ROBERT HARE. 



179 



tested what he conceived were the errors of the salt radical 

 theory. 



He made studies in meteorology, and had a theory of whirl- 

 winds and storms founded on an electrical hypothesis, which 

 he opposed to the rotary theory of W. C. Redfield. At the 

 second meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science he explained his own views on this subject, 

 while he controverted those of Mr. Redfield. This gentleman 

 was present and heard his remarks, but made no reply then. 

 He was not a speaker, and did not address the public except in 

 writing. 



In 1818 Dr. Hare was chosen Professor of Chemistry and 

 Natural Philosophy in William and Mary College, and in the 

 same year was made Professor of Chemistry in the medical 

 department of the University of Pennsylvania. He held the 

 latter position till 1847. His teachings were marked by the 

 originality of his experiments and the extent and variety 

 of the apparatus he employed. He spared no labour or 

 expense in his operations, and, being a handy mechani- 

 cian, he was able to bestow much ingenuity in the con- 

 struction of novel devices for experiment and illustration. 

 He accumulated instruments and material with astonishing 

 profusion. To these he added graphic illustrations and 

 lucid descriptions to make his lectures intelligible and inter- 

 esting. When he resigned his professorship, he gave all 

 the apparatus he had accumulated to the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution. 



He was a man of literary tastes, fond of poetry, and himself 

 wrote verses occasionally. He also sometimes wrote articles 

 on the political and financial questions of the day, and con- 

 tributed moral essays to The Portfolio, under the signature of 

 " Eldred Grayson." 



In person he had a robust frame, a large head, and an im- 

 posing figure and presence. 



In his family and among his friends, according to Prof. 

 Silliman, he was very kind, and his feelings were generous, 

 amiable, and genial ; yet, in the absence of mind occasioned 

 by his habitual abstraction, and when absorbed in thought, his 

 manner was occasionally abrupt. With his keen and active 

 mind, conversation would sometimes seem to awaken him 

 from an intellectual reverie. He had great colloquial pow- 



