Herbert 1.Pratt Textile Fibers Department E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. Wilmington, Delaware 19898
Samuel L. Mitchill's Evaluation of the Lectures of Joseph Black
Joseph Black (172%99), famous for his quantitative studies of heat and t h e discovery of carbon dioxide, taught chemistry a t t h e Universitv of Edinbureh for over t h i r t v vears. Yet. h e never puhlishedhis lectures. Notes taken b y others were sold widely a n d i n 1801,Dr. J o h n Vaughan (1775-1807), a physician of Wilmington, Delaware, obtained a "correct copy" of t h e lectures which h e proposed to e d i t a n d publish.' Before going ahead, h e wrote t o two of Black's former pupils, Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill(1764-1831) of Columhia College and Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) of t h e University of Pknnsylvania, asking what they thought of t h e idea (2). B o t h m e n were pessimistic as to t h e hook's value. T h e y thought i t was out of date a n d doubted t h a t i t would sell, so Vaughan discarded his plans, evidently without cause.2 T w o years later, J o h n Rohison (1739-1805) Black's close friend a n d executor puhlished t h e lectures in two volumes from Black's own notes. A German translation was issued in 1804-05, an American edition in 1807, a n d a second German edition in 1818 (4). It has been suggested t h a t t h e wide distrihution which t h e book enjoyed was d u e more t o sentiment among Edinburgh alumni a n d Black's students t h a n to a n y value i t might have had as a t e x t
(5).
Dr. Mitchill's letter of reply to Dr. Vaughan's query a b o u t ouhlication offers interesting commentary o n Black as a lecturer a n d o n t h e chemistr; of t h e timks. It also reflects Mitchill's . p r d i f-i o u s involvement in professional and political affairs. Washington December 29,1801
My Dear Sic Your letter of the 23rd instant was received this day. It would have been in mv hands sooner. had I been in town.But I was absent. havine hern rngnged in an txcurjion during s tew dnys rerplte f n m (:on. grprs~md;attendmcc.'tu v i i t Aicmndrin, and then a trip t
