Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/401

 CHEVES CHEVREUL 393 from soliciting for him the dignity of cardinal, to which he was appointed Feb. 1, 1836 ; but he died of apoplexy within less than six months. Two translations of his life by M. Hamon of St. Sulpice (under the name of J. Huen-Du- bourg) have appeared in the United States. CHEVES, Langdon, an American statesman, born at Eocky River, S. 0., Sept. 17, 1776, died at Columbia, June 25, 1857. He received little early education, but was admitted to the bar in 1800, and rapidly attained eminence. In 1808 he was elected from Charleston to the general assembly, of which body he became a leader. He was a representative in congress from 1811 to 1816, and was a zealous supporter of the party which carried the declaration of war. His speech on the merchants' bonds in 1811 was admired both for its ability and elo- quence. He was chairman of the naval com- mittee in 1812, and of the committee on ways and means in 1813, and constantly opposed the restrictive system. "When Henry Clay was sent as commissioner to Ghent, Mr. Cheves succeed- ed him as speaker of the house, being elected by the federalists combined with the anti-restric- tion democrats over Felix Grundy, the candi- date of the strict administration party. He re- tained this office till 1815, and not one of his decisions was reversed by the house. The bill for the recharter of the United States bank in 1815 was lost by his vote. He voted first to make a tie, and then gave a second and cast- ing vote to defeat it. Declining a reelection to congress after the close of the war, he was chosen one of the superior judges of the courts of law of South Carolina. The national bank having been rechartered in 1816, that institu- tion under injudicious management had become hard pressed and was on the verge of stoppage in 1819, when Cheves was elected president of its board of directors. By a rigorous system of retrenchment, and by making credits only upon sufficient securities, the bank was saved, and specie payment maintained at the princi- pal centres of commerce. Resigning this ardu- ous office after three years, he became chief commissioner under the treaty of Ghent for settling some of its provisions. He returned to South Carolina, where he devoted himself to his plantation, and though retaining his interest in public affairs, declined to accept public of- fice. Although as early as 1830 he had favored a withdrawal of the South from the Union, he was opposed to the scheme of nullification of 1832. Though advocating a southern confede- racy, he opposed the unsupported action of a single state as suicidal. In 1850 he became a delegate to the Nashville commercial conven- tion, and in 1852 was a member of the state convention of South Carolina, in which he ex- erted his influence against the idea of sepa- rate state secession. As a literary man he is known not only by his speeches, but by many occasional letters and reviews. He was buried with public honors in the Magnolia cemetery, near Charleston. CHEVIOT HILLS, a mountain range, extend- ing about 35 m, from N". E. to S. W. between Northumberland, England, and Roxburghshire, Scotland. They afford good pasturage for sheep, and give their name to a fine breed of that an- imal. They were the scene of many bloody battles between the Scotch and English, the most famous of which is that immortalized in the celebrated ballad of "Chevy Chase." Cheviot peak, 15 in. E. of Jedburgh, is 2,677 ft. high. CHEVREUL, Miehel Eugene, a French chemist, born at Angers, Aug. 31, 1786. Having com- pleted his studies in the central school of An- gers, he studied chemistry under Vauquelin in Paris, and afterward took charge of the labora- tory of that chemist. In 1810 he became pre- parator of the chemical course in the museum of natural history, and in 1813 professor in the lycee Charlemagne. In 1824 he was appointed director of the dye works and professor of special chemistry at the Gobelins, where he distinguished himself by important researches on colors. In 1826 he became a member of the academy of sciences, and in 1830 succeeded Vauquelin as professor of applied chemistry in the museum of natural history. He was after- ward made fellow of the royal society of London and president of the society of agriculture. In 1851 he was awarded a premium at the London industrial exhibition for the benefit his labors had conferred on industry, and in 1852 he re- ceived from the society for the encouragement of useful inventions the prize of 12,000 francs for his work Recherches chimiques sur les corps gras d'origine animale, which had been pub- lished in 1823, and which is yet of high value, its suggestions having given rise to the manu- facture of stearine candles, and to the use of oleic acid in the preparation of wool for cloth. Another work of his, on sanitary influences, introduced the practice of charring the interior of water casks. He was a member of the in- ternational jury at the universal exhibition of 1851 in London, and of 1855 in Paris. He was appointed director of the museum of natural history for five years in 1864, and again in 1869. Besides many articles on scientific sub- jects in the Dictionnaire des sciences natu- relles, the Journal des Savants, and other peri- odicals, he has published numerous works, among which are : Lecons de chimie appliquee a la teinture (1828-'31) ; De la loi du contraste simultane des couleurs et de Vassortement des oljets colories (1839) ; Des couleurs et de leurs applications aux arts industriels d Vaide des cercles chromatiques (1864) ; Considerations sur Vhistoire de la partie de la medecine qui concerne la prescription des remedes (1865) ; and Histoire des connaissances chimiques, the first volume of which appeared in 1866. Many of these works have been translated into various European languages. He has also contributed many important papers to scientific societies, and in 1873, at the age of 86, was still lecturing on chemistry.