Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/435

Rh Son or the Father f " opposing the views of Henry Ward Beecher (1859) ; and " Endless Punishment in the Very Words of its Advocates " (Boston, 1880). His wife. Caroline Mehetabel, b. in New- ton, Mass., 8 Dec., 1812 ; d. at Cottage Hill, Mass., 19 May, 1894, was educated principally at home, and began to write at an early age. Jbut published nothing till her marriage to Dr. Sawyer in Sep- tember, 1831, when she removed with him to New York, and began to contribute in prose and verse to the magazines. She edited the " Ladies' Reposi- tory," a Universalist monthly, from 1861 till 1864, and published the " Juvenile Library " (4 vols., New York, 1845); "The Poetry of Hebrew Tra- dition" (Hartford, 1847); the "Poems" of Mrs. Julia H. Scott, with a memoir (Boston, 1S54); "Friedel," from the German of Van Horn (Phila- delphia. 1850) ; and " The Rose of Sharon," an an- nual (8 vols., 1850-'8).

SAXE, John Godfrey, poet, b. in Highgate, Vt., 2 June, 1816; d. in Albany, N. Y., 31 March, 1887. He entered Wesleyan university in 1835, but left in his freshman year, and was graduated at Middlebury in 1839. During the four years following he studied lawin Loekport, N. Y., and then in St. Al- bans, Vt., where, in 1843, he was admitted to the bar. He prac- tised with success in Franklin county for several years, becom- ing in 1850-'! state's attorney for Chitten- den county, and in 1847-'8 he was super- intendent of common schools. His fond- ness for literature gradually led him in- to journalism, and in 1850 he purchased the " Burlington Sentinel," which he edited until 1856. Mr. Saxe served as attorney-general of Vermont in 1856, and for a time was deputy collector of cus- toms. In 1859, and again in 1800, he was the un- successful Democratic nominee for governor. Set- tling in New York, he devoted himself to litera- ture and lectured until 1872, when he moved to Albany, and became an editor of the " Evening Journal." In 1860 Middlebury gave him the de- gree of LL. D. Mr. Saxe achieved his greatest repu- tation by his poetry. As a young lawyer he sent his earliest verses to the " Knickerbocker," and in after years he contributed to " Harper's Magazine " and the "Atlantic Monthly." His "Rhyme of the Rail," " The Briefless Barrister," " The' Proud Miss McBride," and similar humorous poems, as well as his more serious " Jerry, the Miller," " I'm growing Old," " The Old Church-Bell," and " Treasures in Heaven," were very popular. His published works include " Progress : a Satirical Poem " (New York, 1846); " Humorous and Satirical Poems " (Boston, 1850) ; " The Money King, and other Poems " (1859) ; " The Flying Dutchman, or the Wrath of Herr Von Stoppelnose" (New York, 1862); "Clever Stories of Many Nations rendered in Rhyme " (Boston, 1865); "The Times, the Telegraph, and other Poems " (London. 1865) : " The Masquerade, and other Poems" (Boston, 1866); "Fables and Legends of Many Countries " (1872) ; and " Leisure- Day Rhymes " (1875). There have also been nu- merous collections of his poems.

SAXE-WEIMAR EISENACH, Carl Bernhard, Duke of, b. in Weimar in 1792 ; d. in Holland, 31 July, 1802. He entered the service of the king of the Netherlands, took part in the principal campaigns of 1806-'15 against the French, and be- came lieutenant-general in 1831. In 1825 he ob- tained leave of absence, and sailed for this country in the royal sloop-of-war " Pallas." He visited ail the principal cities of the United States and Cana- da, and on his return published " Travels through North America, 1825-'26 " (Philadelphia, 1828). In this work he shows himself to be an excellent and intelligent observer.

SAXTON, Joseph, mechanician, b. in Hunting- don, Pa., 22 March, 1799; d. in Washington, D. C., 26 Oct., 1873. He received a limited education, and was apprenticed to a watchmaker, after which he constructed a printing-press, and published a small newspaper at irregular intervals. In 1817 he went to Philadelphia, where he worked at his trade, and invented a machine for cutting the teeth of wheels, the outlines of which were true epicycloidal curves. Meanwhile he learned to draw with facility, and devoted some time to the study of engraving. He then became associated with Isaiah Lukens, a celebrated machinist of Philadelphia, and constructed an astronomical clock with compensating pendulum and an escapement on a new plan devised by himself. The town clock in the belfry of Independence hall was also made by him about this time. In his ambition to obtain knowledge he became a member of the Franklin institute, and acquired reputation among its members for his ingenuity. In 1828 he visited England, and, being attracted to the Adelaide gallery of practical science in London, he constructed many ingenious mechanical toys for that institution. He also made numerous original investigations, met many celebrated engineers and mechanicians, and was introduced by Michael Faraday to the meetings of the Royal institution. In 1833 he exhibited before the British association for the advancement of science a magneto-electric machine, with which he showed a brilliant electric spark, decomposed water, exhibited the electric light between charcoal points, and gave a rapid series of intense shocks. During his residence in England he also invented the loco- motive differential pulley, an apparatus for measuring the velocity of vessels, and a fountain-pen, and perfected the medal-ruling machine, an apparatus for tracing lines on metal or glass at a minute distance from each other that shall represent by an engraving the design on the face of the medal. He was tendered the office of director of the printing machinery of the Bank of England, but declined this place in order to accept, in 1837, that of constructor and curator of the standard weighing apparatus of the U. S. mint in Philadelphia. During his connection with the mint he constructed the large standard balances that are used in the annual inspection of the assays and the verification of standard weights. In 1843 he was given charge of the construction of the standard balances, weights, and measures to be presented to each of the states for insuring uniformity of measures in all parts of the country under the auspices of the U. S. coast survey. He invented an automatic instrument for recording the height of the tides, and applied the reflecting pyrometer that had been previously invented to the construction of measuring rods that would retain their length while subjected to different temperatures. A deep-sea thermometer and an immersed hydrometer were among his later inventions. Mr. Saxton received from the Franklin institute in 1834 a medal for his