14
Webster’s Elements of Nat. philosophy.
8
vo.
1815 Catalogue, page 114, no. 10, as above,
Natural not abbreviated.
WEBSTER,
John.
Elements of Natural Philosophy; explaining the Laws and Principles of Attraction, Gravitation, Mechanics, Pneumatics, Hydrostatics,
Hydraulics, Electricity, and Optics: with a general view of the Solar System. Adapted to public and private Instruction. By
John Webster. With Notes and Corrections, by Robert Patterson, professor of mathematics in the University of Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia: published by
B. and T. Kite,
Fry and Kammerer, printers,
1808.
QC23 .W38
First American Edition. Sm. 8vo. in fours, 116 leaves, woodcut illustrations.
Not in Lowndes.
Allibone III, 2027.
Not in Lalande.
John Webster, fl. 1804, English natural philosopher. The book is dedicated by him to Mr. John Bonnycastle, mathematical master at the
Royal Academy, Woolwich, and the first edition was published in London in 1804.
Robert Patterson, 1743-1824, mathematician, was born in Ireland and emigrated to America in 1768. In 1779 he was appointed professor of mathematics at
Pennsylvania University. Patterson was a member of the American Philosophical Society and was a friend of Jefferson, who in
1805 appointed him director of the mint.
[3732]
15
Mansfield’s essays Mathematical & Physical
8
vo.
1815 Catalogue, page 113, no. 12, as above.
MANSFIELD,
Jared.
Essays, Mathematical and Physical: containing new Theories and Illustrations of some very Important and Difficult Subjects
of the Sciences. Never before published . . .
New-Haven: printed by
William W. Morse, n.d. [
1801.]
QA7 .M28
First Edition. 8vo. 144 leaves, and 24 leaves of tables, errata list on the last page, 13 folded engraved plates.
Not in Sabin.
Karpinski, page 132 (with date [1800]).
Dexter III, 692.
On March 29, 1802, Abraham Baldwin, President pro tempore of the Senate, wrote to the President of the United States [i.e.
Thomas Jefferson]: “M
r. Mansfield informed me several weeks ago that he should avail himself of your obliging offer by forwarding to your address
a box containing fifteen copies of his mathematical work. The delay is so much longer than I expected, that there is reason
to apprehend they will not reach us. I shall write him on the subject tomorrow . . .”
The letter containing Jefferson’s “obliging offer” has not been located.
Dexter, in his account of Mansfield, wrote: “While teaching in New Haven he published, in September, 1801, a volume of Mathematical
Essays; and it is said that this book was brought to the notice of President Jefferson by Abraham Baldwin (Yale 1772), then
a member of the Senate, who had been a fellow-townsman of the author, and a Tutor while he was in College. The result was
that Mr. Mansfield was, unexpectedly to himself, appointed a Captain of Engineers in the United States Army in May, 1802,
with a view to his acting as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the West Point Military Academy. He accordingly removed to
West Point, and became one of the earliest instructors in the new institution.”
Abraham Baldwin, 1754-1807, statesman, originally of Connecticut but later of Georgia, was a Jeffersonian in politics. He was in frequent
correspondence with Jefferson at this time concerning books for the library of Congress. He was elected to the pro tempore
post in the Senate in December 1801, and occupied it when Aaron Burr, the Vice President, was absent.
Jared Mansfield, 1759-1830, received his appointment to West Point from Jefferson in 1802 through Abraham
