Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/493

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
FISHER
FISHER
465

Christian Salvation : a Discussion with J. H. Wal- den " (Boston, 1869). A " Biography of Dr. Fisher " was published in Boston in 1880.


FISHER, Frances C., author, b. in Salisbury, N. C. She is the eldest daughter of Col. Charles P. Fisher, who was killed at the battle of Bull Run. Her first novel, " Valerie Aylmer " (New York, 1870), written for amusement, under the pen-name of " Christian Reid," proved eminently successful. She afterward published, in serial form, in"Ap- pletons' Journal," a novel entitled " Morton House," a story of southern life of thirty years ago (1871). Her other works are : " Mabel Lee " (1871) ; " Ebb Tide" (1872); '"Nina's Atonement" (1873); "A Daughter of Bohemia " (1873) ; " Carmen's Inherit- ance" (Philadelphia, 1873); "A Gentle Belle" (New York, 1875); "Hearts and Hands" (1875); " A Question of Honor " (1875) ; " Land of the Sky " (] S7.")) ; " After Many Davs " (1877) ; " Bonny Kate " (1.S7S); "A Summer Idyl" (1878); "Hearts of Steel" (1882); "Armine" (1884); "Roslvn's For- tune" (1885) ; and " Miss Churchill " (1887).


FISHER, George Jackson, physician, b. in North Castle, N. Y.. 27 Nov., 1825 ; d."in Sing Sing, N. Y.. 3 Feb., 1893. He was descended from a Dutch family of Westchester county, studied medi- cine with Dr. Nelson Nivison, and in the medical de- ]iartment of the University of New York, where he was graduated in 1849. He began practice in Meck- lenburg, N. Y., and removed to Sing Sing in 1851, where he was physician and surgeon to the stale prison in 1853- '4. He was U.S. examining surgeon for twenty years, and in 1874 was president of the New York state medical society. He is the author of " Biographical Sketches of Deceased Physicians of Westchester County" (New York. 1861); "On Animal Substances Employed as Medicines by the Ancients " (1862) ; " Diplotei'atology, an Essay on Compound Human Monsters," printed in the " Transactions " of tire New York state medical society (1865-'8); "On the Influence of Maternal Mental Emotion in the Production of Monsters" (1870); "Teratology" (1875); "A Brief History of the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood" (1877); "Sketches of some of the Old Masters of Anatomy, Surgery, and Medicine" (1880-'3) ; and " History of Surgery," in the " International En- eyclopaedia of Surgery " (1886). "fisher, George Park, theologian, b. in Wrentham, Mass., 10 Aug., 1827. He was gradu- ated at Brown in 1847, and studied theology in the divinity-school of Yale, and in that at Andover, Mass. In 1852 he visited Germany, where he con- tinued his theological studies. On his return from Europe he was appointed professor of divinity in Yale, and ordained pastor of the college church, 24 Oct., 1854. He filled this office till 1861, when he was elected professor of ecclesiastical history in Yale divinity-school. Harvard gave him the de- gree of D. D. in 1886. He has been a frequent con- tributor to the " New Englander," and became one of its editors in 1866. He has also published nu- merous articles in reviews in this country and Great Britain. In 1865 he issued a volume en- titled " Essays on the Supernatural Origin of Christianity, with special reference to the Theo- ries of Renan, Sti'auss, and the Tubingen School " (enlarged ed., 1871). He published a " Life of Benjamin Silliman " in 1866 ; " The History of the Ciuirch in Yale College"; and "Discourses on the Lives of Drs. N. W. Taylor and J. W. Gibbs." He delivered, in 1871, a course of lectures at the Lowell institute, Boston, on the Reformation, and from these resulted a volume on the " History of the Reformation" (1873). In 1877 he delivered twelve Lowell lectures on the "Rise of Christianity, and its Historical Environment." His later works are " The Beginnings of Christianity, with a View of the State of the Roman World at the Birth of Christ" (1877); "Faith and Rationalism" (1879); "Discussions in History and Theology" (1880); "The Christian Religion" (1882); "The Grounds of Theistic and Christian Belief" (1883) ; and " Out- lines of Universal History " (1885).


FISHER, John Charlton, Canadian journalist, b. probably in England ; d. at sea in September, 1849. After founding and editing the New York " Albion," he went to Canada in 1823 to take charge of the " Official Gazette," published at Quebec. In 1831 he was requested to cease publishing his politi- cal articles, as they did not accord with the views of the party then in power in Great Britain, and thereafter the " Gazette " was reduced to a mere official sheet. He edited the " Quebec ]\Iercury " for a few years, and in 1841 began the " Conserva- tive," a weekly paper. He was at one time presi- dent of the Quebec literary and historical societv.


FISHER, John Dix, physician, b. in 1799;" d. 3 March. 1850. He was graduated at Brown in 1820, studied medicine, and received his degree from Harvard in 1825. He aided in organizing the Perkins institution for the blind in Boston, Mass., having first visited Europe to inform himself of the methods of instructing the blind that were practised there. He participated in the manage- ment of the institution, and was also visiting phy- sician to the Massachusetts general hospital. He was the author of a " Description of the Distinct, Confluent, and Inoculated Small-pox, Varioloid Disease, Cow-pox, and Chicken-pox " (Boston, 1834).


FISHER, Jonathan, clergyman, b. in New Braintree. Mass., 7 Oct., 1768; d". in Blue Hill, Me., 22 Sept., 1847. He was the son of a Revolutionary officer who died in the service, was educated by his uncle, Joseph Avery, the minister of Holden, Mass., and developed a remarkable aptitude for handicraft work. He began late to prepare for college, and was graduated with honor at Harvard in 1792. He then studied theology at Cambridge, acquiring unusual familiarity with the Hebrew language, and was installed as the Congregational minister at Blue Hill in 1796. While in college he devised a phonetic alphabet and system of stenography, which he used in writing his sermons. He pursued for years the compilation of a Hebrew lexicon on the plan developed at the same time by other philologists, whose publications caused him to abandon the project of .publishing his work. He painted portraits, and engraved on wood the illustrations to a work that he published on " Script- ure Animals." He also published a volume of " Miscellaneous Poems," chiefly on biblical subjects.


FISHER, Joshua, physician, b. in Dedham, Mass., 17 May, 1748; d. in Beverly, Mass., 15 March, 1833. He was graduated at Harvard in 1766, studied medicine, and began practice. When hostilities with Great Britain began in 1775 he volunteered as surgeon on a privateer, and was captured, but escaped to France, again entering the service. After the war he settled in practice at Beverly, Mass., and attained a high reputation in his profession. He was an ardent student of nature, and at his death bequeathed $20,000 to found at Harvard a professorship of natural his- tory, comprehending the three kingdoms — animal, vegetable, and mineral — or a part of them. He was president of the Massachusetts medical society. He published a " Discourse on Narcotics " (1806). See " A Brief Memoir of Joshua Fisher, M. D.," by Dr. Walter Channing.