iv Mr. Pickering’s Eulogy on 
however, who then knew him, concur in the general remark, that 
even in childhood he exhibited indications of a superior mind ; that 
he was passionately fond of study, and had an uncommon power of 
intense application, with great rapidity in acquiring knowledge, par- 
ticularly in his favorite science of mathematics, by which he first rose 
into public notice. In relation to this last point it has been stated to 
me by a friend as a fact, derived originally from Dr. Bowditch him- 
self, that, while he was at school, his instructer gave him an arith- 
metical exercise of some difficulty for a boy of his tender years, and 
that he accomplished it so much sooner than was expected, that he 
was immediately accused of having obtained assistance in the per- 
formance of his task; and, when he denied having had any aid 
whatever, and resolutely persevered in asserting that he had done it 
wholly himself, the instructer would not believe he spoke the truth, 
but gave him a severe chastisement for attempting to deceive him, 
as he thought, by a falsehood, — an act of injustice, which was never 
forgotten. It is also related of him, that when he first heard of the 
science of Algebra, which was described to him by his brother, as a 
new method, practised by an instructer in the town, of solving ques- 
tions by letters of the alphabet instead of the common figures, his 
curiosity became highly excited; and, when he had obtained the 
use of a book on that science belonging to the instructer, his mind 
became so intently fixed on the subject, — then wholly new to him, 
—that during the first night after the work was in his possession, 
as he said himself, he did not close his eyes.* 
At avery early period of his life, too, that strong moral sense, 
which was conspicuous in his character, displayed itself, and was 
earnestly cherished by the affection and instructions of a fond 
mother, who, as he used himself to say, “idolized him.” 
* Rev. Mr. Young’s Discourse, p. 60. 
