SAMUEL LATHAM MITCHILL. 



1764-1831. 



THE name and fame of Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill have, in the 

 absence of a complete biography, become to a considerable 

 extent a tradition, known to few except students; yet, during 

 the first quarter of this century, he was one of the most con- 

 spicuous figures in the literary and scientific life of the United 

 States. He is called by Dr. J. W. Francis " the Nestor of 

 American science," and " the pioneer philosopher in the pro- 

 motion of natural science and medicine in America." He was 

 a man of various attainments, and proved himself at home in 

 many fields in medicine, science, letters, politics, and social 

 life. 



Samuel Latham Mitchill was born in Hempstead, Long 

 Island, August 20, 1764, and died in the city of New York, Sep- 

 tember 7, 1831. He was the third son of Robert Mitchill, an 

 industrious farmer and member of the Society of Friends, and 

 was remarkable for his habits of observation and reflection. 

 His father seems to have taken less interest in his early in- 

 struction than his maternal uncle, Dr. Samuel Latham, of North 

 Hempstead, who assisted him to obtain a good classical edu- 

 cation. He afterward studied medicine with Dr. Latham; 

 then with Dr. Samuel Bard, of New York ; and in 1783 went 

 to complete his studies in the University of Edinburgh, whence 

 he was graduated in 1786. He there enjoyed rare advantages 

 of intellectual society, and had among his contemporaries at 

 the university such illustrious men as Sir James Mackintosh 

 and Thomas Addis Emmet, Dr. Caspar Wistar, Richard S. 

 Kissam, the surgeon ; and William Hammersley, afterward a 

 professor in Columbia College. After graduation, and before 

 returning home, he made a pedestrian tour through a part 

 of England. In 1787, after his return to America, he visited 

 Saratoga Springs while it was surrounded by the forest, and 



71 



