JOHN D ALTON 501 



hand in the paternal fields, for three years. At fifteen he migrated — 

 literally walked ! — to Kendal, forty-five miles away, where he taught in 

 a mixed school, the venture of a cousin; and, remember, a mixed, local 

 school in the England of that generation portends not a little respecting 

 absence of amenity, appliances and opportunity. Here he spent twelve 

 years, fruitful in many respects. For, the day's darg done, he con- 

 trived to improve himself by private study of Latin, Greek, French, 

 mathematics, and " natural philosophy," with most important help and 

 encouragement from John Gough 4 (1757-1825), the blind naturalist, 

 celebrated by Wordsworth in " The Excursion." 



Methinks I see him how his eyeballs roll'd 

 Beneath his ample brow, in darkness pained 

 But each instinct with spirit, and the frame 

 Of the whole countenance alive with thought, 

 Fancy, and understanding; whilst the voice 

 Discoursed of natural or moral truth, 

 With eloquence and such authentic power, 

 That in his presence humbler knowledge stood 

 Abashed, and tender pity overawed. 



In 1793 he removed to Manchester where, on Gough's recommenda- 

 tion, he had been appointed science tutor in New College, a Presbyte- 

 rian institution, and, therefore, once more without the pale of national 

 higher education ; he held this position for six years, at a salary of $400. 

 On the transference of the college to York, he resigned, and gave him- 

 self to private tuition, an exiguous vocation, sufficient for daily bread. 

 But the Manchester experience proved a turning point, for it offered an 

 environment wherein he could make pure science his avocation. From 

 1786 Dalton had been engaged in meteorological observations, and 

 published his maiden work in the autumn of 1793 — " Meteorological 

 Observations and Essays." Printed for the author, it failed of due 

 publicity. Thanks to his connection with the Manchester Literary 

 and Philosophical Society, he read his famous paper, " Extraordinary 

 Facts Relating to the Vision of Colours," in October, 1794, a month 

 after his election. In 1801 he presented his first classical research, 

 " On the Constitution of Mixed Gases," which was followed by three 

 memorable papers, " On the Force of Steam or Vapor from Water and 

 other Liquids in Different Temperatures, both in a Toricellian Vacuum 

 and in Air," " On Evaporation " and " On the Expansion of Gases by 

 Heat." In the last he enunciated the law of expansion of gases formu- 

 lated by Gay-Lussac a few months later. 



It was in 1802, after six years of research in chemistry, that he re- 

 ferred to the possibility of multiple proportionate combinations of the 

 elements, in a paper entitled " On the Proportion of the Several Gases 

 or Elastic Fluids Constituting the Atmosphere." The atomic symbols 



* See " Dictionary of National Biography," sub voce. 



