114 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



SKETCH OF WILLIAM C. REDFIELD. 



THE life of William C. Redfield, said Prof. Denison Olmsted, 

 in a memorial address delivered at tlie time of his death, 

 " affords an interesting and instructive theme for contemplation 

 in a threefold point of view as affording a marked example of 

 the successful pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, as happily 

 illustrating the union in the same individual of the man of sci- 

 ence with the man of business, and as exhibiting a philosopher 

 whose researches have extended the boundaries of knowledge and 

 greatly augmented the sum of human happiness/' 



Mr. Redfield was born near Middletown, Conn., March 26, 1789, 

 and died in New York city, February 13, 1857. His father fol- 

 lowed the seas as a profession from early youth to the time of his 

 death. His early training was therefore derived from his mother. 

 He was given such instruction as the common schools afforded. 

 Having removed to Upper Middletown, now Cromwell, he was 

 apprenticed to a saddler. He gave all the time he could afford, 

 which was only a part of his evenings, to study, preferably of 

 science, having most of the time only the light of the wood fire to 

 read by. But before he was twenty-one years old " he had ac- 

 quired no ordinary amount and variety of useful knowledge." 

 With other young men of the village he formed a debating society, 

 which was called the " Friendly Association," and which collected 

 a library. Dr. William Tully having settled in the village, young 

 Redfield applied to him for the loan of some books, and engaged 

 his interest. No particular book was asked for, and the cases were 

 opened for him to choose. He selected Sir Humphry Davy's Ele- 

 ments of Chemistry. 



His mother removed to Ohio during his apprenticeship, and in 

 1810 he set out to visit her, going, with two companions, on foot. 

 He regularly took notes of what he observed and experienced in 

 a tramp through the country of western New York and northern 

 Ohio, which was then very primitive ; returning in the spring, 

 again on foot, he took a more southerly route. His notes were 

 afterward turned to good account in making the sketches of the 

 railroads he projected. After this journey he engaged in business 

 in Middletown, following his trade and keeping a small country 

 store. He assumed the initial C. when he had come of age. In 

 1827 he removed to New York city. 



A violent storm had swept the Eastern States, September 3, 

 1821, which became memorable as the " Great September Gale." 

 Shortly after it occurred Mr. Redfield traveled through a part of 

 the region over which it had passed, and was surprised to observe 

 that in one part of his route the trees lay with their heads point- 



