Reminiscences of the late Mr. Whitney. 255 



Art. U. — Reminiscences of the late Mr. Whitney, inventor of the 

 Cotton Gin; by the Editor. 



The preceding memoir has so fully elucidated the character of 

 Mr. Whitney, that the following observations may perhaps appear 

 superfluous. I have however been led to make them, both by affec- 

 tion for the memory of a man so highly valued, and also because it is 

 often in the power of a friend, to give some additional touches, even 

 to a faithful picture. 



Mr. Whitney received the degree of A. B. in Yale College, at the 

 same commencement (1792) when I became a member of that insti- 

 tution. I had only a general knowledge of him until 1798, when I 

 was made acquainted with his then pending arrangement with the 

 government of the United States, for the manufacture of arms, and 

 by request I copied some of the papers relating to that contract. In 

 the autumn of 1799, just after I had accepted an appointment in the 

 government of Yale College, I was much interested by an unexpect- 

 ed application from Mr. Whitney, to visit the principal countries of 

 Europe, (all indeed which had cotton-growing colonies, in either 

 hemisphere,) for the purpose of obtaining patents for the Cotton Gin. 

 Gratifying as the application was to my feelings, my recent engage- 

 ments with the College, and my youth and inexperience, concurred 

 with other reasons to make me decline accepting the overture, which 

 was sufficiently tempting to my curiosity and to the desire of foreign 

 travel. 



This affair would not be worth mentioning, except that the confi- 

 dence which it implied naturally led to a familiar intercourse of friend- 

 ship, which for twenty five years was never clouded for a moment, 

 and often gave me interesting views of Mr. Whitney's character. 



I was frequently led to observe, that his ingenuity extended to every 

 subject which demanded his attention ; his arrangements, even of 

 common things, were marked by singular good taste and a prevailing 

 principle of order. 



The effect of this mental habit is very obvious in the disposition 

 of the buildings, and accommodations of his manufactory of arms;— 

 although, owing to the infirmities of his later years, and to other causes, 

 his arrangements were never finished to the full extent of his views. 

 The machinery has great neatness and finish, and in its operation evin- 

 ces a degree of precision and efficiency, which gratifies every curious 



