178 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



LEWIS MORRIS RUTHERFURD 

 Born, November 25, 1816; died, May 30, 1892 



Lewis Morris Rutherfurd numbered among his ancestors 

 some who were prominent in the early history of the United 

 States, including Senator John Rutherfurd, Lewis Morris, Chief 

 Justice of New York and New Jersey, who was also the first 

 Governor of New Jersey, and that other Lewis Morris who 

 signed the Declaration of Independence. 



The subject of the present brief sketch was born in Morrisania, 

 now a part of New York City, November 25, 1816. After his 

 graduation from Williams College in 1834, he served as assistant 

 to the professor of physics and astronomy in preparations for 

 experiments, and in the construction of apparatus. Law studies 

 in the office of William H. Seward occupied his attention for 

 two years, and later he became a partner of Hamilton Fish. 



Mr. Rutherfurd's greatest interest, however, had always been 

 in astronomy, and through his marriage with Margaret Stuy- 

 vesant Chandler, niece and adopted daughter of Peter Stuy- 

 vesant, he found the means of engaging in this study. The 

 Stuyvesant home became a center for astronomical observations. 

 Under Mr. Rutherfurd's direction, an observatory with an ii|- 

 inch telescope and a transit instrument was established, a work- 

 shop also being added in which excellent instruments were con- 

 structed. 



After some years his law practice was given up, and on his 

 return from Europe, which he had visited on account of his 

 wife's ill health, he threw all his energies into scientific investi- 

 gations. While in Paris, Mr. Rutherfurd became intimate with 

 Amici, who was carrying on experiments upon achromatism of 

 objectives for microscopes, and to this may possibly be attributed 

 Rutherfurd's application to microscopes of the devices he had 

 so successfully used for telescopes. The observatory in New 

 York was, by courtesy, used as a primary station for the deter- 

 mination of longitudes, by the Coast Survey, " Stuyvesant 

 Garden," being named as one of the points. 



