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* MAYER. 216 MAYERS. with cliange of temperature slioued the delicacy of Professor Mayer's experimental work, llis last important research was an experimental in- vestigation of the equilibrium of the forces act- ing in the flotation of disks and rings of metal and their application to measure surface tension. In addition to his scientiJic attainments, Professor Jlayer was an enthusiastic sportsman and wrote apurt uilh (lu)i and Hud in Aiitcricun Hoods and ir<(/e)'6-( 1883). Consult short liiograpliical sketch in iS'cie;icc, August 20. ISilT. liy W. Let onte .Ste- vens. Besides many contributions to scientific journals and encycloptedias, Professor ilayer was the author of Lecture Xotes on Physics: (1808) ; The Earth a Great Maijnet (1872) ; Light, with Charles Barnard (1877); and Sound (1878). MAYER, Br.vntz (1800 7!)). An American author. Inirn in Baltimore, Md. After graduation at Saint Mary's College he traveled in the East, practiced law (1829-11), was secretary of the American Lcfiation at Mexico (lS4.'i). and wrote his observations there in Mexico as It Was and Is (1844) : Mexico. A^lec, i^ji'inish. and Re- publican (1851); Obserrntions of Mexican Bis- iory and ArchaoUxjy (18,50) ; and Mexican An- tiijuities (18.58); works that retain some value, especially for the period following the Spanish conquest. He wrote also Captain Canot, or Tncnty Years of an African Slaver (18.54), and other less important books. Ma,ver served as pajTiiaster in the Civil War and was a founder of "the Maryland Historical Society (1844). He died in lialtiniore. MAYER. Constant (1,S;V2— ). An American painter, born at Besancon. France. He Avas a student at the Kcole des Beaux-Arts, and after- wards a ]>u|)il of Leon Cogniet. After 18.57 he lived in New York Citv. His works include: "Love's Melancholy" (1807); "Maud Muller" (1807) ; "Stre<'t Melodies;" and the "Song of the Shirt." He also painted several portraits, includ- ing those of Generals Grant and Sheridan, the Empress Carlntta, and other*. MAYER, Frank Blackwell (1827—). An American portrait and genre painter, born in Baltimore. He studied under Alfred MilliT in Baltimore and under (ileyre in Paris, .fter- wards he settled in Annapolis, .Md. His collec- tion of drawings of the Dakota Inilians has an nrchivological value. His works include: "Fenst of Mondawmin" ( 18.57) : "Treaty of Trav- erse des .Sinux. Minnesota" (1880): "The Con- tinentals;" and "The Attic Philosopher." which won a medal at the Centennial Exhibition of 187C. MAYER, mi'er. .Toiiann TomAS (172.'502). A (Jiriiiau mathematician and astronomer, born at Marliacli in Wiirttembcrg, He was selfi'ducated and at first taught mathematics for a living. In 1740 he became connectid with a cartographic establishment and gained fame for his improve- nients in map-making. In 17.51 he was ajipointed to the chair of mathematics and astronomy in the ?'niversity of O.'ittingen. and in 17.54 director ol the observator>'. where for the remainder of his life he did much to a<Ivance the sci- ences of astronomy and navigation. His first published work was .1 Treatise on Carres for the Conslrueliiin of flromctrtcal Problems, which was followed the same year (174.5) by .1 Mnlhe. maliral Atlas. At Oiittingen he gave much labor to a Zodiacal Catalogue, which contains 90S stars and of which a newly computed edition was published by Auwers in 18'J4. His Lunar Tables, published in 17o2-.53. were so correct as to be adopted by the British Board of Admiralty, in 170U he invented the repeating circle, which was afterwarils used with so much success by Borda in measuring the are of the meridian. His posthumous works include: Theoria Lunar Jiixla Systenia yeutonianuni (1767); Tabula; Motuum Solis et Luna; .Voice et Vorrectw Quibus Aeccdit Methodus Lonyiludinuni I'roniota (1770) ; Ubser- vationcs Astronomia; Quadrante Murali Ilubitce In Uhservatorio tluttinijensi (2d ed. 1820). He left a large number of scientific memoirs, which were published by Lichtenberg in 1775. MAYER, .Jtuu.s RoiiEHT vox (1814-78). A German physicist, born in Heilbronn, Wiirttem- bcrg. He attended the gjmnasium at Heilbronn, studied medicine at Tiibingen, and finished his university course at Munich and Paris. He made a voyage to Java in 1840, and while there made observations on the blood which led him to the in- vestigation of thesuhject of animal heat, and final- ly to that of the conservation and correlation of forces. After his return to Heilbronn he ])rae- ticed medicine there, but after a few years de- voted himself almost exclusively to his scientific investigations. He pulilished a preliminary notice of his work up to 1842, in IJebig's .4 nnalen der Che- mie and Pharmacic. under the title "Bemerkun- gen iiber die Ivrafte der unbelebten Xatur." after it had been refused by l'oggendortf's.4M«(//<'Honac- count of its novel and revolutionary char;icter. It was in this pa]ier that the first announcement was nuide of the principle underlying the theory of the conservation of energy'. In 1845 he made a fuller explanation of the subject in a memoir, iinder the title Die oryanisehe Beirefiung in ihrem Zusantnienhanyc mit dcm Stofficcchst;!. In 1848 he published Ucitriii/c zur Dynainilc des Iliniuiels, and in 1851 the essay for which he is perhaps more generally known in popular science, that upon the mechanical equivalent of heat (lienier- L'unat n iiber das ineehanisehe .Aei^uirali )it der M'linne), in which he developed aiul <'xpanded the jirinciplcs laid down in his former pa])ers. To .Mayer is due the first conception of the doctrine of the conservation of energy', though he was soon followed by .Joule and Helmholtz (qq.v. ) with in- vestigations and papers on the same subjects. His collected works appeared under the title Die Meehnnilc der Wiirme, M ed., by Weyrauch (1803). Consult: Weyrauch. If'oherl Mayer (Stuttgart. 1800) ; id., Kleinere Sehriflen und Brief c ron I'obert Mayer (ib., ISO."?) : and Gross, Robert Mailer und Hermann ron Helmholtz (Ber- lin, 18118).' MAY'ERS, Wiu.iAM Freuerick (IS.Tl-TS). A sinobigue. Iiorn in Tasmania. Fducated in .Marseilles anil prolicient in modern languages, he was appointed at twenty-eight student-inter- preter in China, and acted as 'ice-Consul at Canton and Chi-fu, becoming in 1872 Chinese .■secretary to the British Legation in Peking. He was a masler of Chinese. Tibetan, and Korean. He pihlislied "The Lamaist Seplem in Tibet." in the Journal of the Royal .Asiatic Societ,v (1800); The Anf/lo-Chinese Calendar Manual (1800): his masterpiece. The Chinese Reader's Manual (1874) : The Chinese Oorernment. a Man- ual of Chinese Titles (1878) : and in collabora- tion with Dennys and King, The Treaty Ports of