694 ^^^ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



SKETCH OF HENRY BRADFOED NASON. 



HENRY BRADFORD NASON, Professor of Chemistry and 

 Natural Science in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, 

 New York, was born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, June 22, 1S31, 

 but removed to North Bridgewater when ten years of age. His 

 father, Elias Nason, was a descendant from AVilloughby Nason, of 

 Ipswich, Mass. (1712), and was born at Walpole, Mass., in 1768, and 

 died at Easthampton, Mass., in 1853. He was a gentleman noted for 

 his honesty and integrity, and was long engaged in the manufacture 

 of straw and cotton goods ; carried on mercantile business ; and served 

 his town, Foxborough, as justice of the peace and as Representative 

 in the General Court. The Nasons were living at Stratford-on-Avon 

 in the days of Shakespeare, and a branch of the family still reside 

 there. Professor Nason's mother, Susannah (Keith) Nason, was a 

 lineal descendant from the Rev. James Keith, who was educated at 

 the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and was the first minister of 

 North Bridgewater (now Brockton), Mass. Having attended school 

 for a short time at Newburyport, young Nason entered the Adelphian 

 Academy at North Bridgewater, in 1843, where his attention was 

 drawn to the study of natural science, and he began to make collec- 

 tions of the local minerals. AVhile attending the Williston Semi- 

 nary, which he bad entered in December, 1847, his taste for natural 

 science grew ; he became interested also in chemistry, and enriched 

 his collections with rare and valuable plants and minerals. He culti- 

 vated these studies still more assiduously at Amherst College, where 

 he visited the interesting geological points in the Connecticut River 

 Valley ; and, under the guidance of Professor Shepard, spent most of 

 his vacations in the raineralogically rich regions of western Massa- 

 chusetts and Connecticut, making many of his expeditions on foot or 

 on horseback. He studied analytical chemistry under Professor Clark, 

 and assisted him in the preparations for his lectures. Having been 

 graduated from Amherst in 1855, he went to Europe, and was matricu- 

 lated in the Georgia Augusta University at Gottingen, as a student of 

 philosophy. Here he gave special attention, " with a right good- will," 

 to chemistry, mineralogy, geology, and the German language. He 

 afterward spent some time, greatly to his profit, with Bunsen at Hei- 

 delberg, and Plattner at Freiberg. Having returned home, enriched 

 with many specimens of rare minerals and of art, he was appointed, in 

 March, 1858, Professor of Natural History in the Rensselaer Poly- 

 technic Institute. In the following September he was elected Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry and Natural Science in Beloit College, Wiscon- 

 sin. He divided his time between these two institutions till 186G, 

 when he resigned the position at Beloit, in order to accept the pro- 



