Life and Churacter of Nathaniel Bowditch. 25 



Both rose from obscure situations in humble hfe, and from the 

 straits of poverty. Both left school at the age of ten years, to 

 assist their fathers in their shops. Both had an early and passion- 

 ate love of reading, and the vigils of both often " prevented the 

 morning.-' Both had the same habits of industry, perseverance 

 and temperance. The contrast between their characters would 

 be still more striking than the resemblance. 



It was my good fortune, some years since, in one of those fa- 

 miliar interviews with him in his own house with which I was 

 favored. — and v/hich those who have once enjoyed them will 

 never forget,— to hear him narrate, in detail, a history of his early 

 life. From that day to this, I have never ceased to regret that, 

 on my return home, I did not instantly put it down upon paper, 

 for the refreshment of my own memory, and for the benefit of 

 others. At this^ distance of time, I can recollect but a few, the 

 most striking, particulars ; the rest have faded away and are lost. 

 I remember, however, very distinctly, his relating the circum- 

 stance which led him to take an interest in the higher branches of 

 mathematical science. He told me that, in the year 1787, when 

 he was fourteen years old, an elder brother of his, who followed 

 the sea, and was attending an- evening school, for the purpose of 

 learning navigation, on returning home one evening, informed 

 him that the master had got a new way of doing sums and work- 

 ing questions ; for, instead of the numerical figures commonly 

 used in arithmetic, he employed the letters of the alphabet. This 

 novelty excited his curiosity, and he questioned his brother very 

 closely about the matter : who, however, did not seem to under- 

 stand much about the process, and could not tell how the thing was 

 done. But the master, he said, had a book, which told all about 

 it. ■ This served to inflame his curiosity ; and he asked his brother 

 whether he could not borrow the book of the maste--, and bring 

 it home, so that he might get a sight at it. (It should be remem- 

 bered that, at this time, mathematical books of all sorts were 

 scarce in this country. In the present multitude of elementary 

 works on this subject, we can hardly conceive of the dearth that 

 then prevailed. ) The book was obtained. It was the first glance 

 that he had ever had at algebra. " And that night," said he, "I 

 did not close my eyes." He read it, and read it again, and mas- 

 tered its contents, and copied it out from beginning to end. Sub- 

 sequently, he got hold of a volume of the Philosophical Trans- 



VoL. XXXY.— No. 1. 4 



