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language, combined with originality and enthusiasm : qualities 

 which were conspicuous throughout all his subsequent scientific 

 career. It may be observed too that his interest was not confined to 

 the subject of his greatest predilection, for whilst at Cambridge he 

 attended regularly the chemical lectures of Gumming and the classi- 

 cal lectures of Bushby. This catholicity of taste, so early exhibited, 

 is doubtless one reason for the brightness and freshness with which, 

 throughout life, he could treat the dullest and most abstruse sub- 

 jects. 



He was appointed to the Chair at University College in the session 

 1837-38, his friend De Morgan holding the Chair of Pure Mathe- 

 matics. He had some difficulty in drawing diagrams on the black- 

 board to illustrate his lectures. He was, in fact, never clever with 

 his hands, his handwriting in particular being very bad. A curious 

 instance of his constant desire to be thorough is brought to light by 

 the circumstance that for some time after taking up the professor- 

 ship he took lessons in drawing from the college drawing master ; 

 it is said, however, with small results. He published a remarkable 

 series of papers in the ' Philosophical Magazine,' vols. 13 to 17 

 principally on matters connected with the Theory of Equations' 

 Elimination, Sturm's Functions, &c., and laid the foundations of 

 the work with which his name will ever be associated. He retired 

 from University College in the session 1840-41, and immediately 

 afterwards accepted the Professorship of Mathematics in the Uni- 

 versity of Virginia. For the due appreciation of matters that will 

 be presently related, it should be stated that Sylvester at this period 

 felt strongly on the subject of slavery, and was, moreover, in the 

 habit of expressing himself thereon with great warmth. He was 

 indeed antagonistic to oppression in all its forms. 



In the United States 1840 was the presidential year. It was the 

 eve of the introduction of new political methods. A new party was 

 formed, with the platform " Absolute and unqualified divorce of the 

 general government from slavery, and the restoration of equality of 

 rights among men." Feeling ran high, particularly in Virginia, 

 which was, later on, one of the Confederate States. Men of expe- 

 rience warned Sylvester that he should, on crossing the water, be 

 guarded in his expressions, and refrain from hotly stating his 

 opinions on the subject of slavery. He, however, determined to go, 

 and, after sitting for a full length portrait in oils, by Patten, of the 

 Royal Scottish Academy, now in possession of the family, he 

 embarked at Liverpool in a Cunard sailing vessel. The portrait 

 is evidently the work of a good painter, and is stated to be an 

 excellent likeness. It represents a young man of six and twenty, in 

 cap and gown, with dark, curly hair, and spectacles, seated, book in 

 hand, at a table. 



