594 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (WuRD WILLEY.) 



collecting information concerning mining interests, 

 and the results of his studies were published under 

 title of " The Metallic Wealth of the United States, 

 described and compared with that of other Coun- 

 tries" (Philadelphia, 1854). In 1855 he was ap- 

 pointed to the Geological Survey of Iowa, being 



also State chemist 

 and a member of 

 the faculty of the 

 State University. 

 The results of his 

 work were published 

 as " Reports on the 

 Geological Survey 

 of Iowa" (2 vols., 

 Albany, 1858-'59). 

 In 1858-'59 he was 

 engaged in a geo- 

 logical survey of the 

 lead region of the 

 upper Missouri, in 

 connection with the 

 official surveys of 

 Wisconsin and Il- 

 linois, publishing 

 with James Hall a 

 " Report on the 

 Geological Survey 



of Wisconsin " (Albany, 1862). The most impor- 

 tant work of his life was in connection with the 

 State of California, where from 1860 to 1874, as 

 State geologist, he conducted an elaborate topo- 

 graphical, geological, and natural-history survey 

 of that State. This survey was one of the most 

 valuable enterprises ever undertaken by a State, 

 but, as often happens, its real value was not appre- 

 ciated by the politicians, as the results were not 

 immediately apparent, and the appropriation was 

 discontinued in 1874. The fruits of his labors ap- 

 peared in 6 volumes, which were published at Cam- 

 bridge between 1864 and 1870. In 1865 he was 

 appointed Professor of Geology in Harvard Uni- 

 versity, with charge of its School of Mining and 

 Practical Geology. This appointment he held un- 

 til his death, when his name headed by seniority 

 the long list of instructors in that institution. In 

 company with William II. Brewer, an associate on 

 the Geological Survey of California, and a number 

 of students, he spent" the summer of 1869 in Colo- 

 rado, where he made the first accurate measure- 

 ments of the chief peaks of the Rocky mountains, 

 giving the names of Harvard and Yale to two of 

 them. The highest peak in the United States, 

 14,900 feet, in Inyo County, California, is named 

 Mount Whitney in his honor. The degree of LL. I >. 

 was conferred upon him by Yale, in 1870. He was 

 one of the original members of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science. In addi- 

 tion to contributing to periodicals and translating 

 Berzelius's " Use of the Blowpipe " (Boston, 1845), 

 he was the author of "The Yosemite Guidebook" 

 (San Francisco, 1869) ; "Barometric Hypsometry" 

 (Boston, 1874) ; " Contributions to American Geol- 

 .ogy" (Vol. I, 1880); and "Studies in Geographical 

 and Topographical Nomenclature" (Cambridge, 

 1888). 



>Viard, Norman, inventor, born in the present 

 Normandale, Ontario, Canada, in 1826 ; died in 

 Reading, Pa., Sept. 11, 1896. He showed a marked 

 fondness for mechanics in early youth and became 

 an apprentice in a foundry at Branford, Ontario. 

 After working in the machine department for six 

 months, he became foreman of the establishment, 

 and began the experiments in ordnance that after- 

 ward gave him a world-wide distinction. During 

 the civil war he was employed by the United States 

 Government in the manufacture of ordnance and 



projectiles, and was frequently called into consulta- 

 tion by President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton. 

 After the war he applied his time principally to 

 inventions and experiments in his special lines, and 

 a few years ago he conducted a series of experi- 

 ments in gunnery near Boston, which attracted the 

 attention of artillery experts the world over. He 

 patented a device for preventing the explosion of 

 steam boilers, which the United States Government 

 placed on each of its war vessels, and also sold the 

 same patent to the Japanese Government. He 

 spent two years in Japan in the employment of its 

 Government, especially in the navy department, 

 and was for some time a military engineer in that 

 country. As a fabricator of iron, he ranked very 

 high. Mr. Wiard was author of " The Solution of 

 the Ordnance Problem," and at the time of his 

 death was superintending the manufacture of guns 

 at the Scott foundry. 



'Wigg'lesworth, Edward, dermatologist, born in 

 Boston, Mass., in 1841 ; died there Jan. 23, 1896. He 

 was graduated at Harvard, in 1861, and at its medi- 

 cal school in 1865. In June, 1862, he became a 

 medical assistant in the United States Sanitary 

 Commission before Richmond ; on Sept. 26 follow- 

 ing he enlisted as a private in the 45th Massachu- 

 setts Volunteers, and was soon made hospital stew- 

 ard ; in 1863 was mustered out of the service; and 

 in June, 1864, became a volunteer surgeon in the 

 Army of the Potomac. After receiving his medical 

 degree he was engaged in the practice of his profes- 

 sion and of his specialty till his death. He served 

 for many years on the staff of the Boston City Hos- 

 pital; was instructor in dermatology in Harvard 

 Medical School; aided in founding the medical 

 library there ; and was author of many valuable 

 papers on his specialty. For many years he gave 

 away annually in professional services more than 

 the amount he received in fees. 



Wilbour, Charles Edwin, Egyptologist, born 

 in Little Compton, R. I., March 17, 1833 ; died in 

 Paris, France, Dec. 17, 1896. He took a partial 

 course in Brown University, where he was noted 

 for proficiency in Greek, became a reporter on the 

 " New York Tribune " in 1854. and was admitted to 

 the bar in 1859. An absorbing interest in the 

 study of Egyptian antiquities led him to abandon 

 the profession of law and to make a thorough study 

 of Egyptology. After visiting the principal libra- 

 ries of the United States and Canada, and familiar- 

 izing himself with their treasures on this subject, he 

 went to Europe in 1874 and studied the archaeolog- 

 ical collections in the British and the Continental 

 museums. Subsequently he became associated with 

 the late Heinrich Karl Brugsch and with Gaston 

 .Maspero in their explorations in Egypt, and for 

 sixteen years he had spent his winters on the Nile. 

 He discovered and published the famous "seven- 

 years'-famine stile" and made a large collection of 

 Egyptian antiquities and of books relating to Egyp- 

 tology, which will ultimately be presented to some 

 American college or museum. He published trans- 

 lations of Leon Beauvallet's "Rachel in the New 

 World," of Renan's " Life of Christ," and of Hugo's 

 " Les Miserables." 



Willey, Austin, clergyman, born in Campton, 

 N. H., June 24, 1806; died in Northfield, Minn., 

 March 28, 1896. He was graduated at Bangor 

 Theological Seminary in IS:; 7. and soon afterward 

 became active in the antislavery movement. In 

 1839 the Maine abolitionists established at Bangor 

 the first pronounced antislavery organ, the " Ad- 

 vocate of Freedom," to the editorship of which they 

 called Mr. Willey, and he continued in this relation 

 till 1858. Removing to Northfield, Minn., he be- 

 came editorially connected with the St. Paul " Pio- 

 neer Press." He was author of a " Family Memo- 



