n of his
standing at West Point that, while he was a cadet of the first class, he
was selected by the government of the Academy to be temporarily himself
an instructor. In 1818 he joined the army, as a lieutenant, and after
passing one year with his regiment, of which the late General Taylor was
at that time the Major, he was elected Assistant Professor of
Mathematics in the Military Academy, and returned to fulfil for six
years, with constantly increasing reputation, both for scientific
abilities and for personal character, the duties of that office, which
it scarcely need be said are more difficult at West Point than in any
other school in America. Among the distinguished gentlemen who were
associated with him in teaching or as students during this period, were
General Worth, Colonel Bliss, Colonel Thayer, Colonel Mansfield, and
Professors Alexander D. Bache, LL. D., Charles Davies, LL. D., E. C.
Ross, LL. D., and John Torrey, LL. D. Resigning his commission, he was
in 1825 made Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Geneva
College, and he filled this place twenty-three years, leaving it in
1848, to accept the Presidency of the New York Free Academy. We conceive
that nothing could have invested this school with a higher claim to
respect, or challenged for it a larger degree of confidence, than the
selection of a man of such experience, capacities, and reputation, to be
its chief officer; and for the class of persons likely to come under his
instruction, no course of study could be more judicious, no training
more admirably adapted, than may be expected from one who has been so
long and so successfully engaged in preparing men for the most difficult
and important offices. His attainments needed no illustration, and his
administrative abilities have been amply vindicated by his government of
the Free Academy.

Candidates for admission to the Free Academy must have passed at least
one year in the public schools, and they are examined in the common
English studies. The standards for admission are not so high as the
colleges demand, because the period of instruction is longer. We cannot
enter into any particular statement of the courses of study, but it
will be interesting if we indicate their character very briefly, and
describe the chief teachers. Edward C. Ross, LL. D., the Professor of
Mathematics, is, like Dr. Webster, a graduate of the Military Academy,
and was many years a successful teacher in that inst