Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/884

* DANA. 766 DANA. impaired his liealth, and although he was able to aei'omplisii much in after-years, his life lieucc- fortli was a continual struggle against disability. The value of Dana's services to science received prompt recogjiiliou from Yale College, which ap- pointed him iu 1850 to the professorship of natural historj', a position he filled from 1855 to 1890. During this period his activities found expression iu lectures to college students, in sev- eral text-books on geology and mineralogj', and in numerous contributions to scientific journals. His work was characterized by keenness of per- ception, great powers of analysis, and by vivid imagination. These qualities eminently fitted him for geological investigations, and his dis- cussions of the grander features of the eailh, such as the form and origin of continents, moun- tain-building, and volcanoes, are among the most valuable contributions to scientific literature. From 1841) until his death he served almost con- tinuously as editor of the American Journal of Science, in which many of his papers were pub- lished. Dana received many marks of honor from American and foreign institutions. He was elected president of the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science in 1854, and at various times a member of the Eoyal Society of London, the Institute of France, and the Royal Academy of Berlin, the Royal Academy of Vienna, and of many other learned societies. In 1872 the CJeological Society of London conferred upon him the WoUaston Medal "in acknowledgment of his services to mineralogy and geology." and in 1877 he received the Copley Medal "for his biological, geological, and mineralogical investi- gations, carried on tlirough half a century, and for the valuable works in which his conclusions and discoveries have been published." The more important of his contributions to scientific litera- ture, in book form, are the reports previously mentioned, and the followins: -1 Sijstem of MineraJogy (1837; 4th ed. 1854): Manual of Mineralomi (1848; 4th ed. 1854) ; Manual of Ge- ology (18fi2; 4th ed. 1865); Corals and Coral Islands (1872; 2d ed. 1890); Text-Bool- of Geology (1864: 4th ed. 1882): The Geological Story Brieflii Told (1875). He died in New Haven, April 1.3, 1895. DANA, Xapoleon Jackson Tecumseh ( 1822- — ). An American soldier, born in Eastport, !Maine. He graduated at West Point and was as- signed as second lieutenant of infantry in 1842. During the Mexican War he served in both the northern and the southern campaigns, and in April, 1847. was brevetted captain for gallantry at Cerro Ciordo, where he was severely w'ounded. In 1855 he resigned and thereafter until 1861 was engaged in the banking business in Saint Paul, Minn. On the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the service as colonel of a regiment of Minnesota volunteers, and in February, 1862, Avas appointed brigadier-general of United States volunteers. He served throughout the Penin- sular and Maryland campaigns : was seriously wounded at Antietam; became a major-general of volunteers in November, 1862 ; was engaged in various operations in the Department of the Gulf, and then commanded successively the Dis- trict of Vicksburg, the Sixteenth Army Corps, the Districts of West Virginia and Vicksburg, and the Department of the Mississippi. In ^lay, 1865, he resigned from the service, and subse- r|uently took an active interest in railway man- agement, becoming president of the Montana and Union Railway Company in 1885. He was ap- pointed captain and assistant quartermaster U. S. A., by special act of Congress, and retired from active service in 1894. DANA, Richard (1700-72). An American jurist. He was born in Cambridge, Mass., grad- uated at Harvard in 1718, and soon became one of the leaders of the Massachusetts bar. He was also prominent, as a Whig, in colonial poli- ties; frequently presided over Boston town- meetings; was chosen to administer the oath to Andrew Oliver binding him not to carry out the provisions of the Stamp Act, and in 1770 was a member of the committee appointed to make a careful investigation of the Boston INIassacre. DANA, Richard Henky (1787-1879). An American poet, essayist, and novelist, born in Cambridge, Mass., November 15, 1787. He en- tered Harvard College in 1804, but remained there only three years. Adopting law as a pro- fession, he was admitted to the Boston bar in 1811, but after some activity in politics re- nounced the practice of law for literature. His first literary work of note was an oration de- livered on July 4. 1814, before the Washington Benevolent Society in Cambridge. In 1815 he became associated with the 7i'ort7i American Revien; to which he contributed several essays, and of which he was for a time an editor. He then (1821) started a miscellany. The Idle Man, to which his friend Bryant contributed, but which came to an end after the sixth num- ber had been issued. His published works are: Poems (1827) ; Thoughts on the Soul (1829), a poem delivered before the Porter Rhetorical So- ciety of Andovcr, Mass.; Poems and Prose Writ- ings (18.33). the best of which were republished in The Buccaneer and Other Poems (London. 1844) ; and Poems and Prose Writings (2 vols., 1850). He did his best work as a critic, and had considerable influence in forming the taste of New England in the early part of the century. His poetry was good for the time, but is read little to-day. "The Buccaneer" is probably his best poem ; his prose tales, such as "Paul Fel- ton," display imagination but are poorly con- stnicted. DANA, RiCH.RD Hexkt (1S15-S2). An American author, born in Cambridge. Mass.. a son of Richard Henry Dana, the poet. He de- veloped in early life a passion for the sea, and was with difficulty restrained from entering the navy. He entered Harvard, but suffered from weak eyeS; and, to cure them, undertook a Pacific voyage as a common sailor, a record of which is "given in his sea-classic Tu-o Years Before the Mast (1840; augumented ed. 1869), a book often republished and translated. On his return Dana reentered Harvard and gradimted in 1837. He studied law and attained eminence in practice. On sea usages and laws, he wrote The Seaman's Friend (1841), reprinted in England as The Seaman's Manual. He contributed to legal jour- nals and to the Xorth American Review; wrote To Culm and Back (1859) ; and edited Wheaton's International Laic (1866). In 1876 he was ap- pointed Minister to England, but was refused confirmation through a paltry political intrigue and unfounded accusations of plagiarism. He richly deserved the honor because of his patriot- ism, his high character, and his diplomatic