14 HENRY A. EOWLAND 



"to make an excellent engineer" as he declares, he decides against 

 engineering, saying, " You know that from a child I have been ex- 

 tremely fond of experiment; this liking instead of decreasing has gradu- 

 ally grown upon me until it has become a part of my nature, and it 

 would be folly for me to attempt to give it up; and I don't see any 

 reason why I should wish it, unless it be avarice, for I never expect 

 to be a rich man. I intend to devote myself hereafter to science. If 

 she gives me wealth, I will receive it as coming from a friend, but if 

 not, I will not murmur." 



He realized that his opportunity for the pursuit of science was in 

 becoming a teacher, but no opening in this direction presenting itself 

 he spent the first year after graduation in the field as a civil engineer. 

 This was followed by a not very inspiring experience as instructor in 

 natural science in a Western college, where he acquired, however, 

 experience and useful discipline. 



In the spring of 1872 he returned to Troy as instructor in physics, 

 on a salary the amount of which he made conditional on the purchase 

 by the Institute of a certain number of hundreds of dollars' worth of 

 physical apparatus. If they failed in this, as afterward happened, his 

 pay was to be greater, and he strictly held them to the contract. His 

 three years at Troy as instructor and assistant professor were busy, 

 fruitful years. In addition to his regular work he did an enormous 

 amount of study, purchasing for that purpose the most recent and most 

 advanced books on mathematics and physics. He built his electro- 

 dynamometer and carried out his first great research. As already 

 stated, this quickly brought him reputation in Europe and what he 

 prized quite as highly, the personal friendship of Maxwell, whose ardent 

 admirer and champion he remained to the end of his life. In April, 

 1875, he wrote, " It will not be very long before my reputation reaches 

 this country," and he hoped that this would bring him opportunity to 

 devote more of his time and energy to original research. 



This opportunity for which he so much longed was nearer at hand 

 than he imagined. Among the members of the Visiting Board at the 

 West Point Military Academy in June, 1875, was one to whom had 

 come the splendid conception of what was to be at once a revelation and 

 a revolution in methods of higher education. In selecting the first 

 faculty for an institution of learning which, within a single decade, was 

 to set the pace for real university work in America, and whose influence 

 was to be felt in every school and college of the land before the end of 

 the first quarter of a century, Dr. Oilman was guided by an instinct 



