282 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



Diary of Mosses, and hunts the Liskea hypnum through a dozen 

 authorities, to be sure of it. He had the true scholar's disdain 

 of taking anything at second hand. Such pages are diversified 

 with ' Hints for the good instruction of the class ' ; or, * Points 

 to be meditated respecting the nature of light.' " In the pref- 

 ace to one of these notebooks written in French a plan of 

 study was laid down for each week. So many hours were 

 to be given to mathematics, so many to Latin and Greek, so 

 many to history, so many to the Spanish language and to 

 botany ; and the resolution appears that, till such an hour, " I 

 will not touch one book of belles-lettres." He thus visited the 

 plants and rocks of the State in their own homes, and became 

 one of the best authorities in the country respecting them. 

 The expeditions which he conducted into all parts of North 

 Carolina, examining the flora and rocks and strata, made him the 

 best physical geographer the State had ever had. The infor- 

 mation he gathered in this way was used profusely in the instruc- 

 tion of his classes, and they always reaped greater benefits from 

 his acquisitions than any other part of the community. While 

 he wrote occasionally for the scientific papers, " he read more 

 than he observed, and observed more than he wrote." Among 

 the articles contributed by him to Silliman's Journal are named, 

 in a memoir published in the local paper at the time of his 

 death, those on the low country of North Carolina, 1828; on 

 the Geology of the Gold Regions of North Carolina, 1829; on 

 Welther's tube of safety, with notices of other subjects, 1830; 

 on the causes of winds and storms, 1831 ; Analysis of the Pro- 

 togaea of Leibnitz, 1831 ; and notices of the high mountains in 

 North Carolina, 1839. Such articles were contributed at inter- 

 vals till the time of his death. He also prepared for use in 

 his classes a Manual of Chemistry, the second edition of which 

 was passing through the press when he died ; a Manual of 

 Geology, illustrated by a geological map of North Carolina ; 

 and Facts and Dates respecting the History, Geography, etc., 

 of Palestine. 



Prof. Mitchell was an industrious reader, particularly on all 

 subjects that were directly or indirectly connected with his 

 professorship, and had a knowledge of geography that was re- 

 garded as wonderful. At a time when students were more iso- 

 lated from one another than they are now, and facilities for 

 exchange of news were not so abundant, he was at great pains 



