Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/134

108 and a faculty of concentration i:i striking contra-i with the natural exuberance of his fancy." Mr. Prentiss had fine social qualities, and his cunversa- tion sparkled with the shrewd M-n<e. wit. and liril- liant fancy that characterized his speeches. See a memoir by his brother, Rev. George L. Prentiss (2 vols., New York, 1S55, new ed.. 1870). His broth- er, George Lewis, clergyman, b. in Gorham. Me.. 1i May, 1816, after graduation at Bowdoin in 1835, was as-i-tant in Gorliam academy in 1836-7, and studied theology at Halle and Berlin universities from 1839 till 1841. He became pastor of the South Trinitarian church. New Bedford. Mas*., in April. 1S45. and in 1851 was made pastor of the Mercer street Presbyterian church in New York city, but owing to impaired health he resigned and travelled in Europe. On his return he established the " Church of the Covenant," New York city, of which he was pastor from 1862 till 1873, when he resigned to become professor of pastoral theology, chnivh polity, and missionary work in Union theo- logieal seminary. Bowdoin gave him the degree of D. D. in 1854. In addition to sermons, address- es, and contributions to periodicals, he has pub- lished, besides the memoir of his brother men- tioned above, " Discourse in Memory of Thomas Harvey Skinner. D. D.. LL. D." (1871), and " Life ami Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss" (1882 ; new ed., 1887). George Lewis's wife, Elizabeth Payson, aiirlmr, b. in Portland, Me., 26 Oct., 1818; d. in Dorset, Vt, 13 Aug., IsTs, was a daughter of the Rev. Edward Payson (q. i:). She was educated in Portland and Ipswich, and taught in Portland and Richmond in 1840-'3. In 1845 she married Mr. Prentiss, and after the loss of her two children devoted herself to writing. She was the author of mum-run-; books, which include the "Little Susy Series" (New York, 1853-'6); "The Flower of the Family " (1854) ; " Only a Dandelion, and Other Stories" (1854); -Fred. Maria, and Me" (1868); "The Percys" (1S7<)|; "The Home at Grcylock" (1876) : " I'ema([iiid : a Story of Old Times in New England" (1877); and "Avis Benson, with Other Sketches" l s ;'.M. Her chief work, "Stepping Heavenward." which was first published in the "Chicago Advance" (1869), has been tran.-laird into various languages, and it is estimated that 100.000 copies have been sold.

'''PRESCOTT. Albert Benjamin''', chemist, b. in Hastings, N. Y., 12 Dec., 1832. He was graduated ni tin 1 medical department of the University of Michigan in 1864, and at once entered the U. S. volunteer service as assistant surgeon, with charge successively of hospitals in Louisville. Ky.. and in Jeffersonville, Ind., also serving as a member of the medical examining board in Louisville, Ky. In 1865 he returned to the University of Michigan as asM-lant professor of chemistry, and lecturer on organic chemistry, and in 1870 was made professor nf organic and applied chemistry and of pharmacy. Me was a member of the committee of revision of the " U. S. Pharmacopoeia " in 1880. Since 1876 he has served as dean of the school of pharmacy, and since 1884 as director of the chemical laboratory in the same university. Prof. Prescott is a member of many scientific societies, and was elected in 1876 a fellow of the London chemical society, in 1886 presi- dent of the American chemical society, and in the - HIM year vice-president of the American associa- timi for the advancement of science, delivering, in 1887, a retiring address on " The Chemistry of Nil n <- gen as disclosed in the Constitution of iln- Alka- loids." He has been a contributor to the iierimlical literature of chemistry from 1si!!i. his work includ- ing reports of scientific work under his direction in the chemical laboratory of the University of Michi- gan, and his various chemical investigations, chiefly in analytical organic chemistry. Prof. Preseott has published Qualitative Chemical Analysis," with Silas H. Douglas (Ann Arbor, 1874; 4th ed., with Otis C. Johnson, New York, 1888) ; " Outlines of Proximate Organic Analysis " (New York, 1875) ; " Chemical Examination of Alcoholic Liquors " (1875); "First Book in Qualitative Chemistry" (1879); and "Organic Analysis; a Manual of the Descriptive and Analytical Chemistry of Certain Carbon Compounds in Common Use ""(1887).

PRESCOTT, Benjamin, clergyman, b. in Concord, Mass., 16 Sept., 1687; d. in Danvers, Mass., 28 May, 1777. He was the son of Capt. Jonathan Prescott, of Concord, was graduated at Harvard in 1709, and ordained minister of Danvers, 23 Sept., 1713. He resigned his charge, 16 Nov., 1756. Mr. Prescott was the author of &ldquo;Examination of Certain Remarks&rdquo; (Boston, 1735); &ldquo;Letter to Joshua Gee&rdquo; (1743); &ldquo;Letter to Rev. George Whitefield&rdquo; (1745); and &ldquo;A Free and a Calm Consideration of the Unhappy Misunderstandings and Debates between Great Britain and the American Colonies&rdquo; (Salem, 1768).

PRESCOTT, George Bartlett, electrician, b. in Kingston, N. H., 16 Sept., 1830; d. in New York city, I x Jan., 1894. After receiving an English edu- cation, he was manager of telegraph offices. He be- came in 1858 superintendent of the American and in 1866 of the Western union telegraph companies' lines, and in 1869 electrician of the Western union telegraph company. Mr. Prescott was also electri- cian of the International ocean telegraph company from 1873 till 1880. In 1873 he visited Europe in the interest of the Western union telegraph com- pany for the purpose of investigating the various systems of telegraphy in operation there, with a view of incorporating any improvement that he might discover into the system in the United States. He found many important objects of recommendation, and among others that were adopted was the sys- tem of transmitting messages in cities by pneu- matic tubes, which lie introduced in New York in 1876. Mr. Prescott also introduced the duplex and quadruplex telegraphs in 1870 and 1874. He was vice-president, director, and member of the execu- tive and finance committee of the Gold and stock telegraph company in 1873-'81, and president of the American speaking telephone company in 1879-'82. also director and member of the execu- tive committee of the Metropolitan telephone and telegraph company, and of the Bell telephone com- pany of Philadelphia. His inventions include an improvement in telegraph insulators (1872) and an improvement in quadruplex telegraphs (1876), which he patented in the United States and Great Britain. Mr. Prescott had contributed many ar- ticles to periodicals, and had published Hi-iory. Theory, and Practice of the Electric Telegraph" (Boston, 1860); " The Proposed Union of I lie Tele- graph and Postal Systems" (New York. 1869); "The Government and the Telegraph" (l*;-.'i; "Electricity and the Electric Telegraph " (1877); "The Speaking Telephone, Talking Phonograph, and other Novelties" ilsTS) ; -The Speaking Tele- phone, Electric Light, and other Recent Electrical Inventions " (1879) ;" Dynamo-Elect rid ly ; ilsGen- eration, Application. Transmission. Storage, and Measurement "(1884); and "Bell's Electric Speak- ing Telephone: its Invention. ( 'oust nut ion, Ap- plication, Modification, and History " (1>> S 1 1.

PRESCOTT, Mary Newmarck, author, b. in Calais, Me., L 1 Aim.. 1*49; d. near Newburyport, Ma.-.-., 14 June, 1888. She afterward removed with