Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/942

* DAVIDSON. 816 DAVIES. DAVIDSON, Thomas (1840-1900). A Scotch- American philosopher, born near Tetterangus, Scotland. He graduated in 1800 at the Univer- sity of Aberdeen, removed in 1866 to Canada, and in 18G7 to the United States, and in 1876 settled at Cambridge, Mass., where he was active as scholar, autlior, and lecturer. A close student of Thomas Aquinas, he was invited by the Pope to assist the corps of Italian professors in the preparation of a new edition of the works of that philosopher. His Philosophical System of An- loiiio lUjsDiini-fierhati (1882) was the first in- troduction of the latter to Englisli readers. For many years he conducted at Keene, in the Adi- rondacks, a 'summer school for culture sciences,' and from 1898 a class of Russian Jews in New Yorlv City. His personality was large and com- manding. His published works include further: a translation of the fragments of Parmenides (1869) and one of Bleek's Origin of Language (1869); A Short Account of the Xiohe Group (1874) ; The Parthenon Frieze and Other Essays (1882) ; The Place of Art in Education (188G) ; Aristotle and Educational Ideals and A Bistory of Edncaiion (1900). DAVIDSON, William (1746-81). An Ameri- can soldier. He was born in Lancaster County, Pa., was talcen wlien a child to North Carolina, and became a major in one of the first regiments raised in that State for the Revolutionary War. He was in the engagements at Brandywine, Ger- mantown, and Monmouth, and advanced to the ranlc of a brigadier-general of North Carolina militia. In the attempt to clieck the advance of Cornwallis over the Catawba River at Cowan's Ford, February 1, 1781, he was killed. Davidson College, N. C was named in liis lionor. DAVIDSON COLLEGE. A town in Meck- lenburg C<ninty, N. C, 22 miles north of Char- lotte ; on the Southern Railway ( Map : North Carolina, B 2). It has cotton-mills, a cotton- seed-oil mill, planing-mills, and a flouring-mill. The town is the seat of Davidson College (q.v. ) and of the North Carolina Medical College, estab- lished about 1890. connected with which is Altheon Hospital. Population, in 1890, 481; in 1900, 904. DAVIDSON COLLEGE. An institution of higher education estalilished in 1837 at David- son College, N. C. The college was founded by members of the Presbyterian Church, and is at present governed by a board of trustees appointed by the Presbyterians of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida (Presbyterian Church South ). No theological department, how- ever, is maintained and the degrees conferred are the academic ones in art and science. The student attendance ap])r(iximates 200; the endowment of the college is .$125,000, the income about $20,000, and the total value of the college prop- erty $325,000. The' library contains 15,000 volumes. DAVID THE PHILOSOPHER (Arm. Da- vit 'Imasdaser), or David the Armenian. An Armenian scholar of the fifth century a.d. He studied in Greece, and wrote learned translations of, and commentaries on, the works of Aristotle. Consult: Neumann, Mcmoire sur la vie et les ourrages de David (Paris, 1829). DA'VIE, William Richardson (1756-1S20). An American soldier, born in Egremont. Eng- land. He came to the United States in 1703, graduated at Princeton in 1776, studied law at Salisbury, N. C, and in 1779 received the com- mission of a lieutenant of dragoons. His troop was subsequently assigned to Count Pulaski's legion, in which he rose to the rank of major. He resumed the study of law at Salisbury, and in 1779 was admitted to the bar of North Caro- lina. Under the authorization of that State in 1780 he raised at his own expense a troop of dragoons and two mounted infantry companies, with which to assist in the defense of the south- western districts against British attacks from South Carolina. In 1780 he was promoted to the command of the State cavalry, with the rank of colonel. At the entry of Lord Cornwallis into Charlotte, N. C, he distinguished himself by his spirited resistance to the repeated charges of Tarleton's famous legion. He was appointed in 1781 to the post of commissary-general of the American Army in the South. After the Revo- lution he became a successful la^-j'er, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and for a number of years represented the borough of Halifax in the Lower House of the State Legislature. He drew up the act, passed in 1789, for the establishment of the University of North Carolina; in 1794 was commissioned major-general of militia : in 1798 was elected Governor of North Carolina; and in 1799 re- signed that post to accept appointment to the embassy which concluded with the French Govern- ment the convention of September 30, 1800. Con- sult the biography by Hubbard, in vol. xxv. (Boston, 1848) of The Library of American Biography, edited by Jared Sparks. DA'VIES, Ben (1858—). An English tenor, born in Swansea, Wales. He studied under Ran- degger at the Royal Academy of Music ( 1880- 83 ), where he won numerous prizes. L'pon leav- ing the Academy he joined the Carl Rosa Opera Troupe, appearing in Faust, The Bohemian Girl, etc. ; but he is best known as a concert and oratorio singer. He visited the L'nited States in 1893, and again in 1894. DAVIES, Charles (1798-1876). An Ameri- can mathematician, born in Wa.shington, Conn. He early removed to Saint Lawrence County, N. Y., and in 1815 graduated at West Point. In 1848 he took the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy in the L'niversity of New York, and in 1857 the chair of higher mathematics in Columbia College. His works in- clude: Surveying (1832) ; Trigonometry (1840) ; Logic of Mathematics (1850); and Dictionary and CycJopwdia of Mathematical Science (1855). He edited, in English, Bourdon's Algebra (1834), and Legendre's Geometry (1828). DAVIES, Henry Eugene, .Jr. (1836-94). An American soldier, born in New York. He was educated at Harvard, Williams, and Columbia, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. At the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the United States Volunteers as captain, and became briga- dier-general in September. 1863. He served with distinction in the Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, became one of Sheridan's most trusted lieutenants, and by 1865 had risen to the rank of major-general of volunteers. He resigned in 1860, and afterwards became a prominent New York lawyer and held several public offices. He was the author of General Sheridan (1895), in the Great Commander Series.