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MEPJAM, EBEN. 



METHODISTS. 



of the " Quarterly Beview " in furtherance of 

 subjects of articles published therein. "On 

 Agriculture and Eent ; " " Substitution of Sav- 

 ings Banks for Poor Laws," and "On Planting 

 Waste Lands" (1828); "An Appeal to the 

 Nobility and Gentry of the County of Leicester 

 in behalf of the Church of England" (1832); 

 "The Ministerial Succession" (1838); besides 

 other letters and pamphlets on church topics 

 and controversial subjects. 



MEKIAM, EBEX. An American statistician 

 and meteorologist, born in Concord, Mass, June 

 17, 1794 ; died at his residence in Brooklyn, 

 L. I., March 19, 1864. In early manhood he re- 

 moved to Kentucky, where for a number of 

 years he was engaged in the manufacture and 

 purification of saltpetre, as well as other min- 

 eral products of the Mammoth Cave in that 

 State. He subsequently engaged extensively 

 in the dry goods business in Zanesville, Ohio. 

 Not far from 1838 he removed to New York 

 City and entered quite largely into the manu- 

 facture of soap and candles, accumulating there- 

 by a comfortable property. From his earliest 

 childhood Mr. Meriam had evinced a taste for 

 scientific pursuits, and devoted his attention 

 more particularly to meteorological researches. 

 He was the originator of the theory of cycles 

 of atmospherical phenomena, upon which sub- 

 ject he published many interesting articles, 

 which attracted the attention of scientific men 

 abroad. In 1841 he commenced, at his own 

 expense, the publication of the " Municipal Ga- 

 zetteer," a work embracing every particular of 

 his extended researches, and devoted to the 

 interests of science. He was an industrious 

 collector of facts and statistics, and his hourly 

 records of the weather extend back to a period 

 of nearly thirty years. He was a contributor 

 to nearly all the journals in New York City 

 upon scientific subjects, making the " Journal 

 of Commerce" his special organ. In all his 

 pursuits, his great end in view seemed to be the 

 benefit of society, and never would he allow 

 himself to take an adequate compensation for 

 his mental labors. He had some eccentricities 

 of habit, but his heart was ever warm in its 

 sympathies, and his hand ready to relieve the 

 wants of the poor and unfortunate, so that at 

 his death it was found that he had made no 

 provision for his family. His meteorological 

 records were not collected for publication, but 

 he contributed to a Statistical Almanac, pub- 

 lished by Mason Brothers in 1858, some meteor- 

 ological essays, and published also some pamph- 

 lets on this and other subjects. 



METHODISTS. The Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, which since the beginning of the pres- 

 ent century has grown more rapidly than any 

 other religious denomination of the country, 

 has, since 1859, begun to decline in member- 

 ship. In 1859 the number of members and pro- 

 bationers together amounted to 971,498, while, 

 according to the Methodist " Almanac " for 

 1865, the Church had, in 1864, in fifty-seven An- 

 nual Conferences, the following membership : 



The increase, however, according to the 

 church papers, is only apparent, as the two 

 colored conferences, Delaware and Washing- 

 ton, which report 13,158 members, are mainly 

 composed of societies embraced in the returns 

 of the Baltimore, East Baltimore, and Phila- 

 delphia Conferences, which met before the 

 organization of the colored conferences. 



The fourteenth delegated General Conference 

 of the Methodist Episcopal Church assembled 

 in Philadelphia, May 2, 1864, all the Bishops 

 of the Church being present. It was presided 

 over by the senior Bishop, Morris. Delegates 

 were present from the Wesleyan Conference 

 of England, from the Irish Conference, from the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, and 

 from the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 



