THE exalted reputation for talents which the late Professor Fisher left behind him, has conspired with the affecting circumstances of his death, to throw a romantic but melancholy interest around his memory. More than twenty years have now passed, since Yale College and the surrounding community, were suddenly involved in the deepest gloom at the tidings, that one respected and beloved in no ordinary degree, who had just exchanged with them the parting salutation, and embarked for the Old World under the most flattering auspices, had suffered a terrible shipwreck and was buried beneath the waves! A new genera tion has sprung up, who have lis tened with interest to the tale of sorrow, that has mingled with enthusiastic expressions of admiration for his talents and virtues from his former associates and pupils; and the wish has often been repeated, that a full biography of him might be given to the public. Not being in possession of his writings, we have not the means of making out a complete analysis of his scientific labors, or a full history of his brief but remarkable life; but we propose only to recite a few particVol. I.

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ulars respecting him, gleaned from the excellent " Eulogy" of Professor Kingsley pronounced on the occasion of his death, and from several obituary notices published at the same period. This we do by way of introduction to the "Reminiscences," the title of an unpublished manuscript now before us, written by an intimate friend and classmate of Professor Fisher, soon after his decease.

ALEXANDER METCALF FISHER was born at Franklin, Massachusetts, in the year 1794. His parents were much respected members of the pastoral charge of the late celebrated Dr. Emmons. He early exhi bited tokens of a superior mind and an aptitude for learning, which determined his parents to give him a liberal education; and, accordingly, he entered Yale College, in the autumn of 1809. Though but fifteen years of age, and diminutive in person, yet the superiority of his mind, and his love of study, were soon apparent, and he speedily acquired and easily retained throughout his academic course, the first place in his class. He took his baccalaureate degree in 1813, and returned to his

father's house.

Without any definite plan of life before him, but desirous of examining for himself the grounds of the Christian faith, in which he had been educated, he placed himself, the following year, under the instruction of his profound and venerable pastor. He wrote a series of dissertations on points of theology proposed to him by the Doctor; often, with his usual independence, controverting some of the peculiar and favorite opinions of that distinguished divine, who expressed, at times, as we were informed by Professor Fisher himself, much uneasiness, not to say displeasure, at having his peculiar doctrines canvassed with so much freedom by a youth of nineteen. It is not unlikely that this was the reason for breaking off their connexion; for the next year Mr. Fisher repaired to Andover, and entered the Theological Seminary. Here he devoted himself to the regular studies of the Institution with his accustomed diligence, until impaired health compelled him to return home. His constitution had received a severe shock, from which it did not recover for several years afterwards.

In 1815 he was appointed tutor in Yale College, and entered upon the duties of the office at the open ing of the fall term. At this time, his health was very poor, his person much emaciated, and his spirits deeply depressed. Regular employment so congenial to his taste, gradually repaired his strength and revived his spirits; and he selected the most difficult studies, for, as Delambre observes, difficulties constitute the natural aliment of genius. The solution of various mathematical problems proposed by Dr. Adrain in a magazine published in the city of New York, an able review of Day's Algebra in a public journal, and a profound Essay on Musical Temperament, written during his tutorship, and published in the first volume of the Amer

ican Journal of Science, brought him rapidly into notice among scientific men; and, in the year 1817, when on the decease of the lamented President Dwight, Professor Day then filling the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy, was elevated to the presidency, Mr. Fisher was elected adjunct professor in that department.

From this period, his plans of study were laid out on the broadest scale; his health improved; he ascended the heights of science with almost unexampled rapidity; and he fulfilled all the duties of an instructor and officer of the college with the greatest ability and faithfulness. In the time which elapsed," says Prof. Kingsley, "from his election to his new office to his departure for Europe, he had examined and digested the writings of the principal philosophers of Britain, tracing every discovery, theory, and illustration to its source; and had read, with the same attention, many of the most valuable publications of the mathematicians and philosophers of France. He had, in the same time, prepared a full course of lectures in natural philosophy, both theoretical and experimental, which for copiousness, clearness, and exact adaptation to the purposes of instruction, equaled the highest expectations of his friends.

"Having thus far accomplished his original design, he resolved on an excursion to Europe, not so much for the sake of making new acquisitions in science, for the knowl edge of European philosophers is found in their books,—as to visit the places of public instruction, and examine by actual inspection the modes of communicating knowledge in foreign universities; to form an acquaintance with men who were