n: ARSON, GEORGE F. 



PELOUZE, TIIEOPHILE J. <;17 



!ll and 05 wounded, and s'n 

 irtillery. 



IT this, until tlio close of the year, little 

 flight in:: occurred. The Paraguay an- 

 in sinking various vessels of the Ura/ilian 

 *'|iiadron. Hut, on the other hand, the Brazil- 

 ians seemed to bare completely inverted Hn- 

 maita. Tim ci)!ii|iarative forces of the allies 

 ainl Paraguayan* at the close of tlie year were 

 e-timated le-peetively at 40,000 and 23,000 

 men, the relative advantages of position making 



'iv'igth of the latter to be about equal 



:' nt' the t'i inner. The Paraguayan forces 



recalled from the Brazilian province 



'. and the effective army at the 



trout would thus receive an addition of three 



or tour thousand men. 



I'KAUSON, Rear- Admiral GEORGE F., U. S. 

 N"., an American naval officer of remarkable 

 ability and patriotism, born in Exeter, New 

 Hampshire, in 1799 ; died in Portsmouth, N. H., 

 .lune :!0, 1867. His parents removed to Salem, 

 Ma -s., when he was a child, and he was ap- 

 pointed to the Navy from that State, receiv- 

 ing his commission as midshipman, March 11, 

 1815. His term of service in the Navy was 

 therefore over fifty-two years, of which twenty- 

 and five months were spent at sea. 



:-ved as midshipman and passed midship- 

 man on board the Independence, and other 



3, until January 13, 1825, when he was 

 promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Promo- 

 tions were long in coming in those days, and it 

 was sixteen years before he was raised to the 

 rank of commander, though he had long been 

 in command of war-schooners and sloops-of- 

 Avar. It was during this period of his lieu- 

 tenancy, in 1837, when, being in command of 

 the United States schooner Shark, he touched 

 at Constantinople. At that time the late Com- 

 modore David Porter was our minister resident 

 at the court of the Sultan, and Lieutenant Pear- 

 M'ii became his guest. The Sultan having great 

 admiration for our Navy, paid Commodore 

 i'orter a formal visit, to ask his advice as to the 

 proper person of our Navy to whom to tender 

 the command of his navy, with the rank of ad- 

 miral and a salary attached of ten thousand 

 dollars per annum. The commodore replied 

 promptly that he had the man then under his 

 roof, in his opinion, well fitted for the position. 

 The Sultan was much delighted with the fact, 

 and authorized him to tender the position to 

 Lieutenant Pearson. Shortly after, the wishes 

 of the Sultan were made known to the lieu- 

 tenant, who appeared much flattered, yet 

 promptly declined the honor. A gentleman 

 now living in Charleston, also a guest of our 

 minister, and who was present at the interview, 

 tells us that Commodore Porter advised Lieu- 

 tenant Pearson to take time to consider the mat- 

 ter, that he might possibly obtain a furlough 

 and retain his position in our Navy, and at the 



time assume the position in the Turkish 

 navy with the title and emolument offered by 

 the Sultan ; but he utterly refused to do so, 



declaring with much emphasis: "I would not 



<|.-ert in . country and my Hag for the whole 

 Turkish navy." 



He n-cei\i-d liis commi.-i-ion as commander, 

 September K, !' ; H, and distinguished himself 

 in his war upon tin: pirate^ who infect, 

 (inlf of Mexico and preyed upon our conn., 

 at this time; their haunts were broken up, 

 their vessel r sunk, and the wat. 



our American Mediterranean ell', ctually cleared 

 of the-e marauder^. On the 14th of Septem- 

 ber Commander lYarson was commissioned 

 captain. The outbreak of the recent war 

 found him holding lhi> rank, and in command 

 of the Portsmouth (N. II.) Navy-Yard. Here 

 he remained until 1865, in the mean time being 

 placed on the retired list, but b -ing further 

 promoted to the rank of commodore, his com- 

 mission bearing date of July 16, 1862. In 1865 

 Commodore Pearson was placed in command 

 of the Pacific squadron, with which he re- 

 mained until the latter part of 1866, when he 

 returned home. Prior to his return, however, 

 President Johnson had promoted him to the 

 rank of rear-admiral, with commission to bear 

 date from July 25, 1866. The last duty per- 

 formed by Admiral Pearson was at Annapolis, 

 when he acted in the capacity of president of 

 the Naval Board for the examination of the 

 graduating class. 



His death was occasioned by- congestive 

 chills, supervening on a chronic diarrhoea. 



PELOUZE, THEOPHILE JULES, a celebrated 

 French chemist, master of the Paris Mint, born 

 at Valonges, in the Department of the Marche, 

 February 26, 1807; died at Bellevue, nearMeu- 

 dpn, France, May 81, 1867. He commenced 

 his chemical career as a simple laboratory stu- 

 dent, but in 1830 was appointed to a chemical 

 professorship at Lisle, from whence ho was 

 ere long recalled to Paris, and appointed assist- 

 ant to Gay-Lussac in the Polytechnic School. 

 He afterward became successively Professor 

 at the Polytechnic School, Professor at the 

 French College, member of the Academy of 

 Sciences, Verifier of the Mint assays, member 

 of the Municipal Council of Paris, Director of 

 the St. Gobain Glass-Works, and, lastly, presi- 

 dent of the Commission of the Mint, the highest 

 post to which a practical chemist in France 

 can aspire. He enriched chemical science with 

 a long series of memoirs, published chiefly in 

 the Annales de Chimie and the Comtes rendus 

 de V Academic. His largest work was a 

 Treatise on Chemistry, produced jointly with 

 M. Fr6my, and the second edition of which 

 comprised six volumes. The sudden death of 

 his excellent and distinguished wife deeply 

 affected him, and his health had begun to 

 fail from that event. On the day previous to 

 his death he was attacked by dropsy of the 

 heart, and expressed an urgent desire once 

 more to breathe the pure air of the heights of 

 Bellevue (near Meudon). No sooner was he in 

 the carriage than a faintness came over him, 

 from which he recovered with much difficulty. 



