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VERY SCARCE early and important American chemistry book geared toward academies, classrooms and professionals of diverse fields by the founder of the modern scientific prospectus in education. Reprinted several times, this is the only first edition copy that I see for sale. It is in its original 200-year-old+ sheepskin binding with original endpapers and blanks. Chemical Instructor by Amos Eaton, Attorney, Professor of Chemistry and Botany in the Vermont Medical Institution Overall Condition: GOOD, complete, unrestored and all original - binding, blanks and endpapers. BOOK INFO Published in Albany, New York in 1822 by Websters and Skinners. In it its original full mottled sheepskin with spine ruled in gilt and a gilt-lettered morocco label. Small octavo, 7.25" x 4.5". Collated and complete: 231 pp. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Amos Eaton (May 17, 1776 - May 10, 1842) was an American botanist, geologist, and educator who is considered the founder of the modern scientific prospectus in education, which was a radical departure from the American liberal arts tradition of classics, theology, lecture, and recitation. Eaton co-founded the Rensselaer School in 1824 with Stephen van Rensselaer III "in the application of science to the common purposes of life". His books were among the first published for which a systematic treatment of the United States was attempted, and in a language that all could read. His teaching laboratory for botany in the 1820s was the first of its kind in the country. Eaton's popular lectures and writings inspired numerous thinkers, in particular women, whom he encouraged to attend his public talks on experimental philosophy. Emma Willard would found the Troy Female Seminary (Emma Willard School), and Mary Mason Lyon, the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (Mount Holyoke College). Eaton held the rank of senior professor at Rensselaer until his death in 1842. Eaton was a well-established public speaker on natural philosophy, touring and delivering lectures in the northeast. He was also a recognized pioneer in botany and principal land surveyor in the United States. Eaton set about to develop a new kind of institution devoted to the application of science to life, a modern scientific prospectus, new methods of instruction and examination, recognizing women in higher education, and practical training for adults. Eaton's original aim was to also train teachers and disciples, which he did in large numbers. Students learned by doing, in sharp contrast with the conventional method of learning by rote memorization of facts. Students were made into experimenters and workers, and, in place of recitations, delivered lectures to one another. Eaton also often led day excursions, taking students to observe the application of science on nearby farms and in workshops, tanneries, and bleaching factories. They then returned to the laboratory, analyzing the principles involved. This, too, was an innovation, as it represented a reversal of the usual pedagogical method, which began with the principle and proceeded to the application. CONDITION REPORT GOOD Original binding. Firm binding, rubbed extremities. Leather a bit dry. Chipped spine label. Some slight cracking to joints, heavier rubbing along head of spine. Slightly bumped corners. Pages are toned and browning with foxing (a nearly universal trait in early American books due to the poor paper quality used). Former owner names in pencil and pen on endpapers and title page. Signs of handling: bent corners, creasing, occasional pencil mark along margin of a particular passage. Large water dampening stain to head of text block. All in all, a very scarce early American chemistry book by an important pioneering American educator and science communicator.
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