College. 2. That the chemical apparatus, at all times very limited and defective, has been in use for a long period and, of consequence, is so much injured, that the Subscribers have been unable to give such ample demonstrations in their branch as would have been more agreeable to themselves and more satisfactory to the government of the College. 3. That although the Subscribers have endeavoured to supply this want of necessary apparatus for their Lectures at Cambridge by substituting their own from Boston, yet that the inconvenience experienced by themselves and the injury resulting to their valuable instruments, etc., by such removal, have, in a great measure, prevented them from succeeding in their attempts. 4. That from these considerations the Subscribers would take the liberty respectfully to suggest the propriety and expediency of appropriating, as soon as may be convenient, a sum of money sufficient to supply the obvious deficiencies in instruments and reagents in the Chemical Laboratory at Cambridge; these articles to be imported, if possible, previous to the next Course of Lectures on Chemistry at Harvard College. — And in order to ascertain the probable amount of this additional apparatus they have enclosed a list of those, which they have thought absolutely necessary with the prices annexed, as marked in Accum's Chemical Catalogue. All which is respectfully submitted by their obediant Servants AARON DEXTER

Boston, July 26th,

1811.42

JOHN GORHAM.

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It was expected that the apparatus would cost $167.33 a n d the reagents $32.00. The project was approved, after some delay, in May 1812. Dexter and Gorham were authorized to purchase equipment to the value of $170.00; but as to the cost of reagents, it was held that the "late augmentation of the Salary of the Chemical Professors" had been "intended to include a compensation for the expence of Reagents used in their Experiments." This purchase of equipment seems to have been but a temporary stopgap and the completion of the new chemical quarters showed the great and pressing need as yet unfilled. Chemical equipment, in any event, is much more expendable than that used in natural philosophy. Glass instruments break very easily, and continual losses were suffered with every demonstration. When, finally, it was decided to go all out in equipping the chemical department, Gorham had a brilliant idea, occasioned by the fact that his pupil, J . F. Dana, had a "strong inclination," as Gorham wrote to President Kirkland on Feb. 17, 1815, "to visit England and to put himself under the direction of Mr. Accum, for two or three months, in order to acquire a more extensive knowledge of practical Chemistry." Since the funds that Dana was "able to command for this object are not sufficient," he thought he might be paid "to act as an agent for the College in procuring philosophical and chemical apparatus, books, etc." Dana's "accurate knowledge of apparatus both chemical and philosophical" would be at the disposal of the College, so that "the most perfect of the kind would be selected," Gorham continued. Furthermore, "from experience, I know, that being on the spot he would . . . obtain them so much cheaper than they could be procured by orders alone." Thus the College would surely lose nothing by sponsoring Dana's trip, and it might even save money. 43 " T h e wants of the College in this respect," concluded Gorham, "are urgent." The wisdom of Gorham's suggestion was evident and on March 8, 1815 the sum of $350 was advanced to Dana to defray the costs of his trip to London "for purchasing Chemical Apparatus." 44 Since the chemical apparatus was being obtained from Accum, Gorham's suggestion was a wise one. For this excellent chemist 88

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could be a sharp businessman when the occasion presented itself. When Silliman was in London learning chemistry from Accum, as Gorham himself had done and as Dana was now about to do, he found that Accum "would receive no compensation for his time, his re-agents, and his services. . . Eventually, however, Mr. Accum received compensation indirectly by the very considerable order . . . which he executed for Yale College." But Silliman also tells the following entertaining story: Coming to the laboratory one day, I found Accum laughing and in high glee on account of a good bargain he had made with Mr. Pitt, the Prime Minister, for government. Mr. Pitt, he said, had ordered a large quantity of chemical apparatus for a place in my country. "Ah," I replied, "what is the name of the place?" "Pondicherry," he replied. "Pondicherry, indeed! That is not in my country: it is in India, at our antipodes; and, moreover, Mr. Pitt would not send apparatus to my country." "But no matter," he said, " I have taken the opportunity to sweep my garrets of all my old apparatus and odds and ends that have been accumulating for years, and have turned everything over to government." Well, thought I, Mr. Pitt is not here to look after his apparatus, and if he were present he would probably not be a very good judge; but I am here, and shall keep a sharp lookout for my own concerns.45

