ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. IV 



the development of his faculties. It was, moreover, on the side of 

 his mother that he was related to Watteville and Zinzendorf, hence, 

 we may readily suppose that from this source he derived his partial- 

 ity for addressing to his friends short speeches and little sermons 

 with which he is said occasionally to have amused the circle around 

 his paternal fireside. 



We are aware that, in general, anticipations founded on an exhi- 

 bition of precocious talents are apt to be signally disappointed, but 

 when the display is that of an intellectual tendency, rather than 

 a mere capacity for some one attainment, and when the spirit for 

 mental labour is found capableof being directed into different chan- 

 nels at the instance of others, and does not consist of a blind in- 

 stinct compelling the possessor to follow some narrow path of intel- 

 lectual effort, the augury may, we ajiprehend, be received with less 

 doubt and uncertainty. Such was the case with Schweinitz. His 

 mind was vigorous and his temperament enthusiastic. The first di- 

 rection of these qualities was given by his relatives as they dwelt on 

 the unwearied and successful exertions of his ancestors among the 

 fraternity, in promoting whose interests he was taught to feel that 

 it would be most honorable to excel ; the second was subsequently 

 given by his teachers, when, by the casual exhibition and explana- 

 tion of some specimens of natural history, they struck a vein of tal- 

 ent, part of the same rich mind which had only here and there 

 " cropped out " above the surface. 



On the 4th of July, 1787, at the age of little more than seven 

 years, young Lewis David was placed in the institution of the Mo- 

 ravian community, at Nazareth, where he continued for eleven years 

 or until 1798, and where he sedulously availed himself of every op- 

 portunity for the acquisition of knowledge. The period of instruc- 

 tion — as generally happens when parental precepts and example 

 ha.ve prepared the way for a relish of knowledge — was to him a sea- 

 son of delight, a scene of his life to which he ever after reverted 

 with peculiar pleasure. Here were formed those habits of practi- 

 cal wisdom, which, when subsequently methodized in the schools of 

 Germany, produced that happy balance of the faculties without 

 which the most brilliant talents may be wasted, either on ill-di- 

 rected efforts or on wild and fanciful theories. His powers of lan- 

 guage, and his vein of satirical humour, were at this time occasion- 

 ally put forth in the form of poetical effusions, turning the fruits 

 of his leisure hours into harmless amusement for his companions. 



The apparent faculty with which he afterwards composed in the 

 Latin language, induces the belief that his early classical instruc- 



