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SIMPSON, JAMES YOUNG, M.D. 



SMYTH, REAR-ADMIRAL WILLIAM HENRY. 



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studies and original investigations he published in a systematic work, 

 entitled ' The Principles of Scientific Botany, or Botany as an Inductive 

 Science.' This book was translated into the English language by Dr. 

 Lankester, and was published in London in 1849. It embraced a full 

 account of his views on the development of plants, and also of his 

 researches upon their impregnation. As the result of these he main- 

 tained that the pollen-tube is converted into the young embryo, a 

 view which he has since abandoned. This work contained the 

 freest possible criticism upon the labours of his predecessors, and 

 established a system of morphology and morphological doctrine, 

 which is gradually finding its way into the literature of the science of 

 Botany. 



Professor Schleiden, whilst one of the most profound original in- 

 vestigators and thinkers of the day, is one of a few German pro- 

 fessors, who liave felt it their duty to address a wider class than that 

 which they meet in the lecture-room of the university, and in a lan- 

 guage free from " the dust of the schools." With this view he pub- 

 lished a series of popular lectures, entitled ' The Plant : a Biography.' 

 These lectures were highly popular in Germany, and have been trans- 

 lated in English by Professor Henfrey. The lectures may be classed 

 amongst the most agreeable readings on the subject of natural history 

 science. 



Professor Schleiden has also had practical aims in view, and ho has 

 most successfully turned his attention to the application of vegetable 

 physiology to agriculture and animal physiology. He was the first to 

 detect the errors fallen iuto by the too enthusiastic cultivators of the 

 chemical school of physiology, and wrote an indignant disclaimer of 

 Liebig's physiological views, as given in his ' Chemistry of Agriculture.' 

 In the ' Encyclopiidie der Gesammten theoretischen Naturwissen- 

 schaften in ihrer Anwendung auf die Landwirthschaft,' he has written 

 a volume entitled ' The Physiology of Plants and Animals, and the 

 Theory of Agriculture.' In this work he brings his great knowledge 

 to bear upon the practical questions of the farmer and the grazier. 



His papers on various departments of botany are numerous, and 

 they are now being collectively published under the title of ' Beitriige 

 zur Botanik.' Professor Schleiden is a foreign Fellow of the Linnaean 

 Society of London, and a member of many of the scientific bodies of 

 Europe. 



* SIMPSON, JAMES YOUNG, M.D., a distinguished physician, 

 professor of midwifery in the University of Edinburgh, and the 

 discoverer of the anaesthetical properties of Chloroform, was born 

 in 1811 at Bathgate, Linlithgowshire. He was educated for the 

 medical profession, and took his degree of Doctor of Medicine in the 

 University of Edinburgh. He became assistant to the late Professor 

 Thomson, and in 1840 he succeeded in obtaining the chair of midwifery 

 in the University of Edinburgh. His lectures at once became very 

 popular, and he has probably contributed more than any other pro- 

 fessor to the success of the Edinburgh school of medicine. Since his 

 appointment he has contributed very largely to tho literature of that 

 department of his profession which he more particularly practises. 

 His papers have recently been collected together and edited by two of 

 his former pupils ; they occupy two bulky octavo volumes. In the 

 practice of midwifery, and the diseases of women, Dr.^Simpson has sug- 

 gested many important improvements which are generally recognised 

 by the profession. He owes perhaps a greater degree of reputation 

 to his introduction of anaesthetics into midwifery than any other 

 point of practice. On the discovery in America of the anaesthetic 

 properties of ether, Dr. Simpson immediately availed himself of its 

 agency to alleviate the pains of labour. The ether however produced 

 certain effects which induced him to seek some other agent, and his 

 efforts were rewarded by the discovery of the much more beneficial 

 action of chloroform. There are many other substances which are 

 found to act as anaesthetics, but none so efficiently as chloroform. 

 Hence it is the only substance generally employed at the present day. 

 Dr. Simpson is not only known for his professional knowledge, but for 

 his general literary acquirements. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh, and takes an active part in all the local societies of that 

 place for the diffusion of a knowledge of science, literature, and art. 

 In 1849 he was elected president of the Royal College of Physicians 

 of Edinburgh. In 1852 he was made president of the Medico- 

 Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh. In 1853 he was elected a foreign 

 associate of the French Academy of Medicine, and he is a member of 

 many other foreign scientific bodies. 



SMITH, ADMIRAL SIR SIDNEY, was born at Westminster in 

 1765, and in his twelfth year was sent as a midshipman on board the 

 Sandwich, Lord Rodney. At the age of sixteen he was made lieu- 

 tenant, and at nineteen post-captain. War having broken out between 

 Russia and Sweden, he obtained permission to offer himself as a volun- 

 teer to tho latter power, in whose service he showed so much courage 

 and skill as to lead to his investment with the order of the sword. 