The first page of the bill for the equipment obtained by Dana is reproduced following page 90. The engraved billhead shows the type of apparatus then in use. At the center, behind the analytical balance, is a glass cylinder with a sphere of glass attached to the top of it, a device for determining the specific gravity of different gases (see the reproduction of two such devices, Appendix Three, Nos. 36 & 37). Immediately to the left of this device is a tall glass tube with two electrodes near the closed end, at the top, and calibrated volumetrically (see similar eudiometers in Appendix Three, Nos. 29 & 30). Mounted on a stand to the right of the balance is a small alcohol blowpipe, exactly like the one in Harvard's old Chemical Laboratory, and delineated in the plate exhibiting the apparatus at Harvard which may be found in Webster's Manual 89

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of Chemistry of 1826 (this plate is also reproduced following page 90). T h e set of three bottles joined together is the then common Woulfe's distillation apparatus. Among the items on this inventory, are: an universal Furnace, 4 Galvanic Batteries, 1 Doz. deflagrating spoons, Platina Wire, a large Brass Lamp Furnace, 5 Cast Iron Crucibles, a Small Brass Lamp Stand & Spirit Lamp, a Lavoisier's Calorimiter & Stand, a Pepys Mercurial gasometer, a Best Double barrell'd Table air pump, a Galvanometer, Condenser & Parallel plates, a chemical Lamp, a Metal Syphon, a pair of box- and laboratory scales, a set of Cylindrical air Jars, graduated, a [set of] Cylindrical Jars in Sizes, graduated, 3 Retort Funnels, 2 Hydrostatic Funnels, an Alcohol Thermometer with hinge, 2 Mercurial Thermometers with hinges, 6 Air Thermometers, 3 Cubic Inch measures, 3 sets of Tubes for Woulf's Apparatus, an apparatus for decomposing potash, a Hope's eudiometer, a Davy's eudiometer, a Nooth's apparatus, a Wollaston Apparatus for decomposing Water by Galvanism, Evaporating basons, crucibles, funnels, retorts, stands, 10 Models of crystals, a Ha[u]y's Mineralogical Electrometer, 1 Leslie's Photometer, a Writing diamond, a silver spatula, a Porcellain Trough for Galvanic Battery, an Apparatus for drying precipitates, an acting Model of a Still, a Self acting Aeolopile Blowpipe, a Wollaston Reflective Goniometer . . . In addition to the apparatus, there was obtained a variety of miscellaneous chemicals or reagents, among them: oxalic acid, oxymuriate potash, prussiate potash, phosphuret of lime, arsenic, nickel, antimony, bismuth, phosphorus, potassium, potash, soda, barytes, succinic acid, muriate cobalt, solution of osmium, ore of iridium, mercury, etc. T h e whole order came to a total of £330.5.10 less 10 percent, or £297.5.ιο. 4 β Although Dana exceeded the amount he had been commissioned to spend by 27 pounds sterling, it was voted on January 22, 1816 that the excess be paid.47 Most of the order seems to have arrived in good condition, although Dana reported that a f e w articles had not been received and that: " A Nooth's machine charged 4.14.6 has been received but is useless without the valves, stoppers, glass stopcock, together with the apparatus connecting the lower & middle vessels or chambers, which have not yet been received." 48 A f e w needed chemical 90

7.

Β. Martin Telescope, presented to Harvard College by Thomas Hancock in 1761, used by Professor John Winthrop on the first college-sponsored scientific expedition in the New World — the only scientific instrument known to have survived the Fire of 1764. Reproduced by permission of the Science Museum, South Kensington, London

An Account of the Fire at in

Cambridge

; with the Löfs fuftained thereby.

