7 66 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the motto of the Philanthropic Society, "Virtue, Liberty, and 

 Science." 



The first gift to the university, other than lands and money, 

 came from the ladies of Raleigh and Newbern, who contributed a 



pair of globes, a compass, 

 and a quadrant. The first 

 student, HintonJames,chose 

 as the subjects of his senior 

 f orensics, " The Uses of the 

 Sun," "The Commerce of 

 Britain," and " The Motions 

 of the Earth." 



The young Professor of 

 Mathematics was made pres- 

 ident of the university in 

 1804. His prosperity cul- 

 minated in 1824, when the 

 financial condition of the 

 university was so good as to 

 allow the trustees to send 

 him to Europe for the pur- 

 chase of scientific apparatus 

 and books, appropriating 

 six thousand dollars for the 

 purpose. 



Soon after his return 

 from Europe President Cald- 

 well planned an observa- 

 tory, which he built with his own money. The building was 

 finished in 1827, and in the observatory he placed the instruments 

 which he had brought from Europe. These were a meridian 

 transit telescope, made by Simms, of London; an altitude and 

 azimuth telescope, also made by Simms ; a telescope for observa- 

 tions on the earth and sky, made by Dolland, of London ; and an 

 astronomical clock with a mercurial pendulum, made by Moli- 

 neux, of London. To these stationary instruments were added a 

 sextant, made by Wilkinson, of London; a portable reflecting 

 circle, made by Harris, of London ; and a Hadley's quadrant. 



Before the completion of the observatory building, the clock 

 and meridian transit were set up and used in the library of the 

 university, which was also Prof. Caldwell's lecture room. Here 

 began, in 1825, the first systematic observations upon the heavens 

 made in the United States. Dr. Caldwell was assisted by Profs. 

 Mitchell and Phillips, and their first work was to find the approxi- 

 mate values of the longitude and the latitude of the building in 

 which they worked. Mitchell was a Yale man of the class of 



Elisha Mitchell. 

 After portrait by Jocelyn. 



