SKETCH OF ELI SUA MITCHELL. 401 



and Greek, so many to history, so many to the Spanish language 

 and to botany ; and the resolution appears that, till such an hour, 

 " I will not touch one book of belles-lettres." He thus visited the 

 plants and rocks of the State in their own homes, and became 

 one of the best authorities in the country respecting them. The 

 expeditions which he conducted into all parts of North Caro- 

 lina, examining the flora and rocks and strata, made him the 

 best physical geographer the State had ever had. The informa- 

 tion he gathered in this way was used profusely in the instruc- 

 tion of his classes, and they always reaped greater benefits from 

 his acquisitions, than any other part of the community. While 

 he wrote occasionally for the scientific papers, " he read more than 

 he observed, and observed more than he wrote." Among the 

 articles contributed by him to Silliman's Journal are named, in 

 a memoir published in the local paper at the time of his death, 

 those on the low country of North Carolina, 1828; on the 

 Geology of the Gold Regions of North Carolina, 1829 ; on Wel- 

 ther's tube of safety, with notices of other subjects, 1830 ; on the 

 causes of winds and storms, 1831 ; Analysis of the Protoggea of 

 Leibnitz, 1831 ; and notices of the high mountains in North Caro- 

 lina, 1839. Such articles were contributed at intervals till the 

 time of his death. He also prepared for use in his classes, a 

 Manual of Chemistry, the second edition of which was passing 

 through the press when he died ; a Manual of Geology, illustrated 

 by a geological map of North Carolina ; and Facts and Dates re- 

 specting the History, Geography, etc., of Palestine. 



Prof. Mitchell was an industrious reader, particularly on all 

 subjects that were directly or indirectly connected with his 

 professorship, and had a knowledge of geography that was re- 

 garded as wonderful. At a time when students were more iso- 

 lated from one another than they are now, and facilities for 

 exchange of news were not so abundant, he was at great pains to 

 keep up with the advance on every side. With all this he was of 

 conservative tendency, and not disposed to accept the new too 

 hastily. As a teacher, Prof. Phillips says, " he took great pains in 

 inculcating the first principles of science. These he set forth dis- 

 tinctly in the very beginning of his instructions, and he never 

 let his pupils lose sight of them. When brilliant and complicated 

 phenomena were presented for their contemplation, he sought 

 not to excite their wonder or magnify himself in their eyes as a 

 man of surprising acquirements, or as a most dexterous manipu- 

 lator, but to exhibit such instances as most clearly set forth fun- 

 damental laws, and demanded the exercise of a skillful analysis. 

 Naturally of a cautious disposition, such had been his own ex- 

 perience, and so large was his aquaintance with the experience 

 of others, that he was not easily excited when others announced 



VOL. XXXVIII. 28 



