202 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 190. 



department.^ The founding of the Chandler 

 Scientific School at this period put the 

 teaching of science on an entirely diflerent 

 plane. 



Like conditions prevailed everywhere. 

 The spirit of investigation showed itself 

 actively enough in some directions, but it 

 does not seem to have impressed itself upon 

 the teaching, and, in fact, was not gener- 

 ally connected with the colleges. As is 

 to be expected in a new country, it ex- 

 pended itself mainly in exploration, in 

 geological, botanical and ornithological col- 

 lection, and the school of wandering natu- 

 ralists, connected, perhaps, chiefly with 

 Philadelphia, would furnish an interesting 

 chapter in the history of science. 



What research thei'e was in chemistry 

 and physics, not yet differentiated, was 

 largely in the hands of the medical profes- 

 sion, and here again the interest centers in 

 the city of Philadelphia, partly on account 

 of the presence in that city of the ingenious 

 Robert Hare ; partly because of the ten- 

 dencies of the University and medical 

 school ; partly on account of the scientific 

 traditions of the city, dating from the time 

 of Franklin and his associates. 



Many of the early contributors to ' Silli- 

 man's Journal' were physicians, with Robert 

 Hare at their head, both in reputation and 

 apparently in original ability. He made one 

 addition of the first importance to the re- 

 sources of the chemical investigator by his 

 invention of the compound blowpipe, and 

 in his two forms of voltaic cell, the ' defla- 

 grator ' and the ' calorimotor,' he foresaw 

 dimly that fundamental law of the electric 

 current now connected with the name of 

 Ohm. Dr. Hare filled the chair of chem- 

 istry in the medical school of the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania, and his lectures were 

 brilliantly illustrated and of high repute. 



In the history of the teaching of science, 

 as distinguished from that of active re- 

 search, the most prominent figure in the 



first half of the nineteenth century is not 

 at Philadelphia, but New Haven, and its 

 characteristics are not original power, but 

 enthusiasm for teaching, administrative 

 ability, social influence, sound and clear 

 judgment. 



Benjamin Silliman was graduated from 

 Yale in 1796, with high honor and a repu- 

 tation for sound scholarship. It does not 

 appear that he had distinguished himself 

 in scientific studies — the opportunities of 

 specializing in that direction were not great 

 at the Yale of that day — and he studied 

 law after graduation from college, combin- 

 ing with his studies the work of a college 

 tutor. He was admitted to the bar in 1802. 

 In this year a chair of chemistry and ge- 

 ology was established in the College and 

 offered to young Silliman, who, at the so- 

 licitation of President Dwight, forsook the 

 law and accepted the position. 



He spent two years in fitting himself for 

 his work, going first to Princeton, where, it 

 is said, he first saw experiments in chem- 

 istry performed; then, after a little, to Phil- 

 adelphia, remaining there till 1804. In 

 1805 he was abroad for nearly a year, 

 studying and collecting apparatus and 

 specimens. Entering upon his work, he 

 continued in charge of his department for 

 fifty years. His acute insight soon per- 

 ceived that a pressing need of the science 

 of the country was an organ of intercom- 

 munication, and in 1818 he founded the 

 American Journal of Science, better known 

 for half a century as ' Silliman's Journal.' 

 This venture involved at first considerable 

 pecuniary sacrifice, but became self-sup- 

 porting in about four years. Its influence 

 was very wide. In 1822 Silliman writes: 

 " Its most extensive patronage is derived 

 from the city of Philadelphia, which takes 

 more copies than any other community ; 

 the cities of New York and Boston afford 

 it about an equal and a very respectable 

 and an increasing patronage. It is well 



