Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/244

216 A. M. in 1844. Besides several monographs and addresses, he published &ldquo;Christianity and Medical Science&rdquo; (Boston, 1867).—His son, James Ripley Wellman, author, b. in Fitchburg, Mass., 3 July, 1857, was graduated at Harvard in 1877, was afterward a special student there in fine arts and philosophy, and for one year attended lectures at the New York college of physicians and surgeons. Having adopted literature as a profession, he settled in New York, and is a constant contributor to magazines and newspapers, especially as an art critic. His writings include &ldquo;The Western Art Movement&rdquo; (New York, 1885); &ldquo;A Study of George Jenness,&rdquo; with a catalogue of the Jenness exhibition (1885); &ldquo;Etching in America&rdquo; (1887); and the text accompanying &ldquo;Some Modern Etchings&rdquo; (1884); &ldquo;Recent American Etchings&rdquo; (1885); &ldquo;Notable American Etchings&rdquo; (1886); and &ldquo;Representative American Etchings&rdquo; (1887).

HITCHCOCK, Daniel, soldier, b. in Rhode Island in 1741 ; d. in Morristown, N. J., in Janu- ary, 1777. He was graduated at Yale in 1761, practised law in Providence, R. I., and was lieuten- ant-colonel of militia. In the beginning of the Revolution he enlisted in the Continental army, and commanded a Rhode Island regiment at the siege of Boston, and a brigade at Princeton, al- though he was far advanced in the disease from which he afterward died. On the battle-field of the latter engagement Gen. Washington took him by the hand, and in the presence of the army thanked him for his gallant service.

HITCHCOCK, David, poet. b. in Bethlehem, Litchfield co., Conn., in 1773 ; d. after 1832. His father was a shoemaker, and his education was limited. After his father's death, David worked at farming with one of the select-men of his town, and was then apprenticed to a shoemaker. At twenty-six years of age he married, settled at West Stockbridge, Mass., and reported himself as " poor and laborious, but enjoying peace and content- ment." The last accounts of him are that he was living in Great Barrington, Mass., in 1832. His principal poem, " The Shade of Plato " (Boston, 1806), is written with ease and smoothness, and closes with expostulations on the revolutionary principles in vogue at the beginning of the cen- tury. His other writings are " The Social Moni- tor " (Stockbridge, 1812), and " Christ not the Min- ister of Sin," a controversy (Hartford, 1832).

HITCHCOCK, Edward, geologist, b. in Deer- field, Mass., 24 May, 1793 ; d. in Amherst, 27 Feb., 1864. He spent his boyhood in working on a farm, with an occasional turn at carpentry and survey- ing, acquiring such education as he could by study at night. It was his intention to enter Harvard, but impaired eyesight and illness prevented. In 1815 he became principal of the Deerfield academy, where he remained for three years, and during this period published a poem of five hundred lines en- titled " The Downfall of Buonaparte " (1815). He also acquired some reputation by a controversy with Edmund M. Blunt, the publisher of the " American Nautical Almanac." A reward of ten dollars was offered for the discovery of an error in the work, and Mr. Hitchcock responded with a list of fifty-seven. As the publisher ignored this com- munication, the list was published in the " Ameri- can Monthly Magazine." A year later the " Alma- nac " appeared somewhat revised, but, as no allu- sion was made to Mr. Hitchcock's corrections, he called the attention of the editor to about thirty- five errors in the improved edition. From 1814 till 1818 he calculated and published the " Coun- try Almanac." Meanwhile he had chosen his wife from among his assistant teachers, and it was largely through her influence that his thoughts were turned to religion. In 1818 he determined to become a minister, and entered Yale theologi- cal seminary, where he was graduated in 1820. He was or- dained in 1821 as pastor of the Con- gregational church in Conway, Mass., where he continued till October, 1825. While holding this pastorate he made a scientific survey of the western counties of Massachusetts, and later studied chemis- try and kindred top- ics under the elder Silliman, in his la- boratory at Yale. In 1825 he became professor of chemistry and natural history at Amherst, continuing as such for twenty years, giving lectures and instruction in chemistry, botany, mineralogy, geology, zoology, anatomy, physiology, natural theology, and sometimes natural philosophy and asti'onomy. In 1845 he was elevated to the presidency of the college with the professorship of natural theology and geology. These offices he filled till 1854, when he resigned the former, but retained his chair until his death. The college at the time of his accession to the presidency was struggling for existence, but Dr. Hitchcock procured new buildings, apparatus, and funds, to the amount of $100,000, doubled the number of students, and established th*e institution on a solid pecuniary as well as literary and scientific basis. He also conducted the worship in the Amherst college church during his presidency. In 1830 he was appointed state geologist of Massachusetts, and he held this place until 1844, when he completed the first survey of an entire state that was ever conducted under the authority of a government. In this connection he published a report on the " Economic Geology " (Amherst, 1832), and later, in four parts, a " Report on the Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, and Zo51ogy of Massachusetts " (Amherst, 1833). He was commissioned to re-examine the geology of the state in 1837, and subsequently issued his " Re-Examination of the Economical Geology of Massachusetts "(Boston, 1838), followed by a final report on the " Geology of Massachusetts," in four parts (Amherst, 1841). President Hitchcock was among the first to study the fossil footprints of the Connecticut valley, and to publish a scientific explanation of them. Specimens of nearly all of the known varieties were collected by him, and subsequently presented to Amherst college. He prepared the " Ichnology of New England " (Boston, 1858), and " Supplement to the " Ichnology of New England " (1865), which were published by the Massachusetts legislature. In 1836 he was appointed geologist of New York, and was assigned to the work of the first district, but he soon resigned. From 1857 till 1861 he was state geologist of Vermont, publishing annual reports in 1857-9, and " Report on the Geology of Vermont, Descriptive, Theoretical, Economical, and Sctnographical " (2 vols., Claremont, 1861), in the preparation of which he was assisted by his two sons and Albert D. Hager. For several years he was a member of the Massachusetts board of agricul