Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/596

562 proved form and font of Arabic type, which was cast under his supervision at Leipsic in 183!). He published with Harrison G. 0. Dwight "Missionary Researches in Armenia " (2 vols., Boston, 1833), and from 1847 until his death was engaged in translating the Bible into the Arabic, which work was subsequently completed by Dr. Cornelius V. Van Dyke (New York, 1866-'7). His wife, Sarah Lanman, missionary, b. in Norwich, Conn., 18 June, 1802; d. in Boojah, near Smyrna, Asia; 30 Srpi., 1836, was the daughter of Jabez Huntington. Sin- married Dr. Smith in 1833, accompanied him to Beirut, and, having learned Arabic, assisted him in his translations into that language, and taught in a native school for girls which she established. See her "Memoir, Journal, and Letters," edited by the Rev. Edward Hooker (London. 1839).

SMITH, Elias, author, b. in Lyme, Conn.. 17 June, 1769: d. in Lynn, Mass., 29 June, 1S4H. His early education was scanty, but he became a teacher, and in 1792 was ordained to the ministry of the Christian Denomination. He was pastor at Woburn. Mass., in 1798-1801, and afterward sup- plied various vacant pulpits. He edited the "Chris- tian Magazine." a quarterly, in 1805-'7, and in 1808 began the publication of the " Herald of Gospel Liberty," the first religious newspaper that was ever printed, it having preceded the " Religious Remembrancer " of Philadelphia by five years and the " Boston Recorder " by eight. His publications include "The Clergyman's Looking-Glass " (Wo- burn, 1803) ; " The History of Anti-Christ " (1803) : " Twenty-two Sermons on the Prophecies " (1808) ; " New Testament Dictionary " (Philadelphia, 1812) ; " The Fall of Angels and Men" (1812); " Life, Con- version, Preaching, Travels, and Sufferings of Elias Smith " (Portsmouth, N. H., 1816) : " The Christian Pocket Companion" (Exeter, X. 11.. 1823); "The Family Physician and Family Asnstaiit " (Boston, 1832); and the " People's Book " (1836). His son, Matthew Hale, author, b. in Portland, Me., in 1816 ; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 7 Nov., 187!). was edu- cated in the public schools, and at seventeen years of age ordained to the ministry of the Universalist church, from which he withdrew about, 1840. became a Unitarian, and in 1842 was ordained in the Con- gregational ministry, and for the subsequent ten years preached in Boston, Nashua, and other churches in Massachusetts. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1850, removed to NYw York city, added journalism to his two other pro- fessions, and as correspondent of the "Boston Journal," under the pen-name of " Burleigh," at- tained reputation for brilliancy of style and humor. He was also a successful lecturer, and made several extensive tours in that capacity throughout the United States. His publications include "Text- Book of Universalism " (Boston. 1836) ; " Universal- ism Examined, Renounced, and Exposed " (1842) ; " Universali-m not of God" (New York, 1847); "Sabbath Evenings" (1849); "Mount Calvary" (1866) ; and " Sunshine and Shadow in New York " (Hartford, 18I.8-'!!).

SMITH, Elihu Hubbard. physician, b. in Litchfield, Conn., 4 Sept., 1771 : d. at New York city, 19 Sept., 1798. He was graduated at Yale in 1786, subsequently followed a classical course under Dr. Timothy Dwight. and studied medicine in Philadelphia. He then settled in Wethersfield, Conn., where he wrote as well as practised, and, re- moving to New York city in 1794, soon established a reputation both in literature and in his pn .t.'inn. His house was the headquarters of the Friendly club, and a centre of the literary society of that city. He became a physician to the New York hos- pital in 1796, and the same year was a founder and editor of the " Medical Repository." During the yellow-fever epidemic in 17!)8 he was unremitting in his care of the sick, but finally contracted the disease, which proved fatal. He contributed to the Medical Repository " papers on pestilential fevers ; edited " American Poems, Selected and Original " (Litchfield, 1793); was the author of " Letters to William Buel on the Fever which prevailed in New York in 1793 " (1794); "Edwin and Angelina," an opera in three acts (1795); and prefixed to the Ameri- can edition of Darwin's works an " Epistle to the Author of the Botanic Garden " (1798). He is also supposed to have written an anonymous five-act tragedy entitled " Andre " (1798).

SMITH, Erasmus Darwin, jurist, b. in De Ruyter, Madison CO., N. Y., 10 Oct., 1806 : d. in Rochester, N. Y., 11 Nov., 1883. He was educated at Hamilton college, admitted to the bar, became a master in chancery in 1832, serving three succes- sive terms, was made injunction-master for the 8th district of New York in 1840, and clerk of that court in 1841, and was a justice of the supreme court of New York from 1855 till 1877, when he was retired on account of age. He served on the court of appeals in 1862 and 1870. and was general term justice in 1872-'7. Chief-Justice Chase said of his decision in the legal-tender case of Hayes vs. Powers, which settled the power of the Federal government to issue paper money as a war measure, that "its influence on the credit of the government was equal to a victory in the field." Rochester gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1868.

'''SMITH. Erasmus Pesliine'''. jurist, b. in New York city, 2 March. 1814 ; d. in Rochester, N. Y., 21 Oct.. 1882. While he was quite young his parents removed to Rochester, N. Y., and his early education was received there. He was graduated at Columbia in is:ii. and at the Harvard law-school in 1S33, and entered upon the practice of law at Rochester soon afterward. During the early years of his practice he was an editorial writer on the Rochester " Democrat," and later he was editor of the Buffalo " Commercial Advertiser " and of the " Washington Intelligencer." He was called to the chair of mathematics in the University of Rochester in 1850, holding office two years, when he became state superintendent of public instruction at Albany. In 1857 he was appointed reporter of the court of appeals of the state of New York, and in this post he instituted the custom of numbering the reports consecutively through the entire series, and only secondarily by the name of reporter, a custom that has since been generally followed. He was appointed commissioner of immigration at Washington in 1864, which post he relinquished soon afterward to become examiner of claims in the department of state, where he exercised much influence in shaping the policy of the department under William H. Seward and Hamilton Fish, and where his great knowledge of international law was of value to the government. In 1871. See. Fi>h being asked by the Japanese government to name an American to undertake the duties of ad- viser to the mikado in international law (a post analogous to that of the secretary of state in tin-United States), Mr. Smith was recommended, lie was the first American that was chosen to as>i-i the Japanese government in an official capacity, and remained in Japan five years, making treati* - and establishing a system of foreign relations. While thus engaged lie rendered an important service to the world, as well as to the government, by which he was employed, in breaking up the c lie trade. The Peruvian ship " Maria Luz," having a