APPOINTED PROFESSOR: STUDIES IN PHILADELPHIA. 89 



college, second loft, northeast corner, now No. 56. It was 

 papered on the walls ; the floor was sanded, and the win 

 dow-shutters were always kept closed except when visitors 

 or students were introduced. There was an air of mys 

 tery about the room, and we entered it with awe, increas 

 ing to admiration after we had see"n something of the 

 apparatus and the experiments. There was an air-pump, 

 an electrical machine of the cylinder form, a whirling 

 table, a telescope of medium size, and some of smaller di 

 mensions ; a quadrant, a set of models for illustrating the 

 mechanical powers, a condensing fountain with jets d'ecm, 

 a theodolite, and a magic lantern the wonder of Freshmen. 

 These were the principal instruments ; they were of con 

 siderable value : they served to impart valuable informa 

 tion, and to enlarge the students' knowledge of the ma 

 terial world. We should not now undervalue the mental 

 culture, and certainly the discipline, of the first century in 

 Yale College. In relation to the early condition of the 

 country, the means of education were commensurate with 

 the demands of the community, and great and wise and 

 good and useful men were trained in Yale College in those 

 times, many of whom have left their mark on the passing 

 age in which they lived. 



During my novitiate, chemistry was scarcely ever named. 

 I well remember when I received my earliest impressions 

 in relation to chemistry. Professor Josiah Meigs 1794 

 to 1801 delivered lectures on natural philosophy from 

 the pulpit of the College Chapel. He was a gentleman of 

 great intelligence, and had read Chaptal, Lavoisier, and 

 other chemical writers of the French school. From these, 

 and perhaps other sources, he occasionally introduced 

 chemical facts and principles in common with those of 

 natural philosophy. I heard from him (JEt. 1 5 and 1 6) that 

 water contains a great amount of heat which does not 

 make the water any hotter to the touch or to the ther 

 mometer ; that this heat comes out of the water when it 





