Sect. III.] United States of America. 261 



racters and manners being less homogeneous, 

 they have made less progress towards maturuig 

 and perfecting their school establishments than 

 the eastern states. 



It may not be improper to take notice of some 

 of those branches of science and literature which 

 have been most cultivated in the United States ; 

 and also of the names of those \A\o have been 

 principally distinguished by their attention to 

 these objects. 



In Mathematics, Astro7wmjij^ and the more ab- 

 struse departments of Mechanical Philosophy^ 

 America has been distinguished to a degree w hieh, 

 all things considered, is highly honourable to 

 its genius and diligence. The names of Green- 

 wood, AVinthrop, Bowdoin *, Willard, Fobcs, 

 and others of Massachusetts ; of West of Rhode 

 Island ; of Clap, and Mansfield, of Connecticut ; 

 of AVilliam Alexander, commonly called lord 

 Stirling f, of New Jersey; of Godfrey, Ritten- 



* James Bowdoin, LL.D. F. R. S., was born at Boston, INIassa- 

 chusetts, August 18, 1727. His father was a native of France, 

 and fled among the persecuted protestants of that country, first 

 to Ireland, and afterwards to New England, M'here he arrived in 

 the year 1688. His son James, the object of our present atten- 

 tion, was educated at Harvard college, where he received his 

 first degree in 1745. After filling some important stations iu 

 public life, he v\as chosen governor of Massachusetts in 1785 

 and 1786. He died in 1790, greatly and generally respected. 

 Those who have perused the Memoirs of the American Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences will recollect the several papers contained 

 in them, which manifest no common taste and talents in astro- 

 nomical inquiries. 



f William Alexander, e!Tq., was a native of the city of New 

 York, but spent a considerable part of his life in New Jersey. 

 Ho was con-iJcred, bv nunv, as the righifid ho.ii to the tide and 



