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260 employed, with the rank of lieutenant, as assistant professor in 1826-7, and from 1827 till 1835 as act- ing professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and ge- ology. He resigned in 1836 and engaged in mer- cantile pursuits, declining the professorship of mathematics in Jefferson college, La., in 1837. In 1843 he became principal of Norfolk academy, Va., and in 1846 adjunct-superintendent and professor of natural sciences in the Western military insti- tute at Georgetown, Ky., having the rank of lieu- tenant-colonel. In 1849 he was chosen president and mathematical professor in the Masonic uni- versity of Tennessee at Clarksville, Tenn., which post he exchanged the same year for that of pro- fessor of chemistry and natural philosophy in William and Mary college, Va. In 1850 he was appointed professor of natural and experimental fmilosophy in the U. S. naval academy at Annapo- is, Md., where he remained until four months be- fore his death, when he received the appointment of U. S. consul to Jamaica. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Hobart, in 1853.

HOPKINSON, Thomas, lawyer, b. in London, England, 6 April, 1709 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 5 Nov., 1751. He was the son of a London mer- chant, studied law, and emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1731. He became deputy to Charles Reed, clerk of the orphan's court of Philadelphia county, and on the death of Reed was appointed his suc- cessor. He was also master of the rolls from 20 June, 1736, till 1741, deputy prothonotary, and afterward prothonotary of Philadelphia county. For several years he was judge of the admiralty, became a member of the provincial council on 13 May, 1747, and two years later a county justice. He participated in all the public enterprises of the time, was one of the incorporators of the library company, one of the original trustees of the Col- lege of Philadelphia, and also the first president of the Philosophical society. His attainments in natural philosophy were recognized by Benjamin Franklin, who remarked : " The power of points to throw off the electrical fire was first communicated to me by my ingenious friend, Mr. Thomas Hop- kinson." — His son, Francis, signer of the Declara- tion of Independence, b. in Philadelphia, 21 Sept., 1737; d. 9 May, 1791, was educated at the Col- lege of Philadelphia, studied law under Benjamin Chew, and was admitted to the bar in 1761. In that year he acted as secretary at a treaty with the Indians, which he commem- orated in " The Treaty," a poem, published soon af- terward. From February, 1764, till May, 1765, he was librarian and secre- tary of the Philadelphia library. In May, 1766, he sailed for Europe, and af- ter spending a few weeks in Ireland went to London, where he remained for a year, with the exception of occasional visits to his cousin, the Bishop of Worcester. In Lon- don he was associated with John Penn, Benja- min West, Lord North, and others of distinction, and endeavored, without success, to secure an appointment as one of the commissioners of customs for North America. After his return to Philadelphia he resumed the practice of law, and also kept a store for some time. He was a member of the two societies which united in 1769 to form the American philosophical society at Philadelphia, was a director of the library company from 1771 till 1773, and in March, 1772, became collector of customs at New Castle, from which office he was afterward removed owing to his republican princi- ples. He was for ,several years a resident of Bor- dentown, N. J., was a member of the provincial council of that state from 1774 until the Revolu- tion, and in June, 1776, was chosen one of its dele- gates to the Continental congress. He served on the committee of that body to draft articles of con- federation, voted in favor of declaring the colo- nies independent, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Under the newly established government he was appointed the head of the navy department, and was also treasurer of the Continental loan office. In January, 1778, he wrote " The Battle of the Kegs," a humorous bal- lad, descriptive of the alarm that was caused by a futile attempt of patriots in Bordentown to de- stroy the British shipping at Philadelphia by means of torpedoes enclosed in kegs and floated down the Delaware. During the war he supported the patriot cause by various productions in prose and verse, and powerfully influenced public senti- ment in favor of independence. He was judge of admiralty for Pennsylvania in 1779-'89, and was U. S. district judge for that state from 1790 till his death. He was impeached by the assembly of Pennsylvania for alleged misdemeanors while act- ing as judge of admiralty, but was acquitted of all charges. Mr. Hopkinson was not only familiar with science as it then existed, but was also skilled in painting and music, and composed airs for his own songs. The most important of his political writings are "The Pretty Story" (Philadelphia, 1774); "The Prophecy " (1776); and "The Politi- cal Catechism" (1777). His poems include "The New Roof, a Song for Federal Mechanics," and among his best essays are "The Typographical Mode of conducting a Quarrel " and " Thoughts on Diseases of the Mind." After his death appeared " The Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writ- ings of Francis Hopkinson " (Philadelphia, 1792). — Francis's son, Joseph, jurist, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 12 Nov., 1770; d. there, 15 Jan., 1842, was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1786, and was afterward a trustee of that institu- tion. He studied law, and began practice at Easton, Pa., in 1791, but soon afterward returned to Phila- delphia. He was leading counsel for Dr. Benja- min Rush (q. v.) in his suit against William Coblmt in 1799, and w T as also one of the counsel for the de- fendents in the insurgent trials before Judge Sam- uel Chase in 1800. Subsequently, when the latter was impeached before the U. S. senate, he chose Mr. Hopkinson to conduct his defence. He was a Federalist politically, and was elected in 1814 a representative in congress from Philadelphia, serv- ing one term, and approving the rechartering of the U. S. bank. In 1823 he resumed the practice of law, and in 1828 he was appointed by President John Quincy Adams U. S. judge for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, which office he held until his death. He was a member of the convention of 1837 to revise the constitution of Pennsylvania, and, as chairman of its committee on the judiciary, contended unsuccessfully for the life tenure of the judges. He was for many years president of the Academy of fine arts and vice-president of the American philosophical society, was long a confi- dential friend of Joseph Bonaparte, who then re-