62 James Craig Watson. 
Art. VII.—JAMES CRAIG WATSON. 
the early age of nine, determined the father to secure him a 
liberal education ; and the family accordingly removed to Ann 
Arbor, in 1850. Here James displayed equal aptitude for 
mathematical and linguistic studies, and being prepared for 
college, almost without the evidences of effort, he entered the 
University of Michigan in the autumn of 1858. He attained 
equal scholarly distinction as a student of ancient and modern 
languages, and of mathematics. It is said that before the close 
of his Junior year, he had performed the phenomenal feat o 
reading from beginning to end the Mécanique Céleste of Laplace. 
During his Senior year, he was the solitary pupil of Dr. Briin- 
now, and graduated in 1857. His mechanical tact was such 
that in the absence of a mathematical bent he would have 
become an eminent mechanician and inventor. While in col- 
lege, some of his spare hours were spent in grinding lenses and 
the construction of a telescope. Other portions of his time he 
was compelled to devote to the earning of means to defray 
collegiate expenses. 
During the two years succeeding his graduation, he was 
employed as assistant in the Observatory, and in the prosecu- 
tion of studies for his second degree. In this work he displayed 
such remarkable aptitude as an observer, and such marvelous 
rapidity in his computations that, on the retirement of Dr. 
Briinnow, in June, 1859, young Watson succeeded him in the 
chair of Astronomy. He was already known as a frequent 
contributor to the American Journal of Science, Briinnow’s 
Astronomical Notices, Gould’s Astronomical Journal, and the 
Astronomische Nachrichten of Altona. Not less than twelve 
