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David Rittenhouse Pioneers of American Science My grandson Th. Jefferson Randolph . .. goes to Philadelphia to attend a course of lectures in Natural history Anatomy & Botany. He will also attend the lecturer in Surgery. ... The museum of Mr. Peale, the garden of Mr. Hamilton, the anatomical preparations and dissections give to Philadelphia advantages in these branches of science not to be had elsewhere in America. Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush October 13, 1808 6 David Rittenhouse David Rittenhouse (173Z-1796) From the beginning, the College of Philadelphia had a scientific bias by Charles Willson Peale unusual at the time of its foundation. Of all the colleges which existed in Professor of astronomy, vice-provost (1779-1782), and trustee of the University the colonies prior to the Revolution, Philadelphia alone had introduced a (1782-1796). Born in Germantown, near course of study which put as much as one-third of its time into science and Philadelphia, and self-educated, Ritten­ practical study.' Nonetheless, in the colonial period, men of science house combined mathematical studies with the profession of instrument-maker remained "amateurs" in the manner of the eighteenth century-observers at his father's farm, from which he and investigators who pursued their interests in private rather than observed the transit of Venus (1769). attached to any institution. John Bartram, the first American botanist, is He conducted surveys of the boundary of Pennsylvania and constructed an reputed to have left his plow to study the natural world around him. He orrery-an instrument simulating astro­ started a botanical garden on the Schuylkill near the present grounds of nomical phenomena for a period of 5,000 the University of Pennsylvania and corresponded with Linnaeus and the years in either direction-for Princeton and the College of Philadelphia. During European followers of that eminent Swedish scientist. His son, William, the Revolution he was engineer for the who continued his father's work, was an alumnus of the Academy. In 1782, Committee of Safety (1775) and later the he was elected the first professor of botany at the College, a position he first director of the mint (1792-1795) and president of the American Philo­ never filled because of ill health and the need to absent himself on journeys sophical Society. of exploration and identification. Another self-educated investigator of even greater distinction was David Rittenhouse: c1ockmaker, mathematician, and astronomer. Like Bartram, he is said to have first given an indication of his future interests while at the plow on his father's farm in Norriton, Pennsylvania. His brother recalled seeing "not only the fences at the head of many furrows, but even his plough and its handles-covered with chalked numerical figures.'" With some unwillingness, Matthias Rittenhouse gave in to his elder son's bent and allowed him to set up as an instrument-maker in a workshop on the family property. In addition to being a respected craft, the clockmaker's trade was one known to involve skills in arithmetic and geometry, and it was not uncommon for gifted artisans to go on to achieve prominence in science and mathematics. During his lifetime, David Rittenhouse achieved the highest acclaim for his science, his mechanical and inventive skill, and his steadfast character as a public figure and a politician. In the latter role, the modesty and virtue for which he was noted served to keep him almost entirely above the enmities of the partisan politics of the time. In fact, his association with the 68 GLADLY LEARN AND GLADLY TEACH radical state government of 1776 and the Constitutionalists, before they were finally defeated in 1790, was one of that party's chief boasts. During the Revolutionary years he lent stature to an otherwise undistinguished group of political novices in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania rather than becoming himself a target for the almost general abuse lavished on his associates. In the Eulogium he delivered on the death of Rittenhouse, Benjamin Rush chose to emphasize the unlettered background from which this native genius had risen to a position of international fame. Far from being a drawback, his want of a formal education had permitted him to escape "the pernicious influence of monkish learning." Had he been subjected to the antiquated training suited to the European schoolmen of the fifteenth century, "instead of revolving through life in a planetary orbit, he would probably have consumed the force of his genius by fluttering around the blaze of an evening taper.''' Rush was pleased to observe that the subject of his eulogy did not waste time in "composing syllogisms, or in measuring the feet of Greek or Latin poetry." Unfortunately, it was not a moment in history when men could profitably dedicate themselves to science alone, and even if he did not suffer the effects of the narrow education of his day, Rittenhouse's talents were nonetheless squandered later on in life. Patronage for independent research was not forthcoming in the Revolutionary period. Instead, Rittenhouse served as