COMMEMORATIVE ADDRESS 13 



pressure of about five pounds to the square inch to raise the water so 

 high, and yet they let it go after they got it there, whereas if they had 

 attached a pipe to the end of the discharge pipe and let it hang down 

 into the water, the pressure of water on that pipe would just have 

 balanced the five pounds to the square inch in the other, so that they 

 could have used larger pumps with the same engines and ths have got 

 more water out in a given time." 



The facilities for learning physics, in his day, at the Eensselaer Poly- 

 technic Institute were none of the best, a fact which is made the subject 

 of keen criticism in his home correspondence, but he made the most of 

 whatever was available and created opportunity where it was lacking. 

 The use of a turning lathe and a few tools being allowed, he spent all 

 of his leisure in designing and constructing physical apparatus of var- 

 ious kinds with which he experimented continually. All of his spare 

 money goes into this and he is always wishing he had more. While he 

 pays without grumbling his share of the expense of a class supper, he 

 cannot help declaring that " it is an awful price for one night's pleas- 

 ure; why, it would buy another galvanic battery." During these early 

 years his pastime was the study of magnetism and electricity, and his 

 lack of money for the purchase of insulated wire for electro-magnetic 

 apparatus led him to the invention of a method of winding naked 

 copper wire, which was later patented by some one else and made 

 much of. Within six months of his entering the Institute he had made 

 a delicate balance, a galvanometer, and an electrometer, besides a small 

 induction coil and several minor pieces. A few weeks later he an- 

 nounces the finishing of a Euhmkorff coil of considerable power, a 

 source of much delight to him and to his friends. In December, 1866, 

 he began the construction of a small but elaborately designed steam 

 engine which ran perfectly when completed and furnished power for 

 his experiments. A year later he is full of enthusiasm over an investi- 

 gation which he wishes to undertake to explain the production of 

 electricity when water comes in contact with red-hot iron, which he 

 attributes to the decomposition of a part of the water. Along with all 

 of this and much more he maintains a good standing in his regular work- 

 in the Institute, in some of which he is naturally the leader. He occa- 

 sionally writes: "I am head of my class in mathematics," or "I lead 

 the class in Natural Philosophy," but official records show that he was 

 now and then " conditioned " in subjects in which he had no special 

 interest. As early as 1868, before his twentieth birthday, he decided 

 that he must devote his life to science. While not doubting his ability 



