CHAPTER VII

SCIENCE AND LEARNING, 1811-1819

CONVINCED that his removal from the judiciary reflected no discredit upon him and had lost him no friend on the bench or at the bar, Cooper seems speedily to have recovered from any depression which it may have occasioned him. The attentions of the former governor, McKean, who appreciated independent judges, and of his old friend, Alexander J. Dallas, shortly to become Madison's secretary of the treasury, he said were increased and flattering. And in June, 1811, the trustees of Carlisle (later Dickinson) College made him a voluntary offer of the chair of chemistry in that institution.' His former professional associates among the trustees probably initiated the movement to bring him to the college,' and when some of the trustees hesitated to vote for so heterodox a person Benjamin Rush, the chemist, himself a member of the board, insisted upon Cooper's election.3 Thus a place was found for the former judge by appreciative friends who thought he had been unjustly treated. The new position was never satisfactory from a finan

1 Cooper to Madison, Oct. 4, 1811, Madison Papers, XLIII, 22.

2 Among the members of the board of trustees in 1815 were Justice H. H. Brackenbridge of the state supreme court, President Judges James Hamilton and Jonathan Walker, and Thomas Duncan and David Watts, who had served Cooper during the proceedings for his removal. Some or all of these men may have been upon the board in 1811. See the address of the trustees upon Cooper's resignation from the college, Port Folio, 3 series, VI, 512-13. 3 Edgar F. Smith, Chemistry in America, p. 128.

cial point of view. The college apparently guaranteed Cooper only eight hundred or eight hundred and fifty dollars, although he succeeded in supplementing this to an equal amount by means of his many contributions to contemporary periodicals. None the less, the current of his life during the four years he served the rather obscure little Pennsylvania institution was relatively smooth. He got into no violent controversy and left the college in September, 1815, with the plaudits of the trustees ringing in his ears. His pen was unusually active during this period, although not always fruitfully employed, and he made real contributions to science, despite inadequate facilities for experiment. It was during these years that his correspondence with Jefferson reached its highest point. However uneventful the period may have been, it is pleasant to contemplate, a peaceful interlude in a tempestuous life.

5

The summer of 1811 was spent with Joseph Priestley at Northumberland, and in August the new professor began his work with an introductory lecture on chemistry, really a history of that science, which was shortly afterwards published at the request of the trustees and widely commented upon. Here he referred with equanimity to his removal from the judiciary and said that he had cheerfully accepted the post at Carlisle. He stated that, in his opinion, the reasons assigned for his removal ought to entitle him to the thanks of the community, and that from the beginning of his judicial career he had given it to be understood that he cared little for popularity. He admitted that at first he had been resentful of

4 Cooper to A. J. Dallas, Dec. 22, 1814, Madison Papers, L, 35; cf. Cooper to Madison, Sept. 3, 1813, ibid., L, 38.

5 The Introductory Lecture of Thomas Cooper, Esq., Professor of Chemistry at Carlisle College, Pennsylvania. 1812. The date of the preface, April 1, 1811, must be a misprint.

the treatment which he had received from the legislature, but stated that he now realized that if the legislature had not followed the just course it had followed the speedier one, and "had cut the knot which it could not venture to untie." His election to Carlisle College he regarded as an honorable addition to the proofs he had already received that he had not forfeited the good opinion of that portion of society which was best qualified to judge him. So he turned from law and politics to science, in which he had never relinquished interest; he did so of necessity, but apparently without bitterness, and he launched upon his new career with great enthusiasm. This illustrates the extraordinary resilience of his temperament and the vast resourcefulness of his nature.

A writer in the Port Folio, reviewing this lecture and commenting upon the circumstances of its author's removal from the bench, stated that Cooper had just cause for complaint, but that good had resulted from evil. He said that as a consequence of injustice and persecution Cooper had been elevated to a station which was more honorable and conspicuous and better suited to his talents, and in which he could render himself more extensively useful. So this writer declared that the friends of science would be inclined to forgive the legislature for the act which resulted in converting a "respectable judge into a much more respectable teacher of chymistry. While there was an obvious effort here to make a virtue of necessity, there is much to be said in favor of this opinion. Cooper might have been a dominant figure in science, learning, and education, had he been able to refrain from practical politics. But if he had resisted the Ibid., preface, pp. vi-vii.

7 Port Folio, new series, I, 129.

997

8 Edgar F. Smith, former provost of the University of Pennsylvania, has commented upon Cooper's scientific work in his Chemistry in America, VI,

lure of political controversy, his life would have been much less interesting and political history would lack a most enlivening figure.

The reviewer spoke also of the significance to the college of the acquisition of this new professor. After the death of President Nesbit, the very existence of the institution had been precarious, he said, but the election of the Rev. Dr. Atwater of Connecticut had brought "brightness out of gloom." Other arrangements for the benefit of the institution had followed the election of a new president and he felt that the establishment of a professorship of "chymistry" was the most important of these. The appointment of Cooper to this important chair, he claimed, could not be "amended" in the United States.9

We shall not endeavor to discuss the introductory lecture, highly interesting as it is even to a layman, and we shall not describe in detail Cooper's other scientific writings during his last years in Pennsylvania. This period of his life was characterized by a whole-hearted devotion to science and learning. Baffled in his quest for freedom and disillusioned as to democracy, he resumed his quest for truth and did what service he could toward public enlightenment. The utilitarian motive now dominated his work. Indeed, his special interest in chemistry was probably due to his conviction of the utility of this science. Thus he said, "I think it can be shown, without much difficulty, that chemistry is of more immediate and useful application to the every day concerns of life-that it and his Chemistry in Old Philadelphia, pp. 62-81, and is at present making further investigations into this side of Cooper's life. He has stated to the present writer in conversation that Cooper was a great investigator and might have been eminent in chemistry had he devoted himself more exclusively to it.

9 Port Folio, new series, I, 111.

operates more upon our hourly comforts, than any other branch of knowledge whatever. ""10

Early in 1813, Cooper became editor of the Emporium of Arts and Sciences and during the next year and a half he sought to give practical value to this periodical." In his prospectus he announced that he would continue the plan originally proposed by the former editor and publisher, John Redman Coxe. The Emporium was to contain a judicious selection of practical papers on science and the arts taken from foreign publications, and be a repository for original papers furnished by American scientists. The new editor promised that he himself would contribute a series of essays on manufacturing processes, which he had previously prepared for separate publication. He desired to write a "classic book" on the subject, but made no pretense at originality. His chief object was to stimulate and aid American manufacturers. "Having been much occupied in chemical pursuits, and much conversant with manufactures and manufacturers," he considered himself qualified for the task he had assumed.12 He made no mention of disastrous experiences at Manchester and apparently no one annoyed him by recalling them.

His discussion of the encouragement of manufacturing was later used against him when he was so boldly preaching free trade in South Carolina.13 Even in 1813, he regarded bounties and protective duties as taxes upon the rest of the community for the benefit of manufacturers and in general opposed governmental attempts to direct 10 Introductory Lecture, p. 90.

11 His prospectus was issued under the date of February, 1813; Port Folio, 3 series, I, 399-403; Emporium, new series, I, 1-10. The first number was issued in June of that year, and publication was suspended in the autumn of 1814, because of financial difficulties. Cooper to Madison, Nov. 16, 1814. Madison Papers, LIII, 95. Cooper edited vols. 1-3, new series. 12 Emporium, new series, I, 4. 18 See below, pp. 293-4.