Biographical Memoir of William C Redfield. 427 



synopsis of his scientific labors. Some brief notice, alf=o, of his 

 personal history may be acceptable, not only as to satisfy the 

 wishes of his friends, but for the benefit of his example, which, 

 I trust, will especially commend itself to the self-taught 

 votary of science, and to all who are engaged in the pursuit 

 of knowledge under difficulties, both as an incentive and a model. 

 A life passed in the ordinary walks of business, or in the quiet of 

 philosophical research, affords little of that romantic incident 

 which lends a charm to biography ; still we think the life of Mr. 

 Eedfield affords an interesting and instructive theme for contem- 

 plation in a three-fold point of view, — as affording a marked 

 example of the successful pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, 

 — as happily illustrating the union, in the same individual, of the 

 man of science with the man of business, — and as exhibiting a 

 philosopher, whose researches have extended the boundaries of 

 knowledge, and greatly augmented the sum of human happiness. 



William C. Redfield was born at Middletown, Connecticut, on 

 the 26th of March, 1789. He was of pure English descent both 

 by the father's and mother's side. His father from a natural love 

 of adventure, chose in early youth a sea-faring life, and afterwards 

 followed the seas as a profession to the time of his death, which 

 happened when this, his eldest son, was only thirteen years old. 

 His early training, therefore, devolved chiefly on his mother, who 

 was a woman of superior mental endowments, and of exalted 

 Christian character. 



The slender pecuniary resources of the family would not allow 

 young Redfield any opportunities of school education beyond those 

 of the common schools of Connecticut, which, at that time, taught 

 little more than the simplest rudiments — reading, spelling,^ 

 writing, and a little arithmetic ; and all access to the richer treas- 

 ures of knowledge seemed to be forever denied him, when, at the 

 early age of fourteen, he was removed to Upper Middletown, now 

 called Cromwell, and apprenticed to a mechanic, whose tasks 

 engrossed every moment of his time except a part of his evenings. 

 These brief opportunities, however, he most diligently spent in 

 the acquisition of knowledge, eagerly devouring every scientific 

 work within his reach. He was denied even a lamp for reading 

 by night, much of the time during his apprenticeship, and could 

 command no better light than that of a common wood fire in the 

 chimney corner. Under all these disadvantages, it is evident that 

 before he was twenty-one years of age he had acquired no ordinary 



