Papers published by Mr. Bowditch in the Memoirs of the Academy; account of some of them.—Total eclipse of the sun in 1806; effect of it.—Anecdote of Chief Justice Parsons.—Meteor that fell over Weston, Ct.; account of its curious appearance; effect of these papers upon his fame in Europe.—Chosen member of most of the learned societies of the Old World.—Quits Salem to become connected with larger institutions in Boston.
Papers published by Mr. Bowditch in the Memoirs of the Academy; account of some of them.—Total eclipse of the sun in 1806; effect of it.—Anecdote of Chief Justice Parsons.—Meteor that fell over Weston, Ct.; account of its curious appearance; effect of these papers upon his fame in Europe.—Chosen member of most of the learned societies of the Old World.—Quits Salem to become connected with larger institutions in Boston.
EMPLOYMENT IN POLITICAL TIMES.
TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.
MR. BOWDITCH OBSERVES IT.
EFFECTS OF THE ECLIPSE.
It should be remembered, that, during these stormy political times, Mr. Bowditch was chiefly engaged in making his notes on the great work to which we have already alluded, La Place’s “Mécanique Céleste,” and that it was between the years 1800 and 1820, that is, during this same time, that he wrote twenty-three papers, which were published in the Memoirs of the American Academy of Artsand Sciences. Of some of these last I will give you an account. Of the others, were I to mention them, you could understand but little. They relate chiefly to observations made upon the moon; the comets of 1807 and 1811; the eclipses of the sun which took place in 1806 and 1811; measurements of the height of the White Mountains, in New Hampshire; observations on the compass; on a pendulum supported by two points; and the correction of some mistakes in one of the books studied first by him in early life, called Newton’s “Principia.” A few of these papers I will try to explain to you, at least in part. I commence with his observation upon a total eclipse of the sun, which occurred June 16, 1806. I shall quote nearly the words of the observer. “On the day of the eclipse the weather was remarkably fine, scarcely a cloud being visible in any part of the heavens. I made preparations for the observations in the garden adjoining the house in which I reside, near the northern part of Summer Street, in Salem. Having been disappointed in procuringa telescope of a large magnifying power, I was obliged to make use of that attached to my theodolite, which gave very distinct vision, though its magnifying power was small. An assistant was seated near me, who counted the seconds from a chronometer, and thus enabled me to mark down with a pencil, the time when the first impression was made on the sun, without taking my eye from the telescope till four or five seconds had elapsed, and the eclipse had sensibly increased, after which I examined the second and minute hands of the chronometer, and took every precaution to prevent mistakes. Four or five minutes before the commencement of the eclipse, I began to observe that part of the sun where the first contact [of the moon’s shadow] was expected to take place; and eight minutes twenty-eight seconds after ten o’clock, I observed the first impression. As the eclipse advanced, there did not appear to be so great a diminution of the light as was generally expected; and it was not till the sun was nearly covered that the darkness was very sensible.The last ray of light disappeared instantaneously. The moon was then seen surrounded by a luminous appearance of considerable extent, such as has been generally taken notice of in total eclipses of the sun.” A number of stars became visible. The observer mentions that the light in the garden was not entirely gone; but in the house candles were needed, as if it were evening. At thirty-two minutes eighteen seconds after eleven o’clock,—that is, at a little more than an hour from the beginning of the eclipse,—the first returning ray of light burst forth with great splendor. I have heard that the effect upon those who saw it was surpassingly grand. Suddenly the light of midday seemed to break in upon the quiet of evening. So completely were all the animal creation deceived, that the cows returned lowing homeward, and the fowls sought their roosts, and quietly placed their heads under their wings. All human beings were looking in mute amazement, and deep silence prevailed, as the dark shadow of the moon came stealing over the surface of the sun at noon.There was something fearful when the sun was wholly covered. Suddenly a bright ray shot forth mid heaven, and fell upon the earth, and with it arose a loud shout from the assembled crowd. Aged men[9]and women joined in the chorus, and saluted again the beautiful sunlight.
This paper, though short, is one of the most important he ever wrote. In a note to it he first mentions publicly a mistake he had discovered in the “Mécanique Céleste.”
METEORS.
OBSERVATIONS OF ONE OF THEM.
