ii 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



In connection with the lectures he compiled a small elementary- 

 treatise. Dr. Hosaek commended him as being the first in the 

 field with this course, saying : " You have adopted the true system 

 of education, and very properly address yourself to the memory." 



Finding that his taste for the incidents of legal practice was 

 diminishing, and his interest in science was growing upon him, 

 Mr. Eaton resolved to abandon the law and devote himself to the 

 more congenial pursuit. He removed to New Haven in 1815, and 

 there placed himself under the tuition of Prof. Silliman, who was 

 lecturing on chemistry, geology, and mineralogy. He enjoyed 

 the advantage of Prof. Silliman's library and of that of Prof. Ives, 

 in which works on botany and materia medica were prominent, 

 and was a diligent student of the college cabinet of minerals. 

 He removed to Williams College, where he gave courses of lect- 

 ures to volunteer classes of the students on botany, mineralogy, 

 and geology, and awakened a permanent interest in the natural 

 sciences. An interesting description of his personality at this 

 time, when he was in his prime, is given by Prof. Albert Hop- 

 kins, who speaks of him as " of striking personage, a large form, 

 somewhat portly and dignified, though entirely free from what is 

 commonly called starch. His face was highly intellectual, the 

 forehead high and somewhat retreating, locality strongly marked, 

 and the organs of observation and compassion well developed. 

 His hair was black, and, being combed back, rendered his fine 

 physiognomy still more striking." In the same year the first 

 edition was published of Prof. Eaton's Manual of Botany, a work 

 the appearance of which, according to Dr. Lewis C. Beck, gave an 

 impulse to the study of botany in New England and New York, 

 which had been hampered by the want of a manual in English. 

 The only descriptive work previous to this one was that of Pursch, 

 in which the descriptions were in Latin. The Manual was added 

 to and became fuller, in successive editions, till the eighth edi- 

 tion, published in 1840, was a large octavo volume of 625 pages, 

 known as the North American Botany of Profs. Eaton and Wright, 

 and contained descriptions of 5,267 species of plants. 



From Williams College the lectures were extended, in the 

 shape of courses, with practical instructions to classes, to the 

 larger towns of New England and New York. Prof. Eaton was 

 greatly aided in this enterprise by the patronage and encourage- 

 ment he had received from the faculty and students of Williams 

 College, and the fame he derived from his lectures there ; and he 

 made an acknowledgment of this fact in dedicating the second 

 edition of his botany to the president and professors, when he said : 

 " The science of botany is indebted to you for its first introduction 

 into the interior of the Northern States, and I am indebted to you 

 for a passport into the scientific world." In the course of two or 



