Papers of Samuel Williams

Scope and Contents Lecture 1, On the certainty, usefulness and ease of mathematical science, was delivered at a Harvard assembly on May 10, 1780, and subsequently read in 1784 and 1786. This lecture is an explanation of Enlightenment ideals regarding reason, science, and the pursuit of knowledge; it was the first lecture Williams gave at Harvard as Hollis Professor. Lecture 2, On a very uncommon darkness which took place in the New England States, May 19,...

Scope and Contents First read in Boston on January 1, 1782. Subsequent readings in Cambridge in 1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787 and 1788. This is a set of two lectures, one about the effects of fire and heat on various objects and fluids, and the other a general overview of the properties of physical bodies. The lectures contain numerous references to scientific instruments, notably the pyrometer, used by Williams in his experiments.

Scope and Contents First lecture read in Boston January 22, 1782 and subsequently in Cambridge in 1782, 1784, 1785 and 1786.

Second lecture read in Boston January 25, 1782 and subsequently in Cambridge in 1782, 1787 and 1788.

Scope and Contents First lecture read on May 8, 1784 and subsequently read in 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1807 and 1808. The last two readings were presumably at the University of Vermont.

Second lecture read on May 10, 1784 and subsequently read in 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1807 and 1808. The last two readings were presumably at the University of Vermont.

Scope and Contents First read May 20, 1785 and subsequently read in 1786, 1787, 1788, 1807 and 1808. The last two readings were presumably at the University of Vermont.

Scope and Contents First read June 4, 1788 and subsequently read in 1807 and 1808. The last two readings were presumably at the University of Vermont. This lecture includes measurements and original observations, taken by Thomas Brattle, John Winthrop, and Williams himself, of magnetic declination of sites in the Americas.

Scope and Contents This volume is a manuscript that appears to have never been published; it continues into HUM 8 Volume 9. In his preface, written in Rutland, Vermont, Williams explains that the lectures dated from his tenure as Hollis Professor at Harvard, from 1780 to 1788. This manuscript appears to have been assembled around 1790, although possibly later.

Scope and Contents This volume is the continuation of the unpublished manuscript begun in volume 8. It includes a lecture on heat in comets that is believed to be a draft of a paper later published by the Royal Society; this lecture contains important original observations.

Scope and Contents Includes a section regarding the perceived causes of climate change and another asserting the probability of climate change in "all cultivated countries and throughout the earth." This document appears to be a draft of a manuscript intended for publication, rather than a lecture, and internal evidence suggests that it was created prior to 1783, likely in the 1770s. Much of this material would appear in extended form in Williams' The Natural and Civil History of...