l8o NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



and labor, he succeeded in 1864 in making a most excellent lens 

 with which he obtained remarkable photographs of the Pleiades 

 and other star-clusters, and an exquisite one of the moon. Next 

 he turned to the problem of making measurements on the pho- 

 tographic plates and invented a micrometer. This work of 

 photographing and measuring, and the constant introduction of 

 improvements in the instruments employed, was carried on until 

 1877, when failing health obliged him to desist. In 1880 the 

 city having encroached upon the home and the observatory, Mr. 

 Rutherfurd removed to a rural estate named " Tranquillity " in 

 northwestern New Jersey. His winters were passed in Florida 

 and in visits to southern Europe. Finding his health steadily 

 failing in 1884, he presented to the Observatory of Columbia 

 College his i3:|-inch telescope, with its corrector and the im- 

 proved micrometer, together with 1456 plates and records of the 

 measures made, providing also means for continuing the work 

 of measurement. His death occurred May 30, 1892, at Tran- 

 quillity. 



(From B. A. Gould, in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, vol. 3, 1895, pp. 415-441.) 



JOSEPH SAXTON 

 Born, March 22, 1799; died, October 26, 1873 



Joseph Saxton was a man of remarkable inventive ability. 

 His imagination ran in scientific lines, and when he had grasped 

 the principles underlying the action of natural forces, he knew 

 how to make them subservient to the needs of his fellowmen. 

 The town of Huntington, Pennsylvania, was a small village at 

 the time of his birth, in 1799, and afforded few opportunities 

 for education. His father, James Saxton, after engaging in a num- 

 ber of different pursuits, became the proprieter of a small nail 

 factory. At the age of twelve his son Joseph entered the factory 

 and it was not long before he had made improvements in the 

 machinery which increased its efficiency. Tiring of the limita- 

 tions of his work, however, he was permitted to apprentice him- 

 self to a watchmaker, but after two years his employer died, and 