In 1815, Mr. Bowditch published another paper, which I may be able to explain to you in some degree. You have all heard of falling stars, or meteors, and probably most of you have seen them frequently, when walking at night, when the sky is clear. Some of these are very small; they seem at a great distance. They suddenly appear in our heavens,and as suddenly disappear, and perhaps nothing more is heard or seen of them. Others, on the contrary, appear larger, and fall to the earth after having traversed a great portion of the heavens. On the 14th of December, 1807, one of the most curious exploded, and fell over Weston, in Connecticut. Mr. Bowditch, in his Memoir, writes thus:—
“The extraordinary meteor which appeared at Weston, in Connecticut, on the 14th of December, 1807, and exploded with several discharges of stones, having excited great attention throughout the United States, and being one of those phenomena of which few exact observations are to be found in the history of physical science, I have thought that a collection of the best observations of its appearance at different places, with the necessary deductions for determining, as accurately as possible, the height, direction, velocity, and magnitude of the body, would not be unacceptable to the Academy, since facts of this kind, besides being objects of great curiosity,may be useful in the investigation of the origin and nature of these meteors; and as the methods of making these calculations are not fully explained in any treatise of trigonometry common in this country, I have given the solutions of two of the most necessary problems, with examples calculated at full length. The second problem is not, to my knowledge, given in any treatise of spherics. The observations of the meteor, which, after many inquiries, were found to have been made with sufficient accuracy to be introduced in the present investigation, were those made at Wenham, about seven miles north-easterly of Salem, by Mrs. Gardner, a very intelligent lady, who had an opportunity of observing it with great attention; those at Weston, by Judge Wheeler and Mr. Staples; and those at Rutland, in Vermont, by William Page, Esq.” After giving the requisite solutions, he proceeds: “Some time after the appearance of the meteor, I went with Mr. Pickering to Mrs. Gardner’s house, at Wenham, where she had observed the phenomenon. She informed usthat on the morning of the 14th of December, 1807, when she arose, she went towards the window of her chamber, which looks to the westward, for the purpose of observing the weather, according to her invariable practice for many years past. The sky was clear, except a few thin clouds in the west. It was past daybreak, and, by estimation, about half an hour before sunrise, or seven o’clock. The meteor was immediately observed just over the southern part of the barn in her farm-yard, nearly in front of the window; its disk was well defined, and it resembled the moon so much, that, unprepared as Mrs. G.’s mind was for a phenomenon of that nature, she was not at first aware that it was not the moon, till she perceived it in motion, when her first thought (to use her own words) was, ‘Where is the moon going to?’ The reflection, however, was hardly made, when she corrected herself, and with her eye followed the body with the closest attention throughout its whole course. It moved in a direction nearly parallel to the horizon, and disappeared behind a cloudnorthward of the house of Samuel Blanchard, Esq. She supposed the meteor to have been visible about half a minute.
“The attention of Judge Wheeler was first drawn by a sudden flash of light, which illuminated every object. Looking up, he discovered, in the north, a globe of fire just then passing behind the cloud which obscured, though it did not entirely hide, the meteor. In this situation its appearance was distinct and well defined, like that of the sun seen through a mist. It rose from the north, and proceeded in a direction nearly perpendicular to the horizon, but inclining by a very small angle to the west, and deviating a little from the plane of a great circle, but in pretty large curves, sometimes on one side of the plane and sometimes on the other, but never making an angle with it of more than four or five degrees. Its apparent diameter was about one half or two thirds the apparent diameter of the full moon. Its progress was not so rapid as that of common meteors and shooting stars. When it passed behind the thinner clouds, itappeared brighter than before; and when it passed the spots of clear sky, it flashed with a vivid light, yet not so intense as the lightning of a thunder-storm. Where it was not too much obscured by thick clouds, a waving, conical train of paler light was seen to attend it, in length about ten or twelve diameters of the body. In the clear sky a brisk scintillation was observed about the body of the meteor, like that of a burning firebrand carried against the wind. It disappeared about fifteen degrees short of the zenith, and about the same number of degrees west of the meridian. It did not vanish instantaneously, but grew, pretty rapidly, fainter and fainter, as a red-hot cannon-ball would do if cooling in the dark, only with much more rapidity. The whole period between its first appearance and total extinction was estimated at about thirty seconds. About thirty or forty seconds after this, three loud and distinct reports, like those of a four-pounder near at hand, were heard. Then followed a rapid succession of reports less loud, so as to produce a continuedrumbling. This noise continued about as long as the body was in rising, and died away, apparently, in the direction from which the meteor came. Mr. Staples observed that when the meteor disappeared, there were apparently three successive efforts or leaps of the fire-ball, which grew more dim at every throe, and disappeared with the last. From the various accounts which we have received of the appearance of the body, at different places, we are inclined to believe that the time between the disappearance and report, as estimated by Judge Wheeler, is too little, and that a minute is the least time that could have intervened.
OBSERVATION OF THEM.
THEIR NATURE.
