Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/713

 Rh about and help himself a little, and was encouraged to form plans for future work, when suddenly his eyes became again inflamed, and he was thrown back into his old condition of blindness. This state of health continually prevented his complete recovery of sight; and so for the next twelve years he very rarely had vision enough to read ordinary type.

On leaving the infirmary, Livingston boarded for a time in a house with several printers of the more intelligent class. Their society suited his tastes, and they took a strong personal interest in him. They brought the important new books of the day to his attention, and read them to him in the intervals of their work. After a year or two he had the good fortune to be received in a Quaker family, where he was treated quite as one of the household. His New York home continued to be with these excellent people for many years. The Quakers called him by his first name (Edward), as it was easier to speak, and the other was soon dropped, except in his family and among the friends of his youth.

During the early years of his life in New York, Edward sustained himself by literary labor, of a rather miscellaneous character, having devised a writing-machine which could be carried in the pocket, and by the aid of which he was able to work without assistance. In a few months, under Dr. Elliot's treatment, he became sufficiently familiar with its routine to carry it on, with my assistance only; and after this he often came home to Saratoga with a carpet-bag full of books, enough to occupy us for weeks, or until an unmanageable relapse compelled a return to his physician.

It must not be inferred that this self-education was a hap-hazard affair. On the contrary, it was carried out with a definite purpose, and with the utmost perseverance. Of course, all the early plans about going to college were now ended, and quite as much from choice as from necessity. His knowledge of science, and particularly of applied science, had been steadily growing, and he had studied with especial care all the important works on scientific agriculture. It was impossible for him to rest with half-knowledge, but his blindness made the chemical side of this subject especially difficult. This obstacle was partly overcome in the summer of 1843, when I had the advantage of attending a very full course of lectures and experiments in chemistry, given at Fairfield, New York, by Professor Mather. After this we could manage the subject fairly well together; but, unable as he was to observe the characteristic behavior of chemical substances, he could not readily individualize them. His ideas about them, therefore, were easily confused, and he was constantly striving to make them more definite.

In the fall of 1845 I was able to join my brother in New York, and give all my time to his assistance. When not occupied with tasks of immediate concern, he now gave his attention to the execution of a