CHARLES AVERY. 443 



was justified by the immediate additions to the fame and prosperity 

 of the school. 



At Fairfiehl he became favorably known as a mathematician, and 

 students came in some instances from HamiltoD College to Ftwtfield 

 to profit by bis instructions. His object in removing from Belleville 

 to Clinton was, in part at least, to open a school for the study of the 

 exact sciences. " Mere," said he, " I could indulge in the bigher analy- 

 sis to my heart's content. This I did to my own satisfaction, and 

 much to tlie delight of my pupils." 



In 1834, he was appointed "Professor of Chemistry and Natural 

 Philosophy in Hamilton College, the only appointment which has 

 ever been made in that institution to that double chair. The winter 

 of 1834-35 he spent in New Haven in order to attend the lectures of 

 Professor Silliman. He entered upon his work with great enthusiasm, 

 and in a short time brought the department of chemistry, which had 

 suffered from neglect, into a respectable prominence. His success, 

 particularly in detecting poisons, gave him a reputation as an analyst 

 of decided ability, and numerous cases in which questions of medicine 

 and law were involved were brought to him for solution. He intro- 

 duced into his department, for the first time, the study of chemical 

 analysis and agricultural chemistry, and made the chemical equipment 

 of the College, which had been very meagre, so good as to compare 

 favorably with the best endowed colleges in the land. On November 

 14, 1838, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts 

 and Sciences. 



Keenly alive to all matters of experiment or investigation, he en- 

 tered with great zeal into the studies of Daguerre. He took the first 

 daguerrotype ever taken in this country west of Albany, and it might 

 be said ^vest of Neiv York, since he taught the artists in Albany 

 how the work could be successfully done. It was owing to his exper- 

 iments in this art that his health was for a time seriously impaii'ed. 

 In 1844 he was taking daguerrotypes in Rome, N.Y. The oper- 

 ating-room was also used as a lodging-room. The vapors of bromine 

 had so impregnated the air as to make it poisonous, and the sleep of 

 one night resulted in serious and protracted illness. He early saw 

 the value and prominence which astronomical studies were to assume 

 in this country, and largely through his own efforts secured for Ham- 

 ilton College an Astronomical Observatory. By personal effort Pro- 

 fessor Avery added largely to the funds of the College, securing in 

 three different financial campaigns more than one hundred and thirty 

 thousand dollars. During the year which intervened, between the 



