

PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANTS. 299 



and this lad arranged everything satisfactorily for my 

 comfort, while his own food was taken in the college hall. 

 In the summer I boarded at Mr. Twining's, in the town. 

 Foot grew in usefulness, as in stature and intelligence ; he 

 was studious and exemplary, and became a useful assistant 

 in all my departments, but particularly in chemistry. He 

 remained with me nine years, studied medicine and surgery, 

 received a diploma from our medical institution, and after 

 a short term of service in rural practice, he became sur- 

 geon in the army by the recommendation of the Professors 

 addressed to Mr. Calhoun, then Secretary of War. Three 

 of us, Mr. Day, Mr. Kingsley, and myself, in addition 

 to President Dwight, had been instructors of Mr. Calhoun 

 in Yale College, and he paid more attention to our recom- 

 mendation than to that of our demagogues, who presented 

 their own favorites. Dr. Foot reared an interesting family, 

 from whom he was separated by active service in the war 

 with the Seminoles in Florida, and in the Black Hawk war 

 in the region of the northern Mississippi. When more 

 than fifty years of age, he was ordered to join the army in 

 the Mexican war, but his constitution, already impaired by 

 severe service in savage warfare, yielded to the deleterious 

 effects of the climate, and he died of dysentery at Port 

 La Vacca, in Texas. From the situation of a poor boy, of 

 unfortunate parentage, he rose by his merit to ths rank of 

 second surgeon, in point of age, in the American army. 

 President Dwight and the Professors gave him their friendly 

 influence, and the medical professors gave him the fees of 

 their respective courses, in consideration of his merits and 

 of his inability to purchase their tickets. 



After the resignation of Dr. Foot in 1815, and until 

 1821, I had no regular trained assistant. The labor of the 

 laboratory was performed by hired men, who lived in my 

 family, serving there in all necessary domestic duties, in- 

 cluding the garden and the barn, and at the College, as 

 there was occasion. It may be well supposed that such 



