Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/392

366 SAFFOLD, Reuben, jurist, b. in Wilkes county, Ga., 4 Sept., 1788: d. in Dallas county, Ala.. 15 Feb., 1847. After practising law in Georgia he re- moved to Jackson, Ala., in 1813. During the In- dian troubles he commanded a volunteer company, and he subsequently served several terms in the legislature of Mississippi territory. He wa> a mem- ber of the State constitutional convention in 181!). was made a circuit judge, and was one of the three judges that were appointed to the supreme bench in ls:!2. serving as chief justice in 1835-'li.

'''SAFFORD. James Merrill''', geologist, b. in Putnam (now Zancsville). Ohio, 13 Aug., 1822. He was graduated at Ohio university in 1844. and spent a year at Yale, where in 1866 the honorary degree of Ph. D. was conferred on him. From I* I.* till 1872 he was professor of natural sciences in Cumberland university, Lebanon, Tenn., and he then accepted the chair of chemistry in the medical department of the University of Nashville, which since 1874 has also been the medical department of Vanderbilt university. These appointments, to- gether with the chair of natural history and geolo- gy in Vanderbilt university, which he accepted in 1875, he still (1898) holds'. In 1854 he was ap- pointed state geologist of Tennessee, and made a preliminary survey of the state. This place he held until 1860, and he was again made state geolo- gist in 1871 anil has since continued in that office. He has also been a member of the Tennessee state board of health since its organization in 1866, and for some time its vice-president. Prof. Saf- ford was one of the judges at the World's fair held in Philadelphia in 1876, and his reports made a1 that time have since been published. The de- gree of M. D. was conferred upon him by the medical department of the University of Nash- ville in 1872. Prof. Safford is a member of scien- tific societies, to whose transactions he has con- tributed various papers on geology: and he has published " A Geological Reconnoissance of the State of Tennessee" (Nashville. 1856); "Second Biennial Report " (1857) ; and " Geology of Ten- nessee," with a geological map of the state (1869). He assisted in the preparation of " Introduction to the Resources of Tennessee" (1874). and as special agent of the census of 1880 he made a " Report on the Cotton Production of the State of Tennessee" .Washington. 1884).

SAFFORD, Truman Henry, mathematician, b. in Royalton, Vt., 6 Jan.. 1836. At an early age he attracted public attention by his remarkable powers of calculation. When six years of age. he told his mother if she knew the number of rods it was around a certain meadow he could tell its circumference in barleycorns, and on hearing that the number of rods was 1,040 he gave the number mentally as 617,760 barleycorns, which is correct. He could mentally extract the square and cube roots of numbers of !) and 10 places of figures. and could multiply four figures by four figures mentally as rapidly as it could be done upon paper. In 1845 he prepared an almanac, and at the age of fourteen calculated the elliptic element - of the first comet of ism. At this time he became H iildy known as the Vermont boy calculator. By a method of his own he abridged by one fourth the labor of calculating the ri-mg and setting of the moon. After long and difficult problems had been read to him once, he could give then re- sults without effort. Prof. Benjamin Peirce said of him in 1846 that his knowledge " is accompanied with powers of abstraction and concentration rare- ly possessed at any age except by minds of tin- highest order." He was graduated at Harvard in, after which he spent there several years in study at the observatory. Between 1850 and 1862 he computed the orbits of many planets and comets. In 1863-'6 he was connected with the Harvard observatory, in the last year acting as its director, but he was chiefly employed in observa- tions for a standard catalogue of right ascension-;. In 1865 he was appointed professor of astronomy in the University of Chicago, and director of the Dearborn observatory. His first two years there were devoted to the study of nebula?, and he dis- covered many new ones. From 1869 till 1871 he was engaged upon the great catalogue of stars that is in course of preparation by the co-operation of European and American astronomers. His work was interrupted by the Chicago fire of 1871, and after that year he was much employed in lati- tude and longitude work in the territories by the U. S. corps of engineers, for whom he also prepared a star catalogue, which was published by the war department. He published a second in 1879. Since 1.*7li he has been professor of astronomy at Will- iams college, which gave him the degree of Ph. I), in 1878. He is a member of various astronomical societies, and has edited volumes iv. and v. of the "Annals of Harvard College Observatory," the latter one containing the report of Prof. George P. Monti's discoveries in the constellation of Orion, which Prof. Satford completed after Prof. Bund's death. His other contributions have appeared in the " Proceedings of the American Academy," the monthly notices of the Royal astronomical society, and other astronomical journals. He pre- pared a catalogue of polar stars as a memorial of the 50th anniversary of the observatory of Will- iams college, which was published in 1888.

'''SAFFORD. William Harrison''', lawyer, b. in Parkersburg, Va.. 10 Feb., 1821. He was educated at A>l>ury academy, Parkersburg. Va., studied law. was admitted to the bar in 1842, and in 1848 re- moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he has since prac- ti-ed his profession. From 1858 till 1860 he served in the state senate, and from 1868 till 1874 he was judge of the 2d subdivision of the 5th judicial cir- cuit of Ohio. He is the author of " Life of Blenner- hassett" (Chillicothe, 1850), and "The Blenner- hassett Papers" (Cincinnati, 1861).

SAGARD-THEODAT, Gabriel, French missionary, lived in the 17th century. He was in a Recollet Franciscan convent in Paris in 11515 when Hoilel. the secretary of Louis XIII., asked the superior of that order to send mi-simiaries to Can- ada. Sagard entreated to be sent on the mission, but he was not allowed to leave France until eiirht years afterward. Shortly after his arrival in Quebec he set out for the Huron country with Father Viel. He remained there over two years, when his com- panion was drowned in Riviere des Prairies (hence called Saut du Reeollet). and Sagard returned to France. Hr writings include " Grand voyage du pays des Hurons, situe en 1'Amerique, vers la mer Douce, et derniers confins de la Nouvelle-France, dite ( 'anailii. oil il est traicte de tout ce qui est tin pays, des mceurs et naturel des sauvago, de leur gouvernement et facons de taiiv, taut Jans leur pays qu'allant en voyage, de leur foi et croyance, avec un dictiounaire de la langue Imroiine " ( I'aris. 1632), and " Ili.-toire du Canada -t voyage que les freres mineurs recollets y ont faicts pour la conver- sion de- Lnfidelles" (1636). The works of Sagard were very little known until recently. They were republished and edited by Henry B. Chevalier (4 vols., Paris, 1866).

SAGE, Gardner Avery. donor, b. in New York city, 3 May. 181:1 ; d. in White Sulphur