112 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



ter, of Spencertown ; entered Williams College, and was gradu- 

 ated thence in 1799, with a high standing in science. On Octo- 

 ber i6th of the same year he married, at Chatham, Polly, daugh- 

 ter of Malachi and Mary (McCall) Thomas, who died three years 

 later, leaving him a son. He prepared himself for the legal 

 profession, studying law with the Hon. Elisha Williams, of 

 Spencertown, and the Hon. Josiah Ogden, of New York. An 

 association which he formed in New York with Dr. David Ho- 

 sack and Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, the most distinguished scien- 

 tific men in the city at the time, marked another determinative 

 point in his career ; for, under their instruction, he became in- 

 terested in the natural sciences, and particularly in botany. 

 So earnest did he become in these studies that, having bor- 

 rowed Kirwan's Mineralogy, he made a manuscript copy of the 

 whole work. Having been admittd to the bar of the Supreme 

 Court of New York, he settled in Catskill as a lawyer and land 

 agent, and continued his studies in science. At this place he 

 began, in 1810, a course of popular lectures on botany, which 

 is believed to have been the first attempted in the United 

 States. In connection with the lectures he compiled a small 

 elementary treatise. Dr. Hosack commended him as being 

 the first in the field with this course, saying, "You have adopt- 

 ed the true system of education, and very properly address 

 yourself to the memory." 



Finding that his taste for the incidents of legal practice was 

 diminishing, and his interest in science was growing upon him, 

 Mr. Eaton resolved to abandon the law and devote himself to 

 the more congenial pursuit. He removed to New Haven in 

 1815, and there placed himself under the tuition of Prof. Silli- 

 man, who was lecturing on chemistry, geology, and miner- 

 alogy. He enjoyed the advantage of Prof. Silliman's library 

 and of that of Prof. Ives, in which works on botany and ma- 

 teria medica were prominent, and was a diligent student of 

 the college cabinet of minerals. Having become well grounded 

 in the sciences he took up his abode near Williams College, where 

 he gave courses of lectures to volunteer classes of the students 

 on botany, mineralogy, and geology, and awakened a perma- 

 nent interest in the natural sciences. An interesting description 

 of his personality at this time, when he was in his prime, is given 

 by Prof. Albert Hopkins, who speaks of him as " of striking 

 personage, a large form, somewhat portly and dignified, though 