the treasurer of the State of Pennsylvania for thirteen years, as well as conducting numerous surveys for boundaries and border disputes; for "talents so splendid, & knowledge so practical in mathematicks are like mines of precious metals. They become public property by universal consent.'" In a letter to Rittenhouse, Thomas Jefferson deplores the wastage involved, however advantageous to the new country such patriotic service may be. With men such as Rittenhouse and Franklin in mind, he declares: "1 am also satisfied there is an order of geniusses above that obligation [to government] & therefore exempted from it, nobody can conceive that nature ever intended to throwaway a Newton upon the occupations of a crown." He goes on: "I doubt not there are in your country many persons The House and Garden of equal to the task of conducting government: but you should consider that John and William Bartram the world has but one Ryttenhouse, & that it never had one before." Drawing by Edward C. Smith, reproduced with permission from the Although a patriot, Jefferson, the man of science, could nonetheless lament John Bartram Association the loss to "the erudition of the world" necessitated by "the commonplace The first native American botanist and drudgery of governing a single state."5 naturalist, John Bartram (1699-1777), named Royal Botanist to George III, laid The emphasis placed by Rush on Rittenhouse's unlettered background out a botanical garden on the banks of did not sit well with the astronomer's nephews. Their father, the Reverend the Schuylkill River in 1728 and built Thomas Barton, had been responsible for recognizing and encouraging the himself a stone house, still standing. The garden was enlarged by his son William genius of the slightly younger man, and the bond between them was who was named the first professor of cemented when Barton married Rittenhouse's sister. After his brother­ botany at the University of Pennsylvania. in-law's premature death, Rittenhouse looked on his nephews almost as his PIONEERS OF AMERICAN SCIENCE •• own sons and, when they became distinguished members of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, they did not respond favorably to the romantic but somewhat derogatory references to their maternal grandparents in whose simple household, it was presumed, David Rittenhouse had undergone a process of self-education similar to that of Franklin or Rousseau. William Barton refutes Rush and describes his grandfather, Matthias, as holding "the highly respectable station of an intelligent, independent farmer."· At the same time the younger Barton had no wish to detract from the genius of his uncle by attributing his scientific perspicacity to anyone else. The one exception was his own father who, by taking an appointment at the Philadelphia Academy on his arrival in the colonies from Ireland, had been in a position to provide Rittenhouse with valuable reading matter from an early date in their friendship. There are few firm facts known about the astronomer's early education. At the age of seven, he is credited with having built a replica of a water mill of the sort he had seen at his grandfather's paper mill on the William Bartram (1739-1823) Wissahickon where he was born in 1732. Another tradition has him by Charles Willson Peale Independence National constructing a wooden clock while only a child. It is quite possible that Historical Park Collection Rittenhouse showed such skill at an early age, but another reason that Son of John Bartram, born in the house much is made of these exploits in accounts of his boyhood is that his built by his father on the Schuylkill and educated at the Academy of Philadelphia. contemporaries wished to think of him as the American Newton. It was He accompanied his father ill journeys of well known that the English genius from Grantham, Lincolnshire, had exploration in the Catskills (1755) and built a model windmill as well as a water clock and a sundial during his the St. John's River (1765-1766) and explored the southeastern part of the childhood. In another neat parallel which occurred in later life, Newton United States (1773-1777). Elected pro­ and Rittenhouse were both appointed director of the mint in their fessor of botany at the University of respective countries. In Jefferson's opinion, the talents of each were Pennsylvania in 1782, ,,. never filled the position because of his travels a"d also squandered equally in the service of the state or the crown. ill health. His book, Travels through Through Thomas Barton, Rittenhouse came to the notice of Provost North and South Carolina, Georgia, East William Smith of the College of Philadelphia. In his eulogy, Benjamin and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, Rush divided the credit for discovering Rittenhouse between them, but the Extensive Territories of the Musco­ gulges or Creek Confederacy, and the William Barton corrects that misapprehension in his father's favor: Country of the Choctaws (1791) was "Perhaps it might be said, with greater strictness, that the 'discovery' here widely read by naturalists abroad and spoken of, belonged solely to Mr.
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