262 



DAY, JEEEMIAH. 



sicians. His system, however, is more compre- 

 hensive than profound, and its brilliant author 

 will be remembered in history for the new im- 

 pulse he gave to philosophical thought, and for 

 his vigorous and mighty leap from the material- 

 ism of Oondillac in the direction of the highest 

 spiritual truth. 



To his other distinctions Cousin added that 

 of being one of the most exquisite and eloquent 

 of all French prose writers. His style fasci- 

 nates even the most unsympathetic reader, and 

 he will be read as a classical long after he has 

 ceased to be a force in philosophy. Vanity 

 seems to have been his principal defect as a 

 man. In society he was one of the most ani- 

 mated and eloquent of conversers, but his 

 conversation was open to the fatal criticism, 

 made by a contemporary" He hears himself 

 talk." 



Cousin's principal works are his edition of 

 Proclus (6 vols., Paris, 1820-'27); of Descartes 

 (11 vols., Paris, 1826) ; his translation of Plato, 

 done in great part by his pupils, but carefully 

 revised by himself (13 vols., Paris, 1825-'40) ; 

 "Philosophical Fragments" (1826); "New 

 Fragments " (1828) ; * Introduction to the His- 

 tory of Philosophy" (1828); "History of Phi- 

 losophy in the Eighteenth Century" (1829); 



" Treatise on the Metaphysics of Aristotle " 

 (1838) ; " Lectures on the Philosophy of Kant " 

 (1841); "Lectures on Moral Philosophy" 

 (1840-'41) ; " Life of Jacqueline Pascal " (1844) ; 

 and his "Series of Studies on Madame de 

 Longueville" (1853); "Madame de Sable" 

 (1854); "Madame de Ohevreuse and Madame 

 de Hautefort " (1856) ; and " The French So-, 

 ciety of the Seventeenth Century " (1*858). 



The American translations of his philosophi- 

 cal works are : "Introduction to the History 

 of Philosophy " translated by Henring Gott- 

 fried Linberg (Boston, 1832); "Elements of 

 Psychology " by C. S. Henry (1834 and 1856); 

 selections from his works, with introductory 

 and critical notices, in Ripley's " Philosophical 

 Miscellanies" (Boston. 1838) ; " Course of Mod- 

 ern Philosophy " by 6. W. Wight (New York, 

 1855); and "Lectures on the True, the Beau- 

 tiful, and the Good," by O. W. Wight. 



M. Cousin left his valuable library of 14,000 

 volumes to the College of the Sorbonne, and 

 created a fund with an annual income of 10,000 

 francs for its preservation, and the salary of a 

 librarian and assistants, and divided the remain- 

 der of his estate (somewhat more than 500,000 

 francs) between his three friends, BarthGlemy 

 St. Ililaire, Mignet, and Fremyre. 



D 



DAY, JEEEMTAH, D. D., LL. D., an Amer- 

 ican Congregational clergyman and author, ex- 

 President of Yale College, born in New Preston, 

 Conn., August 3, 1773 ; died in New Haven, 

 Conn., August 22, 1867. His career, though 

 long and very conspicuous, was not distin- 

 guished by many interesting events or frequent 

 vicissitudes. It was a quiet and tranquil life, 

 unenlivened by great changes of thought or 

 work, unembittered by controversy, unmarked 

 by great achievement. It was the- life of a true, 

 good man, who lived to a ripe old age. and who 

 died as full of honors as he was of years. His 

 early years were spent in his native town, and 

 as he grew up and became able to labor, his 

 father gaVe the garden into his hands, and 

 hoped that he would devote himself to the oc- 

 cupation of a farmer. But he early developed 

 a fondness for study, and under the care of his 

 father and the instruction of a private tutor, he 

 was fitted for college, and entered Yale College 

 in 1789. He was compelled by the state of his 

 health to remain out of college two years, but 

 graduated with high honor in 1795. On Dr. 

 Dwight's accession to the presidency of Yale, 

 Mr. Day was invited to take his place as head 

 master of Greenfield School. This olfice he ac- 

 cepted and held for one year, when he was 

 elected to a tutorship in Williams College, 

 whence he was promoted in 1798 to a similar 

 position in Yale. 



In 1801 he was elected to the professorship 

 of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Yale 



College, though in consequence of feeble health 

 he was unable to enter upon the discharge of 

 his duties till 1803, when he was formally in- 

 augurated, and at the same time ordained a 

 Congregationalist minister. From this time 

 until 1817, the life of Professor Day flowed 

 peacefully along amid the studies and instruc- 

 tions demanded by his office. During that 

 period he published a series of mathematical 

 works, the principal of Avhich are a treatise on 

 Algebra, another on Mensuration, and others 

 on Plane Trigonometry, and Navigation and 

 Surveying, all works of sterling merit, that 

 have passed through numerous editions, and 

 become class-books in most of the colleges and 

 seminaries of the United States. These works, 

 especially the Algebra, have some of the highest 

 qualities that can belong to writings intended 

 for young minds. They are clear and precise 

 in definition, simple and elegant in explanation, 

 proportionate in their parts ; they leave no dif- 

 ficulties behind to embarrass the learner ; they 

 make such a selection from a wide field as his 

 wants seem to require, and reserve the higher 

 and abstruser parts of the science for more ad- 

 vanced students. 



Upon the death of President Dwigbt, in 1817, 

 Professor Day was elected his successor, and con- 

 tinued in the office till 1846, when feeble health 

 induced him to resign. President Day's ad- 

 ministration of twenty-nine years embraced a 

 longer term than has fallen to the lot of any 

 presiding officer of Yalo College, and, with one 