— A l l the Father», Greek and Latin, in their beflt editions. — A great number of trails in A S T night H A R V A R D C O L L E G E , defence of revealed religion, wrote by the m i iuffcred the moft ruinous loft it ever 4 mrt mafterly hands, in the laft and prefent century — with finer it» foundation. In t!w middle Sermons of the moft celebrated Englilh divines of a very trmpefluous night, a fevere cold both of the elLbiilhed national church ami proftorm of (now attended with high wind, we wtre teflant diffeot«» Trails upon all the branches awaked by the alarm of fire. Hall,ofthe polemic divinity : — T h e donation of the veneonly one of our ancient buildings which ftill re- rable Society for propagating the Gofpcl in foreign mained,· and the repofitory of our molt valuable parts, confilling of a great many volumes of trails treafures, the public Lip», a*Ν and Philofophical againft Popery, publifbed in the Reigns of Charles A p f a x a t u » , was feen in Same». As it waa a If. and James II. the Boy tan lefturc*, and other time of vacation, in which the fluder.rs «ere all the moft efteemed Kngiitb fermons :—-A valuadifperfed, not a fingie perfon was left in any of the b e collect it η o f modern theological treatifes, preColleges, except two cr three in that part ol fented by the Right Rev. Dr. Sherlock, Ute Lord moil diflant from Bilbop where of London, tlie Rev. Dr. Haies, F. R· S. the fire could not be perceived till the whol? lur- and Dr. Wilfon of London : — A vaft number of round'mg air began to be illuminated by i t : When philological traft s, containing tbe rudiments of alit was difcovrred fron» the town, it had rifen to moft all language», ancient and modern : — T h e a degree of violence that defied all oppofitson. It Hebrew, Greek and Roman antiqunies.—The h conjeftured to have begun in a beam under the Greek and Roman CUffics, prefented by the late hearth m the library, where a fire had been kept excellent and cathalic-fpirited Bilbop Berkeley ι for the ufe o f the General Court, now refiding moft of them the beft editions : — A large Collecand fitting here, by reafon of the Small-Pox ai tion of Hiftory and biographical traft», ancient and Bofion : from thence if burft out into the libra- modern. «-~Differtations on va'iousPoliiical tubjefts ry. The books eifiiy fubmitted to the fury of — T h e Tranf.iftions of the Royal Society, Acathe flame, which with a rapid and irrtfiftabfe pro- demy of Sciences in France, A d a Eruditorum, gref» made its way into tbe Apparatus-Chamber, Mtfcellanti curksid, the works of Boyle and Newand fpread thro" the whole building- in a very ton, with a great variety o f other mathematical ibort cime, thb venerable Monument of the Piety and philofophical treaties.—A collcftton of the of our Anceftors was turn'd into an heap of ruins. «10ft approved M e d i a l Authors, chiefly prefented T h e oilier Colleges, andby Mr. Janes, of the iiland of Jamaica ; to which wert in the utmofl hazard Dr. of (baMead ard other Gentlemen made very ring the fame fate. T h e wind driving the flaming confidrr*!4e additions : Alio Anatomical cut» cinders direftly upon their roofr, they Mazed out and two com pleat Skeletons of different fexes. feveral times in diiferent places j nor couldjhey This collection would have been Very ferviceable have been faved by all t l « help the Town could to a Profeffor of P h y f t and Anatomy, when the afford, had it not Iwen for the afliftance of the teventtes of the College .bould have been fufficiGentlemen of the General Court, among whom ent to fubfift a gentle«· an in this char a f t e r . — A his Excellency the Governor w u very aftive } few ancient aiul valuable Maoufcripts in different who, notwithftanding the extreme rigor of the languages.—A pair of excellent new Globes of the fcafon, exerted tbemfclves in fupplymg the town largeft fize, prefented by Andrew Oliver, jun. Engine with water, which they were obliged to Eft};—Α viricty of Curtofitics natural and artififetch at laft from a diftance, two ol the College cial, both of American and foreign produce — A pumps being then rendered ufclcft. Even the foot of Greek type» (which, as we had not yet new and beautiful WeÄü-Hali» though it was on a printing-office, was repofited in the library) prethe windward fide, hardly efcaped. It flood (,> fented by our great benefaftor the late worthy near to that tlieflamesaftually feixed Thomas Holl», Eiq; o f London ; whole picture, it,end,if they had not been immediately fupprrfli-d, as large as the life, and infikutions for two Promuil have carried it. feflbrfhips and ten Scholarftiipj, perilbed in tbe of »he moft c o n f i d e n c e addiBut by the Blefling of God on the vigorous flames.—Some eff-iru of the alMants, the ruin was confined to tions that had been made of late years to the libraHarvard-Hail« and there, brftdes the deftruftbn ry, r.imt from other branches of this generous C A M B R I D G E ,

L

J a n . 15. 176+.

