372 Nations lately become Literary. 



signally useful in exciting a thirst for knowledge 

 in our country, in calling into view scientific ac- 

 quirements which were before hidden; and in pro- 

 ducing a laudable emulation, not only among its. 

 members, but also among other friends of learning 

 in the remotest parts of the United States/ 



The Transit of Venus, as it happened in the 

 year 1769, gave occasion to the exertion and 

 developement of a considerable portion of that 

 mathematical and astronomical skill which ex- 

 isted in our country, but had hitherto been little 

 displayed. This phenomenon attracted much at- 

 tention in the American Colonies ; great prepara- 

 tions were made for observing it ; and the observa- 

 tions published by several philosophers on this side 

 the Atlantic, were considered in Europe as highly 

 honourable to themselves, and useful to the cause 

 of science. The talents displayed on this occasion 

 by the Rev. Dr. John Ewing,* Dr. David Rit- 



g This Institution, in 1771, consisted of about two hundred and fifty- 

 five members. Of these, one hundred and fifty-seven were inhabitants of 

 Pennsylvania? ten of Massachusetts; two of Rhode-Island ; four of Con- 

 necticut; eleven of New-York; eleven of New-Jersey; three of Dela- 

 ware ; five of Maryland ; four of Virginia ; five of South-Carolina ; one 

 of Georgia; tea of the West-India Islands, and twenty-five of Europe. 



/.) The Rev. John Ewing, D. D. was born in East-Nottingham, in Ma- 

 ryland, June 22, 1732. His classical studies were begun under Dr. Al- 

 ilisox, at Nevv-London. He afterwards went to the College of New- 

 Jersey, where he graduated in 1755. In 1759, he received a call to take 

 the pastoral charge of the first Presbyterian Church in the city of Phila- 

 delphia, which he accepted, and remained in this station during the 

 whole of his after life. In 1773 he went to Great-Britain and Ireland, 

 on a mission to solicit benefactions for the Academy at New-Ark, in De- 

 laware, which was before-mentioned. During this visit, he formed an 

 acquaintance with some of the most distinguished characters in those 

 countries, and maintained a correspondence with them long afterwards. 

 In 1779 he was chosen Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, which 

 office, as well as his pastoral charge, he retained till his death. In all 

 the branches of science usually taught in Seminaries of learning, more 

 particularly in Mathematics, Astronomy, and every branch of Na- 

 tural Philosophy ; in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and in 

 Logic, Metaphysics, and Moral Philosophy, he was probably one of the 

 most accurate and profound scholars which his country can boast of hav- 

 ing reared. He died in 1802, in the seventy-first year of his age, after 

 having held, for near half a century, a distinguished place among the 

 literati of America,. Those who wish to receive more particular infor- 



