Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia. Professor Thomas Jonathan Jackson (who later became the legendary Stonewall Jackson in the American Civil War) teaches “Natural and Experimental Philosophy.” It’s a physics course, one of the most difficult at the institute, and he’s greatly feared by the students. He covers electricity, magnetism, acoustics, optics, classical mechanics and artillery, celestial mechanics, and astronomy. Jackson memorizes his lectures and then recites them in front of the students. If they ask for explanations, he repeats what he has just said. And he expects the students to do the same when they are questioned. He thus becomes unpopular at the institute.
