834 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



SKETCH OF JAMES POLLARD ESPY. 



METEOROLOGY is one of the youngest of the sciences. Most 

 of what is settled and systematized has been developed 

 within the memory of men who are still living. The contribu- 

 tions of Americans to research in this branch have been among 

 the most important. Among the earlier labors in this field none 

 deserve or have received wider recognition than those of Prof. 

 Espy. He may, indeed, be regarded with justice as the founder of 

 the science as at present cultivated in relation to storm predictions. 



James P. Espy was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., May 9, 

 1785, and died in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 24, 18G0. While he 

 was still an infant his father moved to the Blue Grass region of 

 Kentucky ; but, on finding the institution of slavery antagonistic 

 to the principles inherited from his Huguenot ancestry, he re- 

 moved after a few years to the Miami Valley in Ohio. One of his 

 daughters had in the mean time married a Kentuckian of Mount 

 Sterling, and James, remaining with this sister for the sake of the 

 opportunity, became, at eighteen years of age, a student in Tran- 

 sylvania University, at Lexington. Here he was visited in 1805 

 by an elder brother, who was engaged in the practice of the law 

 in Pennsylvania, who wrote of him : " I met my brother James, 

 whom I had not seen since he was an infant. I found him at the 

 university, where he had made considerable progress in the dead 

 languages and in general science. He shows an ardent desire for 

 knowledge, and promises to be both intelligent and useful." He 

 was graduated in 1808, and went to Xenia, Ohio, where he taught 

 school and studied law. Of this part of his career, Mrs. L. M. 

 Morehead, his niece, in her " Few Incidents " * of his life, says 

 that " his love for teaching amounted to enthusiasm, and, although 

 he completed his law studies, he finally abandoned the idea of 

 choosing the law as his profession, and determined to follow the 

 bent of his inclination, and become a conscientious instructor of 

 youth." To his latest years " he considered this a noble profes- 

 sion, and even in old age was fond of drawing out young students 

 to talk over their lessons with him, both hearing them and asking 

 them questions." Either before or after this — the authorities dif- 

 fer — he filled creditably and satisfactorily the position of principal 

 of the academy at Cumberland, Md., where he married Miss Mar- 

 garet Pollard, who afterward gave him her full sympathy and 

 encouragement in his meteorological researches. 



In 1817 Mr. Espy became a teacher in the classical department 

 of the Franklin Institute, a position in which, according to the 



* " A Few Incidents in the Life of Professor James P. Espy, by his Niece, Mrs. L. M. 

 Morehead," Cincinnati, Robert Clarke & Co. 



