Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/767

Rh the University of Pennsylvania he was lecturer on morbid anatomy in 18(38-'70, and on clinical medicine in 1870-'tl, and professor of the latter branch from 1870 till 1887. when he was elected to the chair of the theory and practice of medicine to succeed Dr. Alfred Stille. In January. 1881, he was unanimously elected provost of the University, and at the same time the dignity and powers of the office were materially increased. During no equal period of this institution's history have its interests been more rapidly advanced than since his assumption of this office. He founded the " Philadelphia Medical Times," and was its editor in 1870-'l, and was medical director of the Centen- nial international exposition, and for his services in connection therewith he received from the king of Sweden the decoration of knight commander of the order of St. Olaf. He was largely instrumental in founding the Pennsylvania museum and school of industrial art, and was for several years a mem- ber of its board of managers. He is a fellow of the College of physicians, a member of the American philosophical society, of the Pathological society of Philadelphia, of which he was president iii 1873-6, of the Academy of natural sciences, in which he has been director of the biological sec- tion, of the American climatological association, of which he was president in 1886, and of many other learned bodies. In 1882 he was a member of the assay commission of the U. S. mint. In 1881 he received the degree of LL. D. from Lafayette college. Dr. Pepper has also been president of the first sanitary convention of Pennsylvania and of the Foulke and Long institute for orphan girls. His most important literary work has been the editing of the " System of Medicine by American Au- thors " (5 vols., Philadelphia, 188o-'6). This secured an immediate success, and is recognized as the chief American authority on medical questions. He published, in conjunction with Dr. John F. Meigs, successive editions of their work on " Dis- eases of Children " (1870). Among his contribu- tions to journals or the transactions of societies are " Trephining in Cerebral Disease " (1871) ; " Local Treatment of Pulmonary Cavities " (1874) ; " Catarrhal Irritation " (1881) : " Report on Mineral Springs of America " (1880) ; " Epilepsy " (1883) ; and " Phthisis in Pennsylvania " (1886). Other publications of less technical character have been " Sanitary Relations of Hospitals " (1875) ; " Higher Medical Education : the True Interest of the Pub- lic and the Profession " (1877) ; '• Report of the Medical Department of the Centennial Exposition " (1877) ; his inaugural address and aimual reports as provost ; and public addresses on " Force vs. Work " (Baltimore, 1884) and " Benjamin Frank- lin " (Lancaster, 1887).

PEPPERRELL, Sir William, soldier, b. in Kittery, Me., 27 June, 1696 ; d. there, 6 July, 1759. His father, who was a native of Devon, England, was left an orphan at an early age and apprenticed to the captain of a fishing schooner that sailed to the Banks of Newfoundland. At the age of twenty- two he settled on the Isles of Shoals, where he was engaged in the fishing-trade, and about 1680 he re- moved to Kittery, Me., where he married, and where his only son was born. William's boyhood was spent in Kittery, and at an early age he was taken by his father into partnership. At this time the firm was the most important mercantile house in New England, and had a large agency in settling the pecuniary affairs of the province with the mother country. This branch of the business was con- ducted by young Pepperrell. In this way he made the acquaintance of all the public men in Boston, which greatly favored his political and military advancement, and at the same time he cultivated the courtly manners and dignified address for which he was afterward distinguished. At the age of twenty-one he was appointed captain of a com- pany of cavalry, soon afterward he was made major and lieutenant- colonel, and at the age of thirty colonel, which gave him the command of all the militia of Maine. In 1726 he was elected representative from Kittery to the Massachusetts legisla- ture, and in 1727 he was appointed a member of the council. Though not bred a lawyer, he had acquired public con- fidence to such a degree that in 1730 he was ap- pointed by Gov. Belcher chief justice of the court of common pleas, which office he held till his death. In colonial days, whenever England was at war with France, New England was at war with Canada, and when hostilities began in Europe in 1745 great preparations were also made in the colonies. In these preparations no man was more forward than William Pepperrell. His influence in procuring- volunteers was unequalled, and he advanced £5.000 from his private fortune for necessary supplies. He was chosen commander of the little army of 4,000 men that was intended to reduce Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton, the strongest fortress on the coast of America. Com. Warren had com- mand of the small squadron of English men-of-war that was sent to the aid of the provincials. On the last day of April, 1745, the first troops were landed at Louisburg, to the great surprise of the garri- son. In vain the French garrison, hastily gathered together, endeavored to prevent the landing of the English forces. They were driven back into the town. Meanwhile their comrades, who were sta- tioned at the battery at the northern side of the bay, seeing a small body of soldiers approaching, supposed the whole army must be upon them, and abandoned their guns, which were taken possession of by Col. William Vaughan and his company. In the morning, when the French discovered their mistake, a hundred men were sent to retake it, but they were held at bay until re-enforcements arrived. Pepperrell at once laid siege to the town. The fieet aided him with cannon and gunners, his bat- teries gradually approached within 600 feet of the walls, a breach was effected, and all was in readi- ness for an assault, when, on the forty-ninth day of the siege, after 9,000 cannon-balls and 600 shells had been thrown into the place, Louisburg sur- rendered, and Pepperrell marched in at the head of his army, on 17 June, 1745. When the news reached the colonies the enthusiasm was immense. Every town was blazing with fireworks and illuminations. In the mother country the victory of the jM-ovin- cials was hailed with universal apjilause. and the general was created a baronet, being the first na- tive of this country on whom such an honor was conferred. He remained at Louisburg till 1746, when he returned to Boston. Thence he journeyed homeward, and was met at a distance of many miles by a troop of horse and entertained at Salem at a banquet at which all the noted men of the colony were present. A short time after the peace