Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 29.djvu/292

 to England in 1835, and in the following year, in order to relieve a widowed sister, Mrs. Nicol, who was suffering from a pulmonary attack, he invented the respirator, for which he obtained a patent on 23 Jan. Two other patents embodying various improvements were granted to him in 1844 and 1850 respectively. The appliance consists of a series of exceedingly thin perforated metallic diaphragms—rods, wires, or tubes were afterwards found to answer equally well—fixed in a suitable frame and applied over the mouth. The heat of the breath in passing out through the apparatus is communicated to the metallic diaphragms, and this heat is in turn transferred to the air inhaled. The respirator was very well received by the medical profession, Dr. Arnott mentioning it in a lecture at the Royal Institution in March 1836. It has now, however, somewhat fallen into disuse. Jeffreys subsequently devoted considerable attention to diseases of the respiratory organs, with special reference to this apparatus, embodying his views in the following works: ‘The Construction and Use of the Respirator,’ 1836; ‘Statics of the Chest,’ 1843; ‘The Atmospheric Treatment of the Chest,’ 1845; and ‘Remarks on Climate and Affections of the Throat and Lungs,’ 1849. In 1858 he published a small work on ‘The British Army in India; its Preservation by Appropriate Clothing,’ &c., which contained valuable suggestions.

He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1840, and in the same year he communicated a paper to the ‘Proceedings’ on the solubility of silica by steam, which is also the subject of a paper read by him before the British Association in 1869.

In addition to his purely scientific investigations he was occupied with various inventions for heating and warming, propelling ships, lowering ships' boats, &c., for some of which he obtained patents in 1838 and 1844.

He was elected a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Society in 1838, and he became a fellow of the Geological Society in 1846. He died at Richmond, 13 May 1877. 

JEGON, JOHN (1550–1618), bishop of Norwich, born in 1550, was son of Robert Jegon of Coggeshall in Essex, and Joan White, his wife, both of humble condition in life. On 25 Oct. 1567 he matriculated at Cambridge as a student of Queens' College. The statement that he belonged to St. John's College appears to be without foundation. He graduated B.A. in the Lent term of 1571–2, was elected a fellow of Queens' College in 1572, and filled successively the offices of college tutor, proctor in the university, and vice-president. In 1590 the fellows of Corpus Christi College received royal letters recommending Jegon to the mastership, then vacant by the death of Dr. Copcot (Cal. State Papers, 1581–90, p. 682). The fellows, who were desirous of electing one of their own number (Mr. Dix), complied reluctantly, and in a letter to the chancellor of the university, Lord Burghley, stated that they did so, ‘for that our statute so in part requireth, and your last letters seem to command.’ Jegon, however, who brought with him several of his pupils at Queens' College, soon justified the royal choice. He freed the college from financial difficulties, and raised the standard of instruction (cf., Hist. of C. C. College, ed. Lamb, p. 146). In 1593 he signed the formal protest against William Barret's sermon attacking Calvinistic doctrine. He filled the office of vice-chancellor during the academic years 1596–7, 1597–8, 1598–9, and 1600–1, and vigorously maintained the rights and privileges of the university against the town. By the townsmen he was much disliked, and in his letters to Burghley he more than once complained of the treatment he received at their hands. On 22 July 1601 he was installed dean of Norwich, and 18 Jan. 1602–3 was elected bishop of that see, being consecrated at Lambeth on 14 May 1603. On his resignation of the mastership of his college, Archbishop Whitgift was anxious that his own chaplain, Dr. Carrier, a senior fellow of the society, should succeed. But Jegon, although professing himself in favour of the archbishop's scheme, contrived to bring about the election of his own brother, Thomas Jegon, also a fellow of the college. Whitgift, in his chagrin, wrote to Sir Robert Cecil, the chancellor, declaring that ‘Jegon hath, in my opinion, greatly abused both you and me.’

In his diocese Jegon was unpopular, partly on account of the rigour with which he sought to enforce conformity, and partly because his liberality was not proportionate to his reputation for wealth. Masters tells us that he was ‘so noted for a monied man, that the king sent to borrow 100l. of him by way of loan.’ In his latter years, his health failing him, he petitioned for leave of absence from parliament, and a proxy was appointed. He died at Aylsham in Norfolk 13 March 1617–18, and was buried in the chancel of the church. His will is in the prerogative office at Canterbury. 