HENRY AUGUSTUS ROWLAND 409 



and perhaps also physics at Wooster, Ohio, and in the autumn of 

 1872 he returned to Troy to teach physics. He seems to have 

 enjoyed his experience at Wooster for he writes soon after his 

 arrival at Troy: "I got away from Wooster all right and those 

 who were most concerned seemed to be sorry to lose me. Nearly 

 all my class came to see me before I left which was quite encourag- 

 ing. I felt quite sorry to leave them but it was necessary." He 

 was now only 24 years old, and it may be imagined that he did 

 not find the work at Troy altogether easy. To his mother he 

 writes: "I have been here 8 days now and am beginning to get 

 used to it. There are 65 students under my instruction and I have 

 to keep a pretty tight rein on them. They are very much inclined 

 to cut up and I shall have to be pretty strict with them and not 

 let them commence." 



It will be of interest to learn what Rowland had been doing in 

 the way of invention and investigation previous to the time of his 

 appointment to the position at Troy. His tastes began to show 

 themselves very early in his life. When only three years of age 

 he made a model of a clock from an old raisin box. In his four- 

 teenth year he made an electric machine out of an old bottle, and 

 also Leyden jars to work with it. At the same time, further, he 

 invented a method of making electromagnets by winding bare 

 wire with layers of paper. In a note-book kept by him I find the 

 following records: 



"February, 1863: Uncle Forsyth gave me some money and I 

 bought four cells of a galvanic battery (Bunsen cells). I had 

 previously made some out of zinc and copper plates. Made motor 

 etc. to go by it." 



"November, 1864: Made shock machine." 



"January, 1865: Made furnace to melt iron or manganese. 

 Made manganese." 



"July, 1865: Made large electric motor." 



"October, 1865: Made astatic galvanometer. Needle hung 

 by a new method." 



"November, 1865: Made electrometer. Also polariscope by 

 reflection from black glass." 



"May, 1866: Made Ruhmkorff coil giving one-third inch sparks 

 by winding iron wires wide apart with paper between. Made 



