of overseers had hitherto consisted of the governor, lieutenant-governor, president of the state senate, speaker of the house, secretary of the board of education, and president and treasurer of the university, together with thirty other persons, and these other persons were elected by joint ballot of the two houses of the state legislature. An opinion had long been gaining ground that it would be better for the community and the interests of learning, as well as for the university, if the power to elect the overseers were transferred from the legislature to the graduates of the college. This change was made in 1865, and at the same time the governor and other state officers ceased to form part of the board. The effect of this change was greatly to strengthen the interest of the alumni in the management of the university, and thus to prepare the way for extensive and thorough reforms. Shortly afterward Dr. Thomas Hill resigned the presidency, and after a considerable interregnum Mr. Eliot succeeded to that office in 1869. During his administration the elective system has completely supplanted the old-fashioned prescribed curriculum, and Harvard has come to resemble in its methods the great European universities, while it has doubled in number of students and professors, and more than trebled in wealth. President Eliot received the degree of LL. D. from Williams and from Princeton in 1869, and from Yale in 1870. He is a fellow of the American academy of arts and sciences, and of the American philosophical society, and a member of other literary and scientific, bodies. On many occasions he has been called upon to deliver addresses, notably at the inauguration of Daniel C. Gilman as president of Johns Hopkins university, at the opening of the American museum of natural history in New York, and before various educational bodies. His brief remarks at the museum were described by Prof. Edward L. Youmans as having “summed up in a few words the grandest characteristics of modern science.” President Eliot is a frequent speaker at the meetings of the Harvard club in New York, and at public dinners in Boston. Besides chemical memoirs, written with Prof. Frank H. Storer, essays on educational topics, and his annual reports as president of Harvard, he has published, in connection with Prof. Storer, a “Manual of Inorganic Chemistry” (New York, 1868), and a “Manual of Qualitative Chemical Analysis” (1869).
ELIOT, Thomas Dawes, congressman, b. in
Boston, Mass., 20 March, 1808 ; d. in New Bedford,
Mass., 12 June, 1870. He was graduated at Colum-
bian college, Washington, D. C, in 1825, .studied law
in Washington and New Bedford, and was admitted
to the Massachusetts bar. After being a member
of both houses of the legislature, he was elected to
congress as a Whig, to fill the unexpired term of
Zeno Scudder, serving from 17 April, 1854, till 3
March, 1855, and making an eloquent speech on the
Kansas-Nebraska bill, which was published (Wash-
ington, 1854). He was prominent in the Free-soil
convention at Worcester, Mass., in 1855, and on the
dissolution of the Whig party was active among the
founders of the Republican party in Massachusetts.
He declined its nomination for attorney-general in
1857, but was afterward elected to congress again
for five successive terms, serving from 1859 till
1869. Mr. Eliot took an active part in the proceed-
ings of the house, particularly in the legislation on
the protection and welfare of the negroes.
ELIOT, William Greenleaf, educator, b. in
New Bedford, Mass., 5 Aug., 1811; d. at Pass
Christian, Miss., 23 Jan., 1887. His great-grand-
father was brother to the great-grandfather of
Charles William Eliot, president of Harvard. He
was graduated at Columbian college, Washington,
D. C, in 1831, and at Harvard divinity-school in
1834. In the latter year he was ordained pastor of
the Church of the Messiah (Unitarian) in St. Louis,
Mo., a place which he held until 1872. During all
this time he was energetically employed in improv-
ing the condition and advancing the interests of
the public schools of St. Louis. A man of untir-
ing energy and rare administrative ability, he was
engaged in all sorts of jsublic and philanthropic
enterprises, and has probably done more for the
advancement of St. Louis and all the southwest
than any other man that has lived in that section.
He was always a bold and outspoken opponent of
slavery. In 1861 he was found among the small
band of resolute men who assisted Gens. Nathaniel
Lyon and Francis P. Blair in preserving Missouri
to the Union ; and during the war he was active in
the western sanitary commission. In 1872 he was
chosen to succeed Dr. Chauvenet as chancellor of
Washington university in St. Louis, and held the
office until his death. He has published a " Man-
ual of Prayer" (Boston, 1851); "Discourses on the
Doctrines of Christianity " (Boston, 1852 ; 22d ed.,
1886) ; " Lectures to Young Men " (1853 ; 11th ed.,
1882) ; " Lectures to Young Women " (1853 ; 13th
ed., enlarged, with the title " Home Life and Influ-
ence," St. Louis, 1880); "The Unity of God"
(Boston, 1854) ; " Early Religious Education "
(1855); "The Discipline 'of Sorrow" (1855): "The
Story of Archer Alexander, from Slavery to Free-
dom " (Boston, 1885) ; and a great number of
pamphlets, tracts, discourses, and review articles.
ELIZAGA, Mariano (ay-lee'-thah-gah), Mexi-
can musician, b. in Morelia, 27 Sept., 1781 ; d. in the
city of Mexico, 2 Oct., 1842. Pie was noted for pre-
cocious musical talent, and at the age of five years
was called to the presence of the viceroy Galvez,
who, pleased with the extraordinary facility of the
child, gave orders for his education at the expense
of the king. He was sent to the College of In-
fantes, where he made wonderful progress, and
while yet a young man became an accomplished
musician. He was the teacher of Catalina de Hu-
arte, wife of the Emperor Iturbide, who appointed
him master of the imperial chapel. After the fall
of Iturbide he spent his life in teaching. His com-
positions include " El Miserere del Miercoles San-
to," " Lamentacion," " Responsorio," and " Misa."
ELKINS, Henry Arthur, artist, b. in Ver-
shire, Vt., 30 May, 1847; d. in Georgetown, Col.,
25 July, 1884. He removed to Chicago in 1856,
taught himself to paint, and achieved some success.
Among his pictures are " Mount Shasta," " The
Thirty-eighth Star," "Storm at Shasta," "New
Eldorado," and " Crown of tlie Continent."
ELKINS, Stephen Benton, politician, b. in Perry county, Ohio, 26 Sept., 1841. He removed to Missouri when very young, was graduated at Missouri university in 1860, and studied law. He served in 1862-'3 as a captain in the 77th Missouri regiment, and in the latter year went to New Mexico, where he was admitted to the bar in 1864. He also
engaged in mining and stock-raising there, and accumulated a fortune. He was a member of the territorial legislature in 1865-'6, attorney-general of the territory in 1868-9, and U. S. district attorney in 1870-2. He was then elected a delegate to congress as a Republican, and served two terms, from 1873 till 1877, making a speech in 1874 on
the admission of New Mexico to the Union, which attracted much attention. In 1875 he became interested in the West Virginia system of railroads, and has lately resided in New York. Mr. Elkins
