Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/57

Rh HALL, Asaph, astronomer, b. in Goshen, Conn., 15 Oct., 1829. fie was educated in a common school, and then worked on a farm till he was sixteen years old, after which he followed the trade of a carpenter. In 1853 he began the study of geometry and algebra in Norfolk academy, and afterward went to Wisconsin, where he taught school for several years. He then studied at the University of Michigan for a single term, and after teaching for a year at Shalersville, Ohio, en- tered the observatory of Harvard college as a student. From 1857 till 1862 he was assistant in the observatory, and in August of the latter year was appointed aide in the U. S. naval observatory in Washington. In May, 1863, he was made pro- fessor of mathematics, with the relative rank of captain. He has been connected with all the im- portant astronomical expeditions sent out under the auspices of the U. S. government, including those sent to observe solar eclipses from the Ber- ing sea in 1869, and in Sicily, in 1870. During the transit of Venus in 1874 he had charge of the American party at Vladisvostok, in Siberia, and at the later transit in 1882 was chief astrono- mer of the party stationed in San Antonio, Texas. Prof. Hall has won great distinction by his dis- covery of the moons of Mars. On the night of 11 Aug., 1877, he noticed a small star near the disk of Mars, which, from subsequent examination, he was persuaded was a satellite of that planet. A week later he discovered a second satellite interior to the first, and of somewhat superior brightness. These discoveries were at once communicated to Joseph Henry, secretary of the Smithsonian institution, by whom they were announced to the principal astron- omers both in Europe and America. Exact calcu- lations were made of their orbits, and Prof. Hall gave to them the names of Deimos and Phobos (Terror and Fear), from the passage in Homer's " Iliad," where these two divinities are mentioned as the attendants of the god of war. His subse- quent work has included important observations of double stars in 1880, and determinations of the orbits of the satellites of Saturn. In 1879 he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal astronomical society of London for his discoveries, and received the degrees of Ph. D. from Hamilton in 1878, and LL. D. from Yale in 1879, and from Harvard in 1886. Prof. Hall is a member of numerous scien- tific societies, both in the United States and Eu- rope, and was chosen vice-president of the Ameri- can association for the advancement of science in 1880. In 1875 he was elected a member of the Na- tional academy of sciences, and in 1883 was ap- pointed to the office of home secretary in that body. His publications have been confined to his specialty, and have appeared in astronomical jour- nals on both continents, and also in the annual volumes of the U. S. naval observatory.

HALL, Basil, author, b. in Edinburgh, Scot- land, 31 Dec., 1788 ; d. in Portsmouth. England, 11 Sept., 1844. He was the son of Sir James Hall of Dunglass, a writer on architecture and geology ; his mother was the daughter of the fourth Earl of Selkirk. He entered the navy in 1802, and in 1816 commanded the brig " Lyra," which accom- panied Lord Amherst to China. He was made post-captain in 1817, and from 1820 till 1822 was stationed on the Pacific coast of America. In 1827-8 he travelled in the United States and Can- ada, and afterward visited various parts of Europe, In the latter part of his life his mind became im- paired, and he died insane. Besides contributions to scientific periodicals and to the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," and minor works of travel, he pub- lished " A Voyage of Discovery to the Western Coast of Corea and the Great Loo Choo Island " (1818); "Extracts from a Journal written in 1820-'22 on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexi- co " (2 vols., 1823-'4) ; " Travels in North Ameri- ca " (3 vols., 1829) ; " Fragments of Voyages and Travels " (9 vols., 1831-'40) ; " Schloss Hainfield, or A Winter in Lower Styria " (1836) ; " Spain and the Seat of War in Spain " (1837) ; " Voyages and Travels in Conjunction with Ellis and Pringle " (1840) ; and " Patchwork : Travels in Stories " (3 vols.), and '" Travels in South America " (1841). " Fragments " is generally considered his best work. His book on America aroused great indig- nation in this country by the partial and hostile character of its criticisms.

HALL, Barnard Rust, author, b. in Phila- delphia in 1798 ; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 23 Jan., 1863. He was the son of Dr. John Hall, an emi- nent surgeon on the staff of Gen. Washington, and was left at an early age heir to a large for- tune, but never came into its possession, owing to mismanagement. He was graduated at Union college in 1820, and at the Princeton theological seminary in 1823, and went to the west as a mis- sionary. While there he was pastor of a church in Bloomington, Ind., and president of the college in the same place from 1823 till 1831. Returning to the east, he had charge for seven years of a con- gregation at Bedford, Pa., where he was also the principal of an academy. From 1838 till 1846 he taught in Bordentown and Trenton, N. J., and Poughkeepsie, Newburg, and Brooklyn, N. Y. In 1848 he received the degree of D. D. from Rutgers college. The last years of his life were devoted to preaching among the poor. He published a Latin grammar (1828), and was also the author of " The New Purchase, or Life in the Far West," which enjoyed a wide popularity (New York, 1843) ; " Something for Everybody " (1843) ; " Teaching a Science ; The Teacher an Artist " ; and " Frank Freeman's Barber-Shop " (1852).

HALL, Charles Francis, explorer, b. in Roch- ester, N. H., in 1821 ; d. in the arctic regions. 8 Nov., 1871. His early education was acquired in the common school and the local academy. He was blacksmith, journalist, station- er, and engraver in turn. In 1850, while living in Cincin- nati, Ohio, he be- came interested in the fate of Sir John Franklin, and for nine years improved every opportuni- ty to increase his knowledge of Arc- tic America, and especially of the Franklin search. Despite the admira- ble and convincing report in 1859 by Capt. Leopold McClintock, R. N., of the death of Franklin and the fate of his companions, Hall believed that some members of that expedition still survived and that they and their records could be found. His enthusiasm enlisted the interest of Henry Grinnell and other friends of arctic research, and by aid of public subscriptions his journey was rendered possible. On 29 May, I860, Hall sailed from