PREFACE.

AGREEABLY to the plan on which the following memoirs have been conducted, it will be perceived, that they contain a great variety of matter; of which, some particulars have a remote, others merely an incidental connexion, with the chief object of the work. There may perhaps be some readers, to whom the introduction of such matters as the University of Pennsylvania and the Medical School connected with it, the Pennsylvania Hospital, the Philadelphia Library, and the like, into the Life of Rittenhouse, will, on a cursory view, seem to have little or no affinity to that object. But when it is considered, that this work is designed to comprehend Memoirs, not only of Rittenhouse personally, but of several literary, scientific, and other public institutions, as well as of many eminent men, with which his individual history and the annals of his time were in various ways associated, it is presumed, that the slight sketches which have been taken of those matters, in passing along, will neither prove foreign to the nature of the present undertaking, nor uninteresting in themselves. As a citizen of Pennsylvania; as an inestimable public and private character; as a distinguished son of science, of great

probity and extensive usefulness in society; in all these points of view, the History of Dr. Rittenhouse. may be contemplated, as holding a relationship with almost every object connected with science and the arts, in his day, that could in any wise contribute to the well being of mankind in general, and his native country in particular. Conspicuous and eminently meritorious as he was, yet an insulated account of his talents, his virtues, and his personal services,-a bare specification of such qualities and merits as he possessed, abstracted from a due consideration of the state of society and circumstances resulting from it, taken in connexion with them, during the same period,would not be equally intelligible and instructive ; and, consequently, must prove less useful. For these reasons, the Memorialist has pursued that course which he conceives to be perfectly congenial with the main design of his work; as best calculated to promote its general usefulness, and most suitably adapted to render it interesting, even to those who read for amusement solely.

In the adoption of this plan, the writer has been chiefly influenced by a desire to illustrate the history, genius and character of the times, which his Memoirs embrace; together with the progress and improvement of literature, science and the arts, within the same compass, more especially in this country; and this consideration has obviously led him to introduce, in conjunction with those objects, as well as with the

Life of the great American Philosopher, various notices of many persons distinguished for their talents and merit, not only in our own time, but at different periods in the annals of science. He has thought it right to rescue from oblivion—to commemorate in this way, if not to consecrate, the names of some men in this country, more especially, who deserve to be ranked among the worthies of America. All this the writer has done, too, in conformity to the mode prosecuted by some of the most judicious biographers and memorialists, together with other writers of the same class: It is believed to be a manner of treating the interesting subjects, on which the pens of such authors have been employed, which, while it renders their works more pleasing, greatly increases their usefulness.-If, therefore, some of the matter which has been introduced into the present work should, at first sight, appear irrelative, and even unimportant, the Memorialist nevertheless flatters himself, that, on reflection, nothing will be deemed really so, how remotely soever it may seem, on a transient view of the subject, to be connected with the principal design of the undertaking; provided it has a tendency to illus. trate the great objects he was desirous of accomplishing.*

* The biographer of RITTENHOUSE entirely coincides with the compilers of the Encyclopædia Britannica, in opinion, respecting the utility and propriety of giving an account, in such Memoirs as the present, of things as well as persons, connected in various ways with the main object of the work.

The diversity of the materials which are, by these means, blended with the biographical account of Dr. Rittenhouse, in the Memoirs now presented to the world, made it expedient, in the opinion of the writer, to have recourse to the free use of notes, for the purposes of illustration, reference, and explanation. In a work of such a complexion-constituting a book composed of very various materials, designed to elueidate and inform, as well as to please-it became, in

In the preface to that useful dictionary of arts, sciences and miscellaneous literature, are the following observations: the consideration they merit, is submitted to the good sense of the reader.

"While one part of our readers," say the encyclopedists, when referring to the biographical department of their work, "will regret that we have given no account of their favourite philosopher, hero, or statesman, others may be disposed to remark, that we have dragged from obscurity the names of many persons who were no proper objects of such public regard. To these we can only reply, that, with the greatest biographer of modern times, we have long thought that there has rarely passed a life, of which a faithful narrative would not be useful; and that in the lives of the most obscure persons, of whom we have given any account, we saw something either connected with recent discoveries and public affairs, or which we thought capable of affording a lesson to great multitudes in similar circumstances."-" Between eminent achievements and the scenes where they were performed, there is a natural and necessary connexion. The character of the warrior is connected with the fields of his battles; that of the legislator, with the countries which he civilized; and that of the traveller and navigator, with the regions which they explored. Even when we read of the persons by whom, and the occasions on which, any particular branch of knowledge has been improved, we naturally wish to know something of the places where such improvements were made."