SEARS COOK WALKER. 



1805-1853. 



A FEW years before the middle of the present century the 

 condition of science in America was far from inspiring. Al- 

 though this country had long since ceased to be a dependency 

 of Great Britain politically, it still seemed unable to rise out 

 of such a position intellectually. In science and letters Eng- 

 lish authority was paramount. To the generality of American 

 scholars a grudging mention in an English publication out- 

 weighed domestic honours of a much higher grade. Scientific 

 treatises emanating from Great Britain were accepted as 

 gospel, while the science of the rest of Europe was known 

 only through British translations. There were a few men of 

 science, however, who were independent in the midst of de- 

 pendency, and among them one of the most active in promot- 

 ing this intellectual self-respect, both by his researches and his 

 writings, was the subject of the present sketch. 



Sears Cook Walker was born March 28, 1805, in Wilming- 

 ton, a small town of Massachusetts, about sixteen miles north- 

 west of Boston, where four generations of his ancestors had 

 lived and died. His father's mother was descended in a direct 

 line from the celebrated Elder Brewster, who came over in 

 the Mayflower. Sears was a delicate child and so precocious 

 intellectually that he early became the wonder of the village. 

 His father had died when he was a mere infant, so that his 

 whole care and training devolved upon his mother. She for- 

 tunately realized the importance of providing for his physical 

 welfare and'checking his too great fondness for books. It was 

 a constant struggle with the boy's natural inclinations to do 

 this, but the effort was successful. He joined heartily in many 

 of the sports of his companions, and gradually gained a good 

 measure of health and strength. 



Young Walker took the studies preparatory for college at 



