Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/579

Rh national papers, he edited Wells and Quackenbos's "Grammar" (Portland, Me., 1803), and is the author of text-books on "Physics" (Cincinnati, 1875); "Inorganic Chemistry" (1878); "Natural Philosophy" (1879); and "Organic Chemistry" (1884).

NORTON, Thomas Herbert, chemist, b. in Rushford, N. Y.. 30 June, 1851. He was graduated at Hamilton college in 1873, and then went to Europe, where he studied chemistry, receiving in 1875 the degree of Ph. D. from the University of Heidelberg. He was assistant in chemistry at the University of Berlin in 1877, and in 1878-83 manager of the chemical works of the Compagnie générale des evanures in Paris. He then returned to the United States, and in 1883 was appointed professor of chemistry at the University of Cincinnati. Prof. Norton has contributed to science important researches on the metals of the cerium group, various discoveries in organic chemistry, and other miscellaneous investigations, including valuable processes in the manufacture of ammonia. He has also achieved distinction as a pedestrian, having travelled 12,000 miles on foot through Europe and western Asia, and was the first to demonstrate the feasibility of pedestrianism in Greece and Syria. He is a member of the chemical societies of Berlin, St. Petersburg, London, and Paris.

NORTON, William Augustus, civil engineer, b. in East Bloomfield, N. Y., 25 Oct., 1810; d. in New Haven, Conn., 21 Sept., 1883. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1831, and his military duty included two years' service as assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at the military academy, with the exception of a few months during 1832, when he was engaged in the Black Hawk expedition, holding meanwhile the rank of 2d lieutenant in the 4th artillery. He resigned from the army on 30 Sept., 1833, to accept the professorship of natural philosophy and astronomy in the University of the city of New York. This chair he held until 1839, when he was called to a similar office in Delaware college, Newark, Del., and in 1849 he became president of that institution. In 1850 he accepted the professorship of natural philosophy and civil engineering in Brown, and in 1852 he was given the chair of civil engineering in the Sheffield scientific school of Yale, which he held until his death. His scientific work included researches in the domains of molecular physics, terrestrial magnetism, and astronomical physics, and appeared chiefly in the "American Journal of Science," or were read at the meetings of the American association for the advancement of science, or before the National academy of sciences. In 1842 he received the degree of A. M. from the University of Vermont. Prof. Norton was a member of various scientific societies, and after 1873 of the National academy of sciences. Noah Porter said of him: "Norton was eminently a liberal student, and kept himself fully abreast of the speculations and science of the times." He published "An Elementary Treatise on Astronomy" (New York, 1839) and "First Book of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy" (1858).

NORVELL, John, senator, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1790; d. in Detroit, Mich., 11 April, 1850. He was a printer by trade, and edited a paper in Philadelphia, but subsequently removed to Michigan, and was identified with the early history of the state. He was postmaster of Detroit in 1828-'30, afterward U. S. district attorney, and on the admission of Michigan into the Union as a state was elected to the U. S. senate as a Democrat, serving in 1835-'41. Six of his seven sons served with credit in the National army during the civil war.

NORWOOD, Thomas Mason, senator, b. in Talbot county, Ga.. 20 April, 1830. He was graduated at Emory college, Ga., in 1850, admitted to the bar in 1852. and opened a law-office in Savannah in 1857. He was in the legislature in 1801-'2, was alternate elector on the Seymour and Blair ticket in 1808, and in 1870 was chosen to the U. S. senate as a Democrat, serving in 1871-'7. His seat was unsuccessfully contested by Foster Blodgett. Mr. Norwood won celebrity in the political canvass of 1870 by a series of newspaper articles which he published under the pen-name of "Nemesis." Two speeches that he delivered during the 43d congress were models of polished invective.

NOTT, Abraham, clergyman, b. in Wethersfield, Conn., 29 Jan., 1696; d. in Saybrook, Conn., 24 Jan., 1756. He was graduated at Yale in 1720, and from his ordination in 1722 was pastor of the Congregational church in Saybrook, Conn., until his death. He was remarkable for physical strength, and it is said that he could lift a barrel of cider above his head and hold it at arms-length. — His grandson, Samuel, clergyman, b. in Saybrook, Conn., 23 Jan., 1754; d. in Franklin, Conn., 26 May, 1852, was graduated at Yale in 1780, studied divinity under Jonathan Edwards, and in 1781 became pastor of the Congregational church in Franklin, Conn., where he continued until his death, a period of seventy-one years. During his pastorate he also taught a boys' school, and was regarded as one of the most successful educators of his day. Yale gave him the degree of D. D. in 1825. Dr. Nott was styled the "Patriarch of the New England Clergy." His publications include two sermons, one of which was delivered on the 50th, and the other on the 60th anniversary of his ordination. See his "Autobiography" (Franklin. 1850). — Samuel's brother, Eliphalet, clergyman, b. in Ashford, Conn., 25 June, 1773; d. in Schenectady, N. Y., 29 Jan., 1806, was left an orphan at an early age, and was brought up by his brother Samuel in Franklin, where he taught to obtain means to enter college. He was graduated at Brown in 1795, studied theology, and the same year was licensed to preach by the New London Congregational association, which sent him as a missionary into the then half-settled part of New York state that borders on Otsego lake. He there established an academy, and acted in the double capacity of its principal and pastor of the church in Cherry Valley. In 1798-1804 he was pastor of the 1st Presbyterian church in Albany, and in 1804 he was elected president of Union college. This institution was then in its infancy, with small funds, and neither suitable buildings nor apparatus, and it was in debt. He at once began the work of providing for its needs, and of removing its disabilities. Through his efforts the legislature passed a law in 1814 by which financial aid was afforded the college from a lottery, at that time a legal and unexceptionable means of raising money, the management of which was confided to Dr. Nott, and