SKETCH OF BR. WILLIAM WHEW ELL. 105 



ens, contains in a homely way the summing up of its philosophy. 

 "Among other oddities we had a hurdle-race for strangers. One 

 man he came in second ran a hundred and twenty yards and leaped 

 over ten hurdles in twenty seconds, with a pipe in his mouth and 

 smoking it all the time. 'If it hadn't been for the pipe,' I said to him 

 at the winning-post, ' you would have been first.' ' I beg your par- 

 don, sir,' he answered, ' but if it hadnH been for my pipe I should have 

 been nowhere.'' " Gentleman'' s Magazine. 



-- 



SKETCH OF DR. WILLIAM WHEWELL. 



DR. WILLIAM WHEWELL stands highest in the literary world 

 as the historian of science. His " History of the Inductive 

 Sciences " is not a mere bald narration of the facts and details of sci- 

 entific progress, but is a philosophical treatment of the subject, which 

 shows the growth and advancement of principles or general truths. 

 It is, in fact, an elaborate historical review of the processes of gener- 

 alization, such as had never before been attempted. This work stands 

 eminent among the scientific contributions of the past age, both on 

 account of its historic erudition and its trustworthy representation of 

 the broad inductions of modern scientific inquiry. It is a permanent 

 work of reference in every scientific library ; and the extent to which 

 it has influenced the philosophical mind of the age is well illustrated 

 by the acknowledgment of John Stuart Mill : that, if Whewell had not 

 w^ritteu the " History of the Inductive Sciences," the " Logic, Ratio- 

 cinative and Inductive," might never have appeared. 



Dr. Whewell was born in Lancaster, May 24, 1794. His father 

 was a joiner, and intended to have his son follow his trade. But while 

 at school he showed such a remarkable talent for mathematics, together 

 with evidences of more than ordinary ability in other branches, that 

 it was decided to send him to Cambridge. He entered Trinity Col- 

 lege, as Freshman, in 1813, at the age of nineteen. The following 

 year he distinguished himself by winning the English Poetical Prize. 

 He was graduated B. A. in 1816, with the honors of second wrangler 

 in the Mathematical Tripos, was elected a Fellow, and soon afterward 

 Tutor of Trinity College.' He rapidly earned a reputation as a suc- 

 cessful teacher, both in the class-room and as " coach," or private tutor. 



He applied himself to mathematics and vigorously went to work 

 to bring about a radical reform in the methods of teaching the physi- 

 cal sciences in England. In 1819 he published his first work, "An 

 Elementary Treatise on Mechanics," designed for the use of students 

 of the university. In 1820 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal So- 

 ciety, and we now find him contributing to the " Transactions " of 