 On the surrender of Toulon to Lord Hood, August 1793, Captain 

 Smith, being in the south of Europe unemployed, hastened thither, 

 and offered his services, which were accepted ; and on the evacuation 

 of the city in the following December, the destruction of the French 

 ships of war, which could not be removed, aud that of the powder 

 magazines, arsenal, and stores, was entrusted to him. On his re- 

 turn to England he was appointed to the command of the Diamond, 

 with a small flotilla, charged to cruise in the Channel. He succeeded 



in considerably annoying the enemy, but in attempting to cut out a 

 ship at Havre he was made prisoner. After a confinement of over two 

 years, he, by the assistance of a French officer named Philippeaux, 

 made his escape and reached England in safety. Appointed to the 

 command of the Tigre, 80 guns, and a small squadron, Sir Sidney 

 proceeded to Constantinople, and thence to Acre, which, as the key 

 of Syria, was then closely invested by Bonaparte at the head of 10,000 

 men. Sir Sidney, with admirable decision and promptitude, brought 

 two of his largest ships close in shore and landed a party of sailors 

 and marines, at the same time sending his friend Colonel Philippeaux, 

 who was a skilful engineer, to assist iu directing the fortificatons ; 

 Bonaparte made several desperate assaults upon the place, but was on 

 each occasion repulsed with heavy loss, and ultimately was compelled 

 to raise the siege and retreat in disorder. This successful resistance 

 was attributed in no small degree to the gallantry and energy of Sir 

 Sidney Smith. In the events which followed Bonaparte's departure 

 from Egypt, Sir Sidney took an active part, and when General Kleber 

 on whom the command of the French army had devolved, offered to 

 evacuate Egypt, Sir Sidney, though without instructions, confirmed 

 the treaty which ho made with the Turkish commander to that effect 

 at El-Arish, January 24, 1800. The English ministry however dis- 

 avowed his procedure, and Sir Sidney continued to participate in the 

 measures adopted for the expulsion of the French. . In the battle of 

 Alexandria, in which Abercrombie was killed, Smith received a severe 

 wound. On his return to England the ' Hero of Acre,' as he was 

 popularly designated, was received with great enthusiasm, and among 

 other marks of public approval, had the freedom of the city of London 

 voted him along with the present of a valuable sword. 



In 1802 he was elected M.P. for Rochester, and during the brief 

 peace took part in the debates ; but on the renewal of war ho was 

 appointed to the Antelope, 50 guns, with command of a flying 

 squadron, at the head of which he displayed his wonted activity. In 

 1804 he was made colonel of marines; iu 1805 rear-admiral of the 

 blue ; and in 1806 he proceeded to the Mediterranean in the Pompey, 

 80 guns, with a small squadron to harass the French in Naples. He 

 took Capri, succeeded in twice throwing succours into Gaeta, landed 

 his sailors, and battered the fortresses of the French, and renewed, on 

 a smaller scale, his Acre tactics, inflicting at various parts of the coast 

 severe losses upon the troops of Massena. He was not able however to 

 save Gaeta. As long as he was there the garrison was firm, but soon 

 after his departure for Palermo the governor surrendered. In the 

 following year Admiral Smith was ordered, under Admiral Duck- 

 worth, to the Dardanelles, and there he destroyed a Turkish squadron 

 of one line-of-battle ship, four frigates, four corvettes, two brigs, and 

 two gun-boats. In 1810 he was made vice-admiral: in 1812 he was 

 appointed second in command of the Mediterranean fleet, and remained 

 stationed in comparative inactivity off Toulon to the end of the war, 

 when he was created K.C.B., and received a pension of lOOOi. for his 

 distinguished services. In 1821 he rose to the rank of full admiral, 

 and iu 1830 succeeded King William IV. as lieutenant-general of 

 marines. He died May 26, 1841, at Paris, where, in consequence of 

 pecuniary difficulties arising out of unsuccessful trading speculations, 

 he had been for some years a resident. 



* SMYTH, REAR-ADMIRAL WILLIAM HENRY, was born January 

 21, 1788, in the city of Westminster. His father was Joseph Brewer 

 Palmer Smyth, Esq., of New Jersey, America, who having embraced 

 the royalist cause, and fought under General Burgoyne in the War of 

 Independence, was in consequence deprived of his landed property in 

 America, and came to England. He was descended from the celebrated 

 Captain John Smith, of whom a notice is given in the article VIRGINIA, 

 in the GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISION. 



William Henry Smyth, after having been some time in the merchant 

 service, entered the royal navy, March 18, 1805, as a midshipman, on 

 board the Cornwallis frigate, Captain Johnston, with whom he continued 

 to serve in the Powerful, 74, till October 1809, when he was trans- 

 ferred to the Milford, 74. During this period he was present in 

 actions at the Isle of France (Mauritius) and the Isle of Bourbon, aud 

 cruised in the Pacific. He was also engaged iu the expedition to tho 

 Schelde in 1809, and in attacks on the enemy's coasting trade on the 

 French coast. He afterwards proceeded in the Milford to Cadiz, 

 where he was appointed, September 4, 1810, to the command of a 

 large Spanish gun-boat, in which and in other vessels ho performed 

 important services, not only in the defence of Cadiz, but in making a 

 survey of the Isle de Leon and of the adjacent Spanish coast, accom- 

 panied by details of the strength of the French batteries. The Milford 

 having left Cadiz, and joined the English fleet off Toulon, Mr. Smyth 

 removed August 1, 1811, to the Rodney, 74, in which he attained, 

 December 14, the same year, the rating of master's mate, and was 

 actively engaged till paid off, on his return to Euglaud, in November 

 1812. For his valuable services in the vicinity of Cadiz he was pre- 

 sented by Lord Melville with a lieutenant's commission, dated March 

 25, 1813. 



Lieutenant Smyth was soon afterwards appointed to a command in 

 the flotilla under Sir Robert Hall, employed to co-operate with the 

 British troops in the defence of Sicily. While in this situation he 

 made an elaborate survey of Sicily and the adjacent islands. This 

 important duty, in which he was occupied some years after the British 

 troops had left the island, was performed by order of the Lords of the 



