24. Kansas Academy of Science. 



chemistry. Prof. Josiah Meigs delivered lectures on natural 

 philosophy from the pulpit of the college chapel. He was a 

 gentleman of the greatest intelligence, and had read Chaptel> 

 Lavoisier and other chemical writers of the French school. 

 From these, and perhaps other sources, he occasionally intro- 

 duced chemical facts and principles in common with those of 

 natural philosophy. I heard from him that water contains 

 a great amount of heat that does not make the water any hot- 

 ter to the touch or to the thermometer; that this heat comes 

 out of the water when it freezes, and still the freezing water 

 is not warmed by the escaping heat. This appeared to me 

 very surprising, and still more astonishing did it appear that 

 water could not be made any hotter by urging the fire. My 

 curiosity being aroused, I opened the encyclopedia, and there 

 read that balloons were inflated by an inflammable gas ob- 

 tained from water; and I looked with intense interest at the 

 figures representing the apparatus by means of which steam, 

 made to pass through an ignited gun barrel, came out inflam- 

 mable gas at the other end of the tube. These and similar 

 things created in my youthful mind a vivid curiosity to know 

 more of the science to which they appertained." 



Before he committed himself to the new science, Silliman 

 passed his examination for admission to the bar, that he 

 might have a respectable profession to fall back upon in case 

 the chemical venture failed to succeed. The winter of 

 1802-'03 was spent in Philadelphia as a student with Dr. 

 James Woodhouse. Woodhouse, who seems to have been a 

 shrewd and observant man, had appeared as a defender of the 

 French school in a paper opposing the phlogiston views of 

 Priestley. He was also the first one to point out the superi- 

 ority of anthracite over bituminous coal. 



As a picture of the chemical instruction at this time, let me 

 again quote Silliman: "The chemical lectures were important 

 to me, who has as yet seen few chemical experiments. Those 

 performed by Doctor Woodhouse were valuable, because every 

 fact, with its proof, was an acquisition to me. The apparatus 

 was humble, . . . and our instructor delighted, though he 

 did not excel in the performance of experiments. He had no 

 proper assistant, . . . and the work was imperfectly done. 

 He had not the gift of a lucid mind, nor of high reasoning pow- 

 ers, nor of a fluent diction ; still we could understand him. Doc- 



