Page:The History of the University of Pennsylvania, Wood.djvu/77

Rh natural philosophy which he delivered to the classes under his care, were printed after his death, and, though at present out of date, attracted considerable attention at the time of their publication.

The place left vacant by the death of Dr. Ewing, was not filled by a new appointment till the year 1806, when John Dowell, LL. D., of Annapolis in Maryland, was induced to resign his station as principal of St. John's College, in order to accept the professorship of natural philosophy in the University of Pennsylvania, which was offered him by a unanimous vote of the board of trustees. In the commencement of the following year he was elected provost: but the state of his health was found to be incompatible with the duties he had undertaken to perform; and in little more than three years after entering the institution, he retired into the country, and left to the trustees the embarrassment of another choice. He afterwards evinced his attachment to the school, by supplying a temporary vacancy occasioned by the resignation of his successor; and still later, by the bequest of his books, which now form a valuable part of the library belonging to the institution.

At the period of Dr. Dowell's retirement, Dr. Andrews had been vice-provost for nearly twenty years; and his services both in the college and university, together with the respectability of his attainments and character, entitled him to what little addition of honour and emolument was to be derived from his elevation to the higher post. A native of Maryland, he was, at the age of seventeen, sent to receive his education in the college and academy at Philadelphia, where he graduated A. D. 1765, and was immediately employed as a tutor in the German school; thus beginning his career in the lowest station of that institution, in the highest office of which it was destined to close. Having qualified himself for the ministry, and received regular ordination in