Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/24

 18 KIRKLAND was married to Prof. William Kirkland of Hamilton college, who established a seminary in Goshen, on Seneca lake, and afterward emi- grated with his family to Michigan, whence after a residence of 2 years they removed in 1843 to New York. Her works include "A New Home: Who'll follow?" (Boston, 1839) ; "Forest Life" (1842); "Western Clearings" (1846); "Holidays Abroad, or Europe from the West " (2 vols., 1849) ; " The Evening Book, or Fireside Talk on Morals and Manners, with Sketches of Western Life" (1852); "A Book for the Home Circle " (1853) ; the letterpress to "The Book of Home Beauty;" and "Per- sonal Memoirs of George Washington " (1858). KIRKLAND, John Thornton, an American cler- gyman, born at Little Falls, N. Y., in 1770, died in Boston, April 26, 1840. He was the son of Samuel Kirkland, a famous missionary among the Indians, graduated at Harvard col- lege in 1789, and was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Summer street, Bos- ton, in 1794. He was elected president of Harvard college in 1810, and heldr this office till 1828, when he was enfeebled by a severe attack of paralysis. Although a writer of great and acknowledged excellence, he could never be induced to undertake an extensive work, but published a number of occasional pamphlets and some biographies. Of these, his life of Fisher Ames (1809) was perhaps the most valuable. He exerted a very great influence during his life, by the force of his intellect and character. He impressed himself strongly upon all with whom he came in contact ; and during his presidency the college flourished, both in its internal condition and in its external relations. KIRKWOOD, Daniel, an American mathema- tician, born in Harford co., Md., Sept. 27, 1814. He was mathematical tutor in the academy of York co., Pa., from 1838 to 1843, when he became principal of the Lancaster high school, and resigned in 1848 to accept a position in the Pottsville academy. In 1849 he communicated to the American philosoph- ical society, at Philadelphia, and to the Amer- ican association for the advancement of science, at Cambridge, Mass., his then recently dis- covered analogy between the periods of rota- tion of the primary planets. In 1851 he be- came professor of mathematics, and in 1854 president, of Delaware college, resigning in 1856 to take the chair of mathematics in Indiana university at Bloomington. He has been an earnest advocate of the nebular hy- pothesis. His paper in the monthly notices of the royal astronomical society, vol. xxix., " On the Nebular Hypothesis, and the Approximate Commensurability of the Planetary Periods," applies the theory of Laplace to explain the existence of gaps and chasms in the zone of minor planets between Mars and Jupiter, and assigns a physical cause for the hiatus in Saturn's ring. Noticing this paper, Mr. R. A. Proctor says of Prof. Kirkwood's researches : " I believe they will inaugurate new and im- KISFALTJDY portant processes of thought, by means of which the noble and hitherto intractable prob- lems connected with the formation of the solar system may be found capable of solu- tion." Prof. Kirkwood has also published " Comets and Meteors : their Phenomena in all Ages, and their Mutual Relations, and the Theory of their Origin " (Philadelphia, 1873). He received the degree of LL. D. from the university of Pennsylvania in 1852. KIRSCHWASSER (Ger. Kirsche, cherry, and Wasser, water), an alcoholic liquor distilled from the fermented mash of small and sweet black cherries. In the ordinary rude way of preparing it, it is a rank liquor containing hy- drocyanic acid derived from the cherry stones. A superior kind is made in the Black Forest from fruit more carefully selected and treated. KIRWA.V, Richard, an Irish chemist, born in county Galway about the middle of the 18th century, died in Dublin in 1812. He was edu- cated at Trinity college, and at the Jesuits' college of St. Omer in France. In 1779 he went to England, and settled near London, where he devoted himself to the study of chemistry and geology. Having been admitted a member of the royal society, he read several valuable papers before that body, for which the Copley medal was awarded to him in 1782. Returning to Ireland in 1789, he was chosen president of the royal Irish academy, and of the Dublin society, and afterward became a member of the principal learned societies of Europe. He was a frequent contributor to the "Transactions" of the various scientific soci- eties of Dublin and London. His most impor- tant works are "An Essay on Phlogiston and the Composition of Acids," in which he labors to reconcile the chemistry of the alchemists with that of modern times ; " Elements of Min- eralogy;" and "Essay on the Analysis of Min- eral Waters." Lavoisier translated the first, and appended a refutation of the theory. KISFALUDY. I. Karoly, a Hungarian drama- tist, born at Tete, in the county of Raab, Feb. 6, 1788, died in Pesth, Nov. 21, 1830. At an early age he entered the Austrian army, served in Italy and in the campaign of 1809 in Ger- many, and acquired great popularity by a series of national dramas and comedies, such as: A tatarok Magyar or szagban (" The Tartars in Hungary"), Zach KUra ("Clara Zach"), A Tcerok ("The Suitors"), A pdrtutok ("The Rebels"), and an excellent comedy, Maty as dedJc ("The Student Matthias"). II. Sandor, elder brother of the preceding, born at Siimeg, Sept. 22, 1772, died there, Oct. 28, 1844. He studied at Raab and Presburg, entered the Austrian army in 1793, served in the wars of Italy and in the campaign of Switzerland, and fought in the battle of Zurich (1799). In 1800 he returned to Hungary, and for about 25 years continued to write poetry, including Him.- fy szerelmei (" The Love of Himfy "), and Ee- gek ("Ballads"). Some of his poems have been translated into English by John Bowring.