Harvard

Meffatbkftlts

Hatxard,

SteufbttH·Hall cbujitti-Wall,

Mejja-

Harvard,

of the private property of thole who had chambers in it, the public km it very great i perhaps, irreparable. T h e Library and the Apparatus, which for many years had been growing, and were now judged to be the bell fm mftied in America, are Annihilated. But to give the public a more diftinft idea of ihe lefs we (Hall exhibit a fummary view of tbe general contents of each, as far as we can, on a fudden, recollect them. Of

the

LIBRARY,

Harvard-College,

The library contained above five thoufand volumes, all which were confumed, except a lew books in the hands of the members of the hotife j and two donations, one made by our late honorable Lieutenant Governor Dummer, to the value of 501, fterling \ the other of 56 volumes, by the ureient worthy Thomis Holl«, Elq-, F. R S. of J .endon, to whom we have been annually oblig-d fur valu.tl>le ».iditions to our late library : Which donationa, btjng l>ut lately received, had

tor liic,n » i0 I T contained—The Holy Skriptur ilmoft e t a I ι Γ 1 ' ' b , " | t S all lang«*grs, with the moft valuable Exp .r.to's and Commentators, ancient and πνκί whole Library of tlie late learned Dr which at his death l.e bequeathed tu t and contained the Targums, Talmud A A R A Τ U 3. Polygoe, and other valuable traftj rrl enta! literature, which i$ taught here / W H F N »he hre worthy T h o m a s H o l m s , ry of the late emine: t DI. Theop'T;'/: Ell]; of London I w a d e d a I W t f l b r f l i i p of Mash mat cs and Μ α Μ φ * in I larvard-Coliegr, he fent a fine Apparatus for Experimental FiJyfi.-

Of the

VΡ

Under «he he»l of

Hydreflatio,

Optics,

T H E following art ides were afterwards fent us by Mr. Thomas Hollis, Nephew to thit generous Gentleman, v i i . an Orrery, an armilUty Sphere, and a box of Mkrofcopes ·, all of tx^uifite wo'kmanlKip, For Aftranomy, we hail before been fupplied with Telefcopes of different lengths ·, one of 1 4 \ and a braia Quadrant of a leet radius, carrying a Telefcope of a greater length ·, which formerly belonged to the celebrated Dr. Halle*. W e had alio I he moil ufefüi inilfuments for Dialling and for a Urafs femiciiclt, with plain fights and magnetic needle. Atf«$H cf fa*'i»c€wt, or »iiifeid by {'tilijut Whitfoc?eof gorttnnees, »od«««lag««« vegeublf. Itrbitanc·:»—or njtWs tegetablt at what perioJ m6$ favourable to 5«taug. »ekl-or f»4jt— ot tiipntkd vit-or a„.r,,»i toluK—or OiHtibwm if inowle.lge in pwiicalw fcieaces— animal fidÄ, eiw»»»iag a mucili»i*i!em *.· ih« earth ill ntal bleiüng» ate «»tinned w;th ucct«ing perwd, tfj. t»w of J't.loilt, «tjj thep^ikia- üreuhtton ; lioui ii man rrceites a rewatd of h» phy of /'lata. fwieff mdoifry t-f afcitfcloi perpeioai tr,irac!e ! Wby Coecer«ι»»,·»frepleminer —its »iliwifliiag dieÜibiH'j·,^ ® the ancieaM a:Jon-ed the pbrafc My] Htsfc.ABin. What led feme , i»fechite(hat «ΪΙ omu'c * S The a4»,of*Se, ol L.tBt»«»—«-U ifck.sxtty itnl was *ntm«(pi· Tb· »ffipsre-fpttiate t(40ti«»aet ol ΐ