7994. SMALL (William), Jefferson's early companion.—
It was my great good
fortune, and what probably fixed the destinies
of my life, that Dr. William Small of Scotland,
was then (1760) professor of mathematics [in
William and Mary College], a man profound in
most of the useful branches of science, with a
happy talent of communication, correct and
gentlemanly manners, and an enlarged and liberal
mind. He, most happily for me, became
soon attached to me, and made me his daily companion
when not engaged in the school; and
from his conversation, I got my first views of
the expansion of science, and of the system of
things in which we are placed.—
Autobiography. Washington ed. i, 2.
Ford ed., i, 4.
(1821)
