OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (NAPIER NUSSBAUM.) 



085 





Napier, Sir Kobert Cornells, Lord Napier of Magdala, a 

 British soldier, born in Ceylon in 1810 ; died in Lon- 

 don, Jan. 14, 1890. He was the son of a major of 

 artillery, was educated in the Military College at 

 Addiscombe, and in December, 1826, received his 

 commission as 2d lieutenant in the Bengal Engineers. 

 In India he found plenty of employment and gained a 

 high reputation as an engineer. He had charge of the 

 construction of the Umballa barracks, was commis- 

 sioned major in 1841, assisted in organizing the Law- 

 rence Asylums for the children of British soldiers, and 

 was promoted major for distinguished services in the 

 Sutlej campaign. Sir Henry Lawrence selected him 

 for the post of engineer to the Durbar of Lahore, 

 giving him the opportunity to become familiar with 

 the Punjab. He acted as chief engineer at both the 

 sieges of Mooltan, where he was severely wounded. 

 After the capture of the place he went with the ex- 

 pedition to re-enforce Lord Gough, and at the siege 

 of Goojerat he acted as commanding engineer to the 

 right wing. He was also present at the surrender of 

 the Sikh army. Returning to his duties as chitf 

 engineer to the Administration of the Punjab, he 

 carried out his cherished plan of building a network 

 of military roads that would serve also as commercial 

 highways. He built canals to irrigate the Dooab 

 district, and erected the barracks 'and public build- 

 ings necessary for the efficient administration of the 

 country. This was the work of several years, at the 

 end of which he was called to Calcutta to undertake 

 the duties of Chief Engineer of Bengal, having been 

 promoted colonel. During the mutiny of 1857 he 

 served as chief of staff to Sir John Outram during the 

 operations for the. relief of Lucknow, and by throw- 

 ing a pontoon bridge across the Goomtee river he en- 

 abled the British troops to get at the enemy. The 

 operations throughout were conducted largely accord- 

 ing to his suggestions. The force sent against Tantia 

 Topee was placed under his command, but Sir Hugh 

 Eose, as ranking officer, superseded him and gained 

 the credit of the defeat of the rebels. He commanded, ( 

 with the rank of brigadier-general, at the victorious ' 

 engagement of Joura Alipore, which he followed up 

 by reducing the fort of Powree. After Gwalior was 

 captured he engaged in the pursuit of Tantia Topee.. 

 For his services he was knighted. In 1860 he went 

 to China as second in command under Sir Hope Grant, 

 and conducted the operations at the taking of the 

 Taku forts, where he commanded in person and was 

 struck five times. For his services he was made a 

 major-general. He was also appointed to succeed 

 Outram as a military member of the Indian Council, 

 resigning in January, 1865, when he was made com- 

 mander-in-chief at Bombay. In 1867 he was in- 

 trusted with the command of the expedition sent to 

 rescue the British envoys held as prisoners by King 

 Theodore of Abyssinia and to chastise the Negus for 

 his insult. On April 10, 1868, he defeated on the 

 heights of Islamgie the army of the King, who re- 

 leased the captives soon afterward and retreated to 

 the fortress of Magdala, which he supposed impreg- 

 nable, but Napier stormed it on April 13, and Theo- 

 dore in despair committed suicide. After aiding 

 Johannes, Theodore's rival and successor, to establish 

 his authority, the British force was withdrawn. The 

 successful commander was created Baron Napier of 

 Magdala, and an annuity of 2,000 was granted to 

 him and his next heir. In January, 1870, he was ap- 

 pointed commander-in-chief of the forces in India. 

 This post he held for the customary term of five 

 years. On his return to England he was appointed 

 Governor and Military Commander at Gibraltar, re- 

 tiring in 1882, when he was made a field marshal. 

 In 1886 he received the appointment of high constable 

 of the Tower. When the difficulty with Russia in 

 1878 seemed likely to result in war, Lord Napier was 



selected by the Government to be the commander-in- h 



b y 



chief of the British field force. 



