372 Edward Livingston Youmans : 



exploded fancies, I suspect that Mr. Youmans felt that 

 amid all the chaff there was a very sound and sturdy kernel 

 of tnith. 



Among the books which jMr. Youmans projected at this 

 time, the first was a com])endioTis history of progress in 

 discovery and invention ; but, after he had made extensive 

 preparations, a book was published so similar in scope and 

 treatment that he abandoned the imdertaking. Another 

 work was a treatise on arithmetic, on a new aiul philosophic 

 cal plan; but, when this was api)roacliing com])letion, he 

 again found himself anticipated, this time by the book of 

 Horace Mann. This was discouraging enough, but a third 

 venture resulted in a brilliant success. We have observed 

 the eagerness with which, as a school-boy, Mr, Youmans 

 entered upon the study of chemistry. His interest in this 

 science grew with years, and he devoted himself to it so far 

 as was practicable. For a blind man to carry on the study 

 of a science which is pre-eminently one of observation and 

 experiment might seem hopeless. It was at any rate 

 absolutely necessary to see with the eyes of others if not 

 with his own. Here the assistance rendered by his sister 

 was invaluable. During most of this period she served as 

 amanuensis and reader for him. But, more than this, she ke})t 

 \i\) for some time a course of laboratory work, the results of 

 which were minutely described to her brother and discussed 

 with him in the evenings. The lectures of Dr. John 

 William Draper on chemistry were alsc^ thoroughly discussed 

 and pondered. 



The conditions under which Mr. Youmans worked made 

 it necessary for him to consider every jjoint with the 

 extreme deliberation involved in framing distinct mental 

 images of things and processes which he could not watch 

 with the eye. It was hard discii)line, but he doubtless 

 profited from it. Nature had endowed him with an unusually 

 (tlear head, but this enforced method must have made it 

 still clearer. One of the most notable (pialities of his mind 

 was the absolute luminousness witli which he saw things 

 and the r<'lations among things. It was this quality that 

 made him so successful as an ex})Ounder of scientific truths. 

 In the course of his pondering over chemical facts which 

 he was obliged to take at second hand, it occurred to him 

 that most of the jmpils in common schools who studied 

 chemistry were practically no better off. It was easy 

 enough for schools to buy text-books, but difficidt for them 

 to provide laboratories and a])paratus ; and it was much 



