PROCEEDINGS OF THE OHIO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 175 



of such apparatus as might be obtained after long delay from 

 eastern cities, generally to be supplemented by the ingenuity and 

 mechanical skill of the worker. It will surprise those not fa- 

 miliar with the subject to learn that during this period in spite 

 of these material obstacles the actual contribution to our know- 

 ledge of these three more exact sciences, though less in quantity, 

 ranks as high in quality as the larger output of the naturalists ; 

 and that the most potent instrument for scientific research pro- 

 duced in the nineteenth century, today in use in one form or 

 another in every laboratory in the world, was first imagined, 

 constructed and used by one of the pioneers of science in Ohio. 



In attempting to present to the members of the Ohio 

 Academy of Science some account of their intellectual ancestry, 

 I am much embarrased by the large amount of available mate- 

 rial. Limitations of time and space forbid an exhaustive treat- 

 ment of the subject and for details regarding the published con- 

 tributions to science of the men whose lives I shall briefly sketch, 

 I must refer you to the archives of the several grand divisions 

 to which they refer. 



To the present generation with its restless activities and its 

 acute specialization many of them are unknown, even by name, 

 in spite of the fact that the results of their labors are every day 

 utilized and builded upon. It was my privilege to know many 

 of them personally and if I am correct in believing that Time 

 and Circumstance developed in them a more pronounced indi- 

 viduality than is common at the present day, some emphasis upon 

 their personality and the conditions under which they worked 

 will not be unwelcome. 



During nearly all of the nineteenth century there were in 

 Ohio three well defined loci of scientific activity, corresponding 

 approximately to the concentration of population at Cincinnati, 

 Columbus and Cleveland. In some respects a geographical is 

 more convenient than a chronological grouping, but I shall not 

 adhere closely to either. 



Aly first "pioneer" is one who has no claim whatever to be 

 found in such good company except that he was the author of a 

 theory of the form and figure of the earth so extravagant and 



