Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/449

 WALKER 429 tary of state,' in 1853 a member of the state constitutional convention, and in 1862-'3 a member of congress. From 1842 to 1849 he was professor of political economy at Oberlin college, and from 1861 to 1876 lecturer at Am- herst college. He published " Nature and Uses of Money and Mixed Currency" (Boston, 1857) ; " Science of Wealth, a Manual of Po- litical Economy" (1866; 7th ed., 1874); and with William B. Calhoun and Charles L. Flint " Transactions of the Agricultural Societies of Massachusetts" (7 vols., 1848-'54). His son FEANOIS AMASA, born July 2, 1840, studied law, served in the civil war, was made brevet brig- adier general in 1865, became chief of the bu- reau of statistics at Washington in 1869, super- intendent of the census of 1870, Indian com- missioner in 1871, and in 1872 professor of political economy and history in the Sheffield scientific school of Yale college. Besides the reports of the census (3 vols. 4to), he has pub- lished "The Indian Question" (Boston, 1873), and " The Wages Question " (New York, 1876), and compiled the " Statistical Atlas of the United States " (folio, 1874). WALKER, Frederick, an English painter, born in London in 1840, died in 1876. He studied at the royal academy, furnished designs for illustrated works, and became in 1864 an asso- ciate and in 1866 a member of the old water- color society, and in 1871 an associate of the academy. His water-color paintings include " Philip in Church," " The Fairy," " The Housewife," u The Fishmonger's Shop," and "The Harbor of Refuge;" his oil paintings, "The Lost Woman" (1863), "The Bathers" (1867), "The Vagrants" (1868), "The Old Gate" (1869), "The Plough" (1870), "The Harbor of Refuge" (1872), and "The Right of Way" (1875). About 200 of his pictures were exhibited in London in 1876. WALKER, James, an American clergyman, president of Harvard college, born in Burling- ton, Mass., then a part of Woburn, Aug. 16, 1794, died in Cambridge, Dec. 23, 1874. He graduated at Harvard college in 1814, studied theology in Cambridge, and from 1818 to 1839 was pastor of the Unitarian church in Charles- town. From 1831 to 1839 he was editor of the "Christian Examiner." He became Al- ford professor of moral and intellectual phi- losophy in Harvard college in 1839, and was president of the college from 1853 to 1860. He edited works by Reid and Stewart for the use of college students, and published a vol- ume of sermons preached in the chapel of Harvard college (1861), "Memoir of D. Apple- ton White" (1863), and a "Memoir of Josiah Quincy " (1867). A volume of his posthumous discourses was published in 1876. He left his valuable library and $15,000 in money to Har- vard college. WALKER, John, an English lexicographer, born at Colney-Hatch, Middlesex, March 18, 1732, died in London, Aug. 1, 1807. He was successively a merchant, actor, and teacher. In 1769 he began to teach elocution, in which he soon gained a wide celebrity. In 1772 he published "A General Idea of a Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language;" in 1775 a rhyming dictionary, first published under the title of "A Dictionary of the English Language, answering at once the purposes of Rhyming, Spelling, and Pronouncing;" in 1781 "Ele- ments of Elocution ;" in 1783 " Hints for Im- provement in the Art of Reading," a pamphlet, most of which was incorporated in the " Rhe- torical Grammar" (1785); in 1787 a small treatise entitled " The Melody of Speaking de- lineated, or Elocution taught like Music by Visible Signs;" in 1791 his chief work, the " Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Exposi- tor of the English Language," which for many years was the general standard ; in 1798 a " Key " to the pronunciation of Greek, Latin, and Scripture names; and in 1805 "Outlines of English Grammar." Mr. Walker was brought up as a Presbyterian, but died in the Roman Catholic faith. WALKER, Robert James, an American states- man, born in Northumberland, Pa., July 19, 1801, died in Washington, D. C., Nov. 11, 1869. He graduated at the university of Pennsylvania in 1819, and was admitted to the bar at Pittsburgh in 1821. In 1826 he re- moved to Natchez, Miss., and joined the dem- ocratic party there. He was a United States senator from 1837 to 1845, when he was ap- pointed secretary of the treasury by President Polk, retiring in 1849. He was the principal author of the revenue tariff of 1846. In 1857 -'8 he was governor of Kansas territory, which office he resigned from opposition to the policy of President Buchanan ; and on the outbreak of the civil war in 1861 he declared strongly for the Union. In 1863-'4 he was financial agent of the United States in Europe, effect- ing the sale of $250,000,000 of U. S. bonds. He published "Reports of the Supreme Court of Mississippi, 1818-'32" (1834); "Argument on the Mississippi Slave Question " (1841) ; and four pamphlets on the finances and resources of the United States (London, 1863-'4). WALKER, Sears Cook, an American mathema- tician, born in Wilmington, Mass., March 28, 1805, died in Cincinnati, Jan. 30, 1853. He graduated at Harvard college in 1825, taught school for several years near Boston and in Philadelphia, and actively engaged in scientific labors. His parallactic tables, first prepared in 1834 for the latitude of Philadelphia, great- ly reduced the time needed for computing the phases of an occultation. In the " Memoirs of the Philosophical Society" (new series, vol. i.) he published a long series of observations of occupations. In 1837 he prepared a plan for the organization of an observatory in connec- tion with the Philadelphia high school, which was one of the earliest built in America. (See OBSERVATORY, vol. xii., p. 567.) In 1841 he published a valuable memoir on the periodical meteors of August and November. In 1845