OBITUAKIES, UNITED STATES. 



513 



French Army, and the last descendant of the 

 Marquis de Montcalm, of old French and Indian 

 War fame ; died at Lyons Falls. She had been 

 suffering for several months, and left her home 

 on Staten Island, where she resided with her 

 son, ex-Governor Lyon, to revisit Lewis County, 

 a few weeks previous. Mrs. Lyon was a woman 

 of marked energy and capacity, and by her de- 

 cision of character exercised great influence 

 over her associates. 



June 14. COCK, THOMAS, M. D., an eminent 

 physician, professor, and medical writer, of 

 New York City; died there, aged 87 years. 

 He was born at Glen Cove, L. I., and studied 

 medicine in company with Drs. Valentine 

 Mott and Cheeseman, in the office of Dr. Sea- 

 man, at that time a noted practitioner, with 

 whom he was afterward associated in partner- 

 ship. During the epidemic of yellow fever, in 

 1822, he was among the most indefatigable 

 and untiring in his efforts to overcome the dis- 

 ease; and again, during the cholera of 1832, 

 his protracted labors and ceaseless devotion 

 were appropriately recognized by the city au- 

 thorities in the presentation of a service of 

 silver. During his long career he occupied 

 various positions of honor and importance in 

 the profession, and numbers of men now emi- 

 nent in the medical world pursued their studies 

 under his auspices. He was formerly presi- 

 dent of the Academy of Medicine of New 

 York ; was a professor, and subsequently pres- 

 ident of the College of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons, and was for many years connected, as 

 attending and consulting physician, with the 

 New York Hospital. Dr. Cock was long an 

 active member, and at his death a vice-presi- 

 dent, of the American Bible Society. Ketired 

 for some years, through the infirmities of age 

 and ill-health, from the practice of his profes- 

 sion, he has left the worthy record of a long 

 and honored life, and a memory gratefully 

 cherished by all who knew him as a skilful 

 physician, a kind friend, and a Christian gen- 

 tleman. 



June 14. Dixox, JOSEPH, a remarkable in- 

 ventor; died in Jersey City, aged 71 years. 

 He was self-educated, and developed his ex- 

 traordinary talent for invention before he had 

 attained his majority, having made a machine 

 for cutting files. He learned the printer's 

 trade, afterward that of wood engraving, then 

 lithography, and afterward studied medicine, 

 and in that connection became interested in 

 chemistry, becoming finally one of the most 

 accomplished and comprehensive chemists in 

 the country. He was a thorough optician ; and 

 had no equal in his knowledge of photog- 

 raphy. He took up the experiments of Da- 

 guerre in 1839, and was probably the first 

 person to take a portrait by the camera. He 

 showed Prof. Morse how to take portraits by 

 means of a reflector, so that the subjects should 

 not appear reversed. Morse tried to get the 

 plan patented in Europe. Mr. Dixon built the 

 first locomotive, with wooden wheels, but with 

 VOL. ix. 33. A 



the same double crank now used ; it caused a 

 sneer at the time, but, when it became demon- 

 strated that a steam-engine could be run on 

 wheels and perform the services of beasts of 

 burden, his double crank was adopted. He 

 originated the process of transferring on stone, 

 now used the world over by lithographers. 

 He invented the process of photo-lithography, 

 and published it years before it was believed 

 to be useful. By his process of transferring, 

 the old bank-notes were easily counterfeited, 

 and it was to guard against the abuse of his 

 own process that he brought out the system 

 of printing in colors on the bills, and had the 

 method patented, but never received any bene- 

 fit from the patent, all the banks having used 

 it without pay. Many of our readers will re- 

 member the original "red dog" money, and 

 the present process used by the Government, 

 for printing in colors, for which a large amount 

 is paid to patentees, is the old process of Mr. 

 Dixon's for which his patent had expired long 

 before, and the present patents are therefore 

 untenable. He perfected the system of making 

 collodion for the photographers, and assisted 

 Mr. Harrison in getting a true system for grind- 

 ing the lenses for camera-tubes. He first in- 

 vented the anti-friction metal, which has been 

 for a great many years known as " Babbitt met- 

 al," and he is the father of the steel-melting 

 business in this country. He invented a vast 

 number of machines and processes, but he is 

 most widely known among manufacturers as 

 the originator of the plumbago crucible as now 

 made. He started the business in 1827, in 

 Salem, Mass., and brought it to Jersey City in 

 1847. His name had become known in all 

 civilized countries as a crucible-maker, and his 

 establishment in Jersey City is the largest 'of 

 the kind in the world. He was singularly self- 

 reliant, never failed in his mechanical under- 

 takings, even in the last, that of the great or- 

 chestrion, that occupied his time for nearly 

 eleven years, but which stood before him per- 

 fect at last, and still stands a monument of 

 his great skill, science, and perseverance. 



June 16. HOWLAND, WILLIAM W., a dis- 

 tinguished merchant of New York, long the 

 senior partner of the great house of Howland 

 and Aspinwall ; died in New York City, aged 71 

 years. He was born in New Bedford, Mass., in 

 June, 1798, came to New York at the age of nine- 

 teen, was for three years a clerk for Hicks, Jen- 

 kins & Co., then a leading commission-house in 

 New York, and in that time had developed 

 such remarkable business abilities that his em- 

 ployers took him into the firm. He remained 

 an active partner till the winding up of the 

 concern, and then entered upon a still larger 

 enterprise, which made his name known all 

 over the world, and insured him an immense 

 fortune. 



June 18. IVES, NATHAN BEERS, M. D., an 

 eminent physician, of New Haven, Conn. ; 

 died there, aged 67 ye#rs. He was born in 

 New Haven in 1806, graduated at Yale College 