“The observations made at Rutland were procured by the kind offices of Professor Hall, of Middlebury College, Vermont, to whom Mr. Page communicated his valuable observations, in a paper expressed in the following terms: ‘I was at the west door of my house, on Monday morning, the 14th of December, 1807, about daylight; and perceiving the sky suddenly illuminated, I raised myeyes and beheld a meteor of a circular form, in the south-westerly part of the heavens, rapidly descending to the south, leaving behind it a vivid, sparkling train of light. The atmosphere near the south part of the horizon was very hazy; but the passage of the meteor behind the clouds was visible until it descended below the mountains, about twenty miles south of this place. There were white, fleecy clouds scattered about the sky, but none so dense as to obscure the track of the meteor. I now lament that I did not make more particular observations at the time; and I should probably, until this day, have considered it to be what is commonly called a “falling star,” had I not read in the New York papers an account of the explosion of a meteor, and the falling of some meteoric stones near New Haven, Connecticut, which, by recurring to circumstances then fresh in my recollection, I found to be on the same morning that I observed the meteor at Rutland. I am indebted to my learned friend Dr. Samuel Williams for his aid and directions in ascertaining thesituation of the meteor when I first observed it, and its course, and also for the order of my observations: Form, circular; magnitude, less than a quarter of the diameter of the moon; color, red, vivid light; tail, or train of light, about eight times the length of its diameter, at the least, projected opposite to its course.’”
I quote these to give you some idea of the appearance of this meteor, and likewise of Mr. Bowditch’s diligence. From the examination of all the accounts given him, he came to the conclusion that the body moved at the rate of more than three miles per second, and at the height of eighteen miles above the surface of the earth. With regard to the magnitude of the body, the results were less accurate; and the probability is, that all the body did not fall, but merely passed through the air, and continued on its course into unknown regions of space.[10]
EUROPEAN FAME.
ACADEMIC HONORS.
The other papers I shall not mention, because they are upon subjects difficult to be comprehended. The last appeared in the volumes of the Memoirs of the Academy published in 1820. All these papers were read by the astronomers and mathematicians of Europe, and the consequence was, that Mr. Bowditch was chosen a member of many of the learned societies instituted there for the promotion of science. In 1818 he was chosen into the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, and in the year following was enrolled on the list of the Royal Irish Academy. WhileI am upon this subject, I would state that he afterwards was elected associate of the Astronomical Society of London, of the Academies of Berlin and Palermo, and had a correspondence with most of the astronomers of Europe. The National Institute of France was about choosing him one of its candidates for the position of foreign member, only eight of which are chosen from the whole world. He died before any election was held.
LITERARY LABORS.
In addition to the papers to the Academy, Mr. Bowditch published several articles in reviews, &c. One of them is an interestinghistory of modern astronomy, which is intended to give us an account of the lives and doings of the most celebrated astronomers of modern times. Such were his principal literary labors, and the greater part of them were performed during his residence in Salem.
The article on modern astronomy was prepared a few years after his removal to Boston. To that removal let us now turn. In 1823 overtures were made to him to control two institutions in Boston, one for life insurance, the other for marine risks. The offers were too liberal for him to refuse. His duties to his family compelled him to accept them. On his determination being known, his fellow-citizens paid him a pleasant tribute of respect and love by inviting him to a public and farewell dinner.
REMOVAL TO BOSTON.
As the family left Salem, Mr. Bowditch and his wife often thought that, after remaining eight or ten years at Boston, they would return, in order that their bodies might be laid by the side of those of their ancestors. Butnew friends awaited them in Boston; new ties were formed there; and although they always looked to their native place as the seat of many of their most beloved associations, they both lived in Boston until their deaths.
His engagements of a public nature, during his residence in Boston, were similar to those he had whilst at Salem. For many years he managed both of the institutions to which he had been called. But the directors, finding that the duties of one were sufficient to occupy all his attention, broke up the Marine Insurance Company, and Mr. Bowditch (or Dr. Bowditch, as he was now generally called, having received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard University in 1816) devoted himself to the life insurance office. This he raised to be one of the greatest institutions in New England. By an alteration in the charter, proposed by Dr. Bowditch, this became, in fact, a great savings bank, where immense sums are now yearly put in trust for widows and orphans. The only difference in his habits, caused by his removal to Boston, was an enlargement of his sphere of labor. All objectsof public utility still engaged his attention.
The system of popular lectures, of which we have now so many, commenced with the Mechanic Institution of which he was the first president. He was zealous for the improvement of the Boston Athenæum, and was very influential towards getting for it large sums of money, and in making it more liberal in its rules.
SERVICES TO HARVARD COLLEGE.
An honor was conferred upon him, after his arrival in Boston, which he thought as high as any ever received. Having had two honorary degrees from Harvard University, and having been one of the board of overseers of that institution for many years, he was finally chosen a member of the corporation, or council of seven men, who guide the whole of the concerns of that important institution. How different the commencement and termination of the career of the poor son of a cooper, who at ten years of age left school, and yet at the end of life was one of the chief directors in the first literary institution in America!