Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/35

Rh SYKES, James, physician, b. near Dover, Del., 27 March, 1761 ; d. there, 18 Oct., 1822. His father, James, held several offices in the state during and after the Revolution, and was a dele- gate to congress in 1777-8. The son studied at Williams college, and afterward attended medical lectures at Philadelphia. After four years' prac- tice at Cambridge, Md., he returned to Dover, where he became renowned as a surgeon. Prom 1814 till 1820 he resided in New York. He was often a member of the state senate, over which he presided for nearly fifteen years, and he was acting governor of Delaware in 1801-'2.

SYLVESTER, Herbert Milton, author b. in Lowell, Mass., 20 Feb., 1849. He was fitted to en- ter college at Bridgeton academy, Bridgeton, Me., but entered the law-office of William Pitt Fessen- den in Portland, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1872, and settled in Boston, Mass. He has the reputation of being a good landscape artist. He has published " Prose Pastorals " (Boston, 1887) And " Homestead Highways " (1888), and is now (1888) engaged upon a novel descriptive of New England country life. He has in press " Purpoo- dack," dealing with the early settlement of Casco bay, a nature-book entitled " Fallow Fields," and a boy's book of adventure.

SYLVESTER, James Joseph, English author, b. in London, England, 3 Sept., 1814. He was graduated at Cambridge, became a professor of natural philosophy at University college, London, and was made a member of the Royal society in 1839. He came to this country and held the chair of mathematics in the University of Virginia in 1841-'2, and was appointed to a similar profes- sorship at the Royal military academy, Woolwich, in 1855. He was professor of mathematics at Johns Hopkins university, Baltimore, in 1876-'83, and in December, 1883, was elected Savilian pro- fessor of geometry at Oxford. He is a member of many learned societies both in Europe and this country, received the medal of the Royal socie- ty in 1860, and the Copley medal in 1880, and has been the recipient of honorary degrees from various colleges. He was the founder and the first editor of the " American Journal of Mathe- matics," is the author of a large number of im- portant scientific memoirs, 112 of which, published previous to 1863, are in the Royal society's index of scientific papers. He has given a theory of versification in a volume entitled " Laws of Verse " (London, 1870) ; has invented the plagrograph, an instrument which, in addition to altering the mag- nitude of an object, possesses the property of rotat- ing its image through any desired angle ; the geo- metrical fan, which has been applied to the con- struction of a cheap astronomical spectroscope; and other geometrico-mechanical instruments. He has developed a method of transferring circular into rectilinear or parallel motion, based upon the discovery of a French engineer, thereby adding immensely to the resources of the mechanician. In December, 1885, Prof. Sylvester made known his theory of reciprocants, which, it is claimed, more than doubles the resources of algebra.

SYLVESTER, Nathaniel Bartlett, author, b. in Denmark, Lewis co., N. Y., 22 Feb., 1825. Both his grandfathers were soldiers of the Revolution. He received his early education at the Denmark academy, studied law at Lowville, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar at Oswego, N. Y., 5 April, 1852. He founded in 1856 and edited for two years a newspaper at Lowville, N. Y., which is still pub- lished there as the " Lewis County Democrat," and in 1866, having been appointed a commissioner of the U. S. circuit court, he removed to Troy, N. Y., where he now (1888) resides. He is the author of " Historical Sketches of Northern New York and the Adirondack Wilderness " (Troy, 1877) ; " His- tory of Saratoga County, N. Y." (Philadelphia, 1878) ; " History of Rensselaer County, N. Y." (1879); "History of the Connecticut Vallev in Massachusetts" (Troy, 1879); "History of Ulster County, N. Y." (Philadelphia, 1880); "Indian Le- gends of Saratoga and the Upper Hudson Valley " (1884) ; and " Historical Narratives of the Upper Hudson, Lake George, and Lake Champlain " (Philadelphia, ,1888).

SYLVIE, Edouard (sil-vee), French naturalist, b. in Riom, Auvergne, in 1670; d. in Lyons in 1739. He studied in the College Louis le Grand at Paris, entered the church, and was appointed by the king to a rich abbey in Lyons. Devoting his leisure time to the study of mathematics and natu- ral history, he presented several valuable memoirs to the Academy of sciences, which induced that body to propose him to the king for a mission to South America. Louis XIV. placed a man-of-war at Sylvie's disposal in order to facilitate his work, and from 1701 till 1703 he visited Santo Domingo and several ports of the Caribbean sea, prepared a chart of the Gulf of Mexico, and made valuable observations. In the following year he visited Guiana, Brazil, Montevideo, and Buenos Ayres, landed on Staten island, and made the ascent of its snowy range of mountains. Doubling Cape Horn, he coasted Chili and Peru to Callao, and, penetrat- ing into the interior, explored the Andes. Sylvie afterward returned to the West Indies, and so- journed several months in Santo Domingo, occu- pied in drawing a map of the French part of the island. His vessel arrived at La Roche! le, 15 Oct., 1710, and Sylvie's valuable collections were pre- sented to the Academy of sciences, which elected him a corresponding member. His works include "Explications de l'herbier et des collections rap- portees d'Amerique par l'Abbe Edouard Sylvie " (3 vols., Paris, 1711-13) ; " Relation d'un voyage de la mer du Sud aux cotes de la Guiane, du Bresil, de la Terre des Etats, du Chili et du Perou, avec une description de la cote septentrionale du detroit de Le Maire " (3 vols., 1714-'16) ; " Voyage a travers le Golfe du Mexique, suivi d'une description des lies Antilles de l'Amerique, et en particulier de l'ile de Saint Domingue'' (2 vols., 1720-'l); and " Journal des observations d'un voyage au Perou et au Chili " (5 vols., 1726-'8).

SYMINGTON, Andrew James, Scottish author, b. in Paisley, Scotland, 27 July, 1825. He was educated at the grammar-school of his native place, began his literary career at an early age, and in 1844 contributed translations of German poetry and original verses to Tait's "Edinburgh Magazine." In 1859 he accompanied President Paul A. Chadbourne, of Williams college, on a visit to Iceland, and gave the results of his journey in " Pen and Pencil Sketches of Faroe and Iceland " (London, 1861). In 1874-'5 Mr. Symington spent a year in this country, and contributed to several American journals. As author of Blackie and Sons' series of " Men of Light and Leading " in 1880, he wrote, among other lives, " William Cullen Bryant, with Selections from his Poems and other Writings," and " William Wordsworth : a Biographical Sketch, with Selections from his Writings in Poetry and Prose " (2 vols., Glasgow, 1881). In 1881 he prepared selections from the speeches of President Garfield for a series of works entitled " Talks with the People by Men of Mark." He has been an extensive traveller, in 1863 was elected a fellow of the Royal society of