.':. KI.IAS. 



869 



:ieiiK-, Dr. Hooker waa chosen 



ir. !!- very -'">n attained to :i fair 



of pra'-liee in N'eu Haven, to which his 



, ami his sympathizing, kindly 



. oiitribiited. He was in high 



rcpn'e al-o with his professional brethren for 



I accuracy of his diagnosis MIK! 



.: 1 and judgment in the administration of 



As a lecturer on medicine, ho waa 



and intere.-tin.:, and his classes always 



found in him 11 kind adviser and a faithful 



friend. As a, citizen, lie was much esteemed 



by all classes. Some years ago he took a 



prominent part in organizing a series of lecture- 



for the benefit of the mechanics of the city, and 



mure than once gave short courses on subjects 



of interest to working-men, to their great sat- 



;on. Ho was very active as a religious 

 man, being for many years an officer of the 

 North Congregational Church, and holding al- 



M-OIII the time of his coming to New Haven 

 a large Bible-class of young ladies, who were 

 very strongly attached to their teacher and 

 deeply interested in his instructions. 



Dr. Hooker was the author of a number of 

 valuable textbooks, and books intended to 

 popularize science for the young. Among 

 were, " Human Physiology, for Col- 

 leges and Academies;" "Hooker's Book of 

 Nature," in three parts ; . " A Child's Book 

 of Common Things ; " a series of elementary 

 books of useful knowledge for the young, under 

 the titles of " A Child's First Book of Natural 

 Philosophy," " A Child's First Book of Chem- 

 istry," Natural History, Mineralogy, etc.; 

 " Physician and Patient," " Lessons from the 

 History of Medical Delusions," " Homoeopathy : 

 :m Kxamination of its Doctrines and Evidences " 

 (1852), etc. 



IK >WE, ELIAS, JK., the inventor and patentee 

 of the American sewing-machine, was born in 

 Spencer, Mass., in 1819 ; died in Brooklyn, L. I., 

 October 3, 1867. His father, who survived him 

 less than three months, was a farmer and miller, 

 and, as was the custom at that time in the coun- 



wns of New England, carried on in his 

 family some of those minor branches of indus- 

 try, suited to the capacity of children, with 

 which New England abounds. In his case, the 

 household industry in which most of his eight 

 children were employed, was the setting of card- 

 teeth for carding cotton. When old enough he 

 assisted his father on the mill and farm, and it 



hen employed in the former, it is said, 

 that he acquired that direction of taste and 

 talent which developed itself so fruitfully both 

 for himself and for his country. In 1835 he 

 went to Lowell, and was employed there as a 

 learner in a manufactory of cotton machinery, 

 where he remained until the financial panic of 

 1* :> '7, when, like others, the stopping of the 

 mills left him unemployed. He next found 

 work at Cambridge, but remained there but a 



.ontlis, having in the mean time succeeded 

 in obtaining employment in the shop of Ari 

 Davis, a Boston machinist. Here the feasibility 



of cos a sewing-machine was talked 



<>f in his presence, anil to this circtin 



dou I >t, he is indebted to priority a- tin- in. 



lie nur.-ed his idea, it app. 



unable to develop it with str.-l and iron. . 



after his tir-l introduction to the work- 

 shop of Davis, we find him, when in the r 

 of but $9 per week, and with but a delicate 

 constitution, adding to his cares by getting mar- 

 rid. His health was not ln-tten-d by his new 

 life, and its burdens bore heavily upon him. It 

 was at this time that he gave heart and soul to 

 perfect the invention which has since made 

 him famous and a millionnaire. But despite the 

 labors of many weary months and the wakeful 

 nights when he needed rest so much after his 

 ordinary day's work, it was not until late in 

 1844 that he at last arose from his work satis- 

 fied that he had embodied his idea. But when 

 ready to put his invention before the world, he 

 was without the means even to purchase the 

 material necessary to the construction of a per- 

 fect model. It was at this time that he met an 

 old schoolfellow, George Fisher, a wood fcnd coal 

 merchant, at Cambridge, who, believing that 

 there was a fortune in the discovery, formed 

 a partnership with Howe, taking him and his 

 family to board with him, that Elias might 

 use the garret they had occupied, as a workshop, 

 and advancing the sum of $500 wherewith to 

 provide the necessary tools and material for the 

 work. Hero Howe labored day and night, com- 

 pleting his first machine in May, 1845. It might 

 be thought that at this point, if the laborer did 

 not rest, at least his fitting reward began, but 

 it was not so. Strange as it may seem, he met 

 opposition on every side from those most in- 

 terested in the labor-saving machine. He ex- 

 hibited it in Boston, where he convinced the 

 tailors of its usefulness, and won their commen- 

 dation, qualified by the expression of their 

 opinion which accompanied it, that it would 

 ruin the trade. Their praise of the machine 

 was all the support its inventor received. Not 

 one of them would invest a dollar in it. Again 

 in despair, with all his money gone, his friend 

 Fisher came once more to his rescue, and be- 

 tween them the machine was patented. This 

 was the extent of his friend's support; the fail- 

 ure of further efforts to introduce the invention 

 to public notice and patronage broke down the 

 confidence of Fisher, and Howe moved back to 

 his father's house in Cambridge, where he had 

 resided prior to his acquaintance with Fisher, 

 his father having removed there, to carry on 

 the manufacture of palm-leaf strips for hat- 

 making. For a brief time he obtained employ- 

 ment on a railroad as engineer, and drove a 

 locomotive until he broke down completely in 

 health. Still hopeful, however, he concluded 

 to seek the patronage in England denied him at 

 home, and, assisted by his father, his brother 

 Amasa left with the machine in October, 1846. 

 Amasa found there, in William Thomas, of 

 Cheapside, London, the first financial success, 

 and Mr. Thomas made an excellent bargain, 



