The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1912-08-02
new NEWS or YESTERDAY
Earned a Large Fortune With
Pen Alone.
Prof. Elias Loonis of Yale Made
More Than 100000 by Writ
ing Textbooks Which Had
Great Sale.
BY {. J. EDWARDS.

BY E. J. EDWARDS.
One of the largest, if not actually
the largest, bequest made to any
American university by an officer q.
the university was the estate which
by his will Prof. Elias Loomis, who
died in 1889, bequeathed to Yale Uni.
yersity.
Professor Loomis was an eccentric
and yet very greatly respected mem
Der of the Yale faculty for more than
a generation. There Is no alumnus
of Yale whose degree was received
between the early sixties and the late
eighties who does not recall affection
ately and yet with a slight smile of
humorous recollection this quaint and
eccentric professor vastly learned in
natural philosophy, mathematics and
especially astronomy. Among men of
science the world over Professor
Loomis ranked with Dan, the great
geologist; Hadley, the Greek scholar
and father of Arthur Hadley, presi-
dent at this time of Yale; and Sill
man, one of the worlds great author.
tiles upon chemistry. The United
States government recognized Profes-
SCR Loomis as the foremost meteor
ologist of the United States, and
when the government established its
first weather bureau this was not
done until after consultation with
Professor Loomis.
Professor Loomis was a man c
singular tdci,u,hity. II he could ex-
press his thought In a single word,
he would do that. Moreover, he led
almost hermit's life. The world of
Yale University saw nothing of him
except at chapel, at Sunday services,
and in the lecture room. After lee
lures were ended or the recitations
brought to a close. Professor Loomis
would depart quietly, always unac-
companied, from the lecture room,
crossing New Haven green to his lodg.
ing room, which faced the green. He
always wore conspicuous black and
white checked necktie, gathered into
a bow knot of mathematical accur-
acy; his linen was immaculate.
Within the time specified by stat
ute after the death of Professor
Loomls his will was offered for pro.
bate 1t contained only two requests,
and one of these was partial one.
He bequeathed his entire estate to
Yale College. one-half of the estate
to pass Immediately into the POSSES
sion of the college; in the other half
his sons were to have a life interest,
the income from 1t being divided be-
tween them, and after that interest
lapsed, the entire estate was to go to
Yale for the purpose of establishing
as great and fully equipped an as
Economical observatory as the amount
of the estate would permit.
Every one around Yale gasped
when he learned the provisions of the
will Had this quiet professor who
had led a lonely life. been able to
save out of his salary sum as great
as twenty-five thousand dollars? That
was the estimate of the value of the
estate commonly made from the ma
ture of the bequest. But when the
estate was inventoried and the admin
istrators made their reports to the
probate court, a most amazing state
of affairs was disclosed. The quiet
professor had amassed not $4,000,
but a fortune a little In excess of
100000 his investments had been
made with wisdom, most of them
were what are called quick assets.
And one after another of his old fac
ulty associates went about asking how
had it been possibles for Professor
Loomis to accumulate so large an es-
tate as that 1t was known that he
had inherited nothing and that. how
ever the estate was gained by him. 1t
was the result of his own savings or
work
Not until some time after the pro
batting of the estate did the true ex-
PLANTATION of the manner in which
his fortune had been accumulated be-
gin to be made in a sort OF conliden-
tial way to the inner circle at Yale
college. Then it was said: "Profes
sor Loomis was one of the most sue.
cessful of the writer's of American
text books, not only from the scholar
ly point of view, but from that Of
business. His text books upon mathe-
MATES and astronomy, his text books
upon meteorology and allied sciences,
had a sale wherever the English Ian
guage was spoken, a sale the magni-
tude of which was known only to Pro
lessor Loomis and his publishers.
And In clearing up the estate eyi-
dence was also obtained among some
of Professor LOOMS papers tending
to show that at the time when he be-
gan to write text books he had nc
other purpose in view than the max
ing of Yale University the beneficiary
of all of his earnings from the books
subject to life interest In part oil
the estate which his sons were t.
have.
downright. 1911, by f. ]. Edwards. All
Rights Reserved)