52 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



executed in Pennsylvania. Joel Barlow wrote, in the Vision 

 of Columbus : 



" See the sage Rittenhouse, with ardent eye, 

 Lift the long tube and pierce the starry sky ; 

 Clear in his view the circling systems roll, 

 And broader splendours gild the central pole ; 

 He marks what laws th' eccentric wand'rers bind, 

 Copies Creation in his forming mind, 

 And bids beneath his hand in semblance rise, 

 With mimic orbs, the labours of the skies." 



Thomas Jefferson, successor of Mr. Rittenhouse as Presi- 

 dent of the American Philosophical Society, wrote, in his Notes 

 on Virginia, in refutation of the Abbe* Reynal's assertion that 

 America had " not produced one able mathematician, one man 

 of genius in a single art or science": "We have supposed Mr. 

 Rittenhouse second to no astronomer living; that in genius he 

 must be the first, because he is self-taught. As an artist he 

 has exhibited as great a proof of mechanical genius as the 

 world has ever produced. He has not, indeed, made a world ; 

 but he has by imitation approached nearer its Maker than any 

 man who has lived from the creation to this day." 



A committee of thirteen persons was appointed by the 

 American Philosophical Society early in 1769 to view the 

 transit of Venus, which was to occur on the 3d of June a 

 phenomenon which had been scientifically observed only twice 

 before. This committee was divided into three, for observa- 

 tion at three stations Philadelphia, Mr. Rittenhouse's home 

 at Norriton, and the lighthouse near Cape Henlopen. Three 

 other observers were associated with Mr. Rittenhouse at Norri- 

 ton. An observatory was furnished, and the preparations and 

 calculations preliminary to taking the observations were made 

 by Mr. Rittenhouse. Some instruments were bought for the 

 other stations. For Norriton a reflecting telescope was fur- 

 nished by Mr. Maskelyne, astronomer royal at Greenwich, 

 which was afterward given to the Philadelphia College ; an 

 astronomical quadrant by the Earl of Stirling, of East Jersey ; 

 and an equal-altitude instrument, a transit telescope, and a 

 timepiece were made by Mr. Rittenhouse. The results of the 

 observations were communicated to the American Philosophical 

 Society, and a report of them was furnished to Mr. Maskelyne, 

 who 'declared that they seemed excellent and complete, and 