Nasmyth, James, English mechanical engineer, born 

 in Tweeddale, Scotland, in 1808; died in London, 

 England, May 7, 1890. Evincing early a taste tor 



mechanical pursuits, he became an assistant in the 

 private workshop of Maudsley, in London, in 1829 

 after finishing his education in Edinburgh under the 

 direction of his lather, Alexander Nasmyth, the art- 

 ist. When Mr. Maudsley died in 1831 Nasmvth re- 

 turned to Edinburgh, made himself u set of engineer- 

 ing tools, and in 1834 began business in Manchester. 

 As the business grew Le built his workshops in the 

 suburb of Patricroft. The Great Western Railroad 

 requiring apparatus for forging a shall thirty inches 

 in diameter, Nasmyth invented the steam hammer 

 bearing his name, which, while capable of the most 

 ponderous work, is so delicately adjusted that it can 

 crack a nut. At the age of forty -eight Mr. Nasmytb 

 retired from business, and thenceforth gave much 

 time to astronomy, publishing, with Dr. Carpenter, 

 of Greenwich Observatory, the most important Eng- 

 lish work on the moon. - 



Normanby, George Augustus Constantino Phippa, Mar- 

 quis of. an English administrator, born July 23 

 1819 ; died in April, 1890. He sat in Parliament as 

 Lord Mulgrave for Scarborough in 1847-'51 and 1852- 

 '57, voting with the Liberals, was Treasurer of the 

 Queen's Household for some years, and was appointed 

 Governor of Nova Scotia in 1858, resigning in 1863, 

 when he succeeded to his father's title. On April 8, 

 1871, he was appointed Governor of Queensland, 

 whence he was transferred to New Zealand in 1874, 

 and in December, 1878, he became Governor of Vic- 

 toria, returning to England in 1884. 



North, Marianne, an English artist and botanist, born 

 in Hastings in 1830 : died in Gloucestershire early in 

 September, 1890. She was a daughter of Frederick 

 North, a member of Parliament, who took her with 

 him on his travels and resided with her two years in 

 Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Adopting painting as a 

 profession after her father's death, she executed a large 

 number of landscapes in Sicily in 1869-'70 ; then trav- 

 eled for a year in Canada, the United States, and Ja- 

 maica, making drawings of the flora of those coun- 

 tries ; went next to Brazil to sketch its plant lite ; and 

 afterward did the same for Teneriffe, India, and Cey- 

 lon. In November, 1877, she sailed again for India, 

 and made more than 700 paintings of vegetable forms, 

 which, on her return at the end of two years, she pre- 

 sented to the nation, and built at her own expense a 

 gallery for them at Kew. Visiting South Africa in 

 1882, she sent 60 new paintings to the gallery, which 

 are highly esteemed by botanists. Next she sketched 

 the peculiar plants and trees of the Seychelles Islands, 

 and visited later California, Borneo, Java, Australia, 

 and New Zealand. A journey that she made to 

 South America in pursuit of her' scientific and artistic 

 studies brought upon her a weakening malady from 

 which she died. 



Nussbaum, Johann Nepomuk, a German surgeon, born 

 in Munich, Sept. 2, 1829; died there, Oct. 31, 1890. 

 He was the son of a Bavarian official and studied medi- 

 cine in Munich. He became assistant in Dr. von 

 Rothmund's clinic, and in 1853, after successful ex- 

 periments with rabbits, published a paper on infixing 

 a glass cornea in diseased eyes. This operation he 

 never succeeded in performing with perfect results, al- 

 thoucrh he returned to it after his first disappointment 

 and made it the subject, in 1857 : of his inaugural lect- 

 ure as privat-docent. Meanwhile he had studied in 

 Wurzburg, Berlin, and Paris, and won reputation as 

 an operating surgeon. On Jim. 6, I860, he was made 

 Professor of Surgery and Diseases of the Eye. _ The 

 latter branch he soon relinquished. In 1862 he intro- 

 duced the mistaken operation of forcibly bending lamed 

 joints. In the orthopaedic and children's hospitals in 

 Munich he performed countless operations. Going to 

 London to learn ovariotomy from Spencer Wells, he 

 made it known in Munich. The adoption and im- 

 provement of antiseptic methods were largely due to 

 him. In 1870 he was chief surgeon to the Bavarian 



army. His published works on the Listerian treat- 

 ment ol gunshot wounds and others relating to anti 

 septic surgery, and in 1880 a practical work of great 

 value on abdominal injuries. 



