Address on the scientific life and labors of William C. Redfield, A.M., first president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science : delivered before the Association at their Annual Meeting in Montreal, August 14, 1857 / by Denison Olmsted.

  • Olmsted, Denison, 1791-1859.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address on the scientific life and labors of William C. Redfield, A.M., first president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science : delivered before the Association at their Annual Meeting in Montreal, August 14, 1857 / by Denison Olmsted. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    wind character of the storm; and the comparison of dates, and corresponding courses of the winds, and respective states of the barometer, showed the dimensions of the storm, its rotary and progressive velocities, its duration at any given place, and its va- rious degrees of violence at different distances from the center. In the character of the researches before us, conducted as they were, not in the shades of philosophic retirement and learned leisure, but in hours redeemed from the pressing avocations of an onerous and responsible business, or borrowed from the sea- son allotted to sleep, we trace qualities of mind that belong only to the true philosopher. The benevolent and practical mind of Redfield had no sooner established the laws of storms, than it commenced the inquiry, what rules may be derived from it, to promote the safety of the immense amount of human life and of property that are afloat on the ocean, and exposed continually to the dangers of ship- wreck ; in this imitating our Franklin, who as soon as he had discovered the identity of lightning with the electricity of our machines, hastened to the inquiry, How may we so apply our knowledge of the laws of electricity as to disarm the thunder- bolt of its terrors ? We might pursue the comparison and say, that as every building saved from the ravages of lightning by the conducting rod, is a token both of the sagacity and the be- nevolence of Franklin, so every vessel saved from the horrors of shipwreck by rules derived from these laws of storms, is a witness to the sagacity and benevolence of Redfield. Other writers on the laws of storms, especially Reid and Piddington, have lent important aid in establishing rules for navigators, until it is now easy for the mariner by the direction in which the gale strikes his ship, to determine his position in the storm, and the course he must steer in order to escape from its fury. Nor are testimonies wanting of the successful application of these rules. The most accomplished navigators (we might instance particu- larly Commodores Rodgers and Perry, and Commander Glynn, of the U. S. Navy) have testified that within their knowledge and in some cases within their own observation, many ships have owed their deliverance from the perils of shipwreck to a faithful ob- servance of the rules derived from Redfield's theory of storms.