Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/232

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198
MAPES
MARANHAO

graving, and for a museum and conservatory of art. He enriched the musem by many specimens of art and natural history, and was appointed a member of the Mexican athenaeum. Manzo was also^well versed in architecture, and was director of the peni- tentiary building in Mexico, which was left unfin- ished at his death.


MAPES, James Jay, chemist, b. in New York city, 29 May, 1806 ; d. there, 10 Jan., 1866. He re- ceived a common-school education and had some knowledge of the classics, but developed a fond- ness for chemistry. For many years he was a clerk, but on attaining his majority entered business for himself. In 1883 he invented a new system of sugar-refining, many features of which are still in general use, and he subsequently devised an appa- ratus for manufacturing sugar from the cane, which was extensively employed in the southern states and the West Indies. His process for the manu- facture of sugar from West India molasses was used in nearly every state in the Union, and he himself followed the business of sugar-refining, but unsuc- cessfully. He was appointed professor of chemis- try and natural philosophy in the National acade- my of design of New York, and delivered courses of lectures there on the chemistry of colors. Mean- while he invented a method of tanning hides and numerous technical processes with machines. Sub- sequently he was appointed professor of chemistry and natural philosophy in the American institute, and delivered before that body lectures on natural philosophy, mechanical philosophy as applied to the useful arts, and chemistry. His analyses of beer, made for the New York senate, and of beer and wine for temperance societies, w^ere long regarded as standard, and he also made numerous improve- ments in distilling, dyeing, tempering steel, color- making, and in other industries. In addition to his knowledge of chemistry, he was proficient in civil engineering, and was one of the first of that profession to open an office for consulting purposes. He held high rank as an expert, and was frequent- ly called into court on patent eases. In 1847 he removed to Newark, N. J., where during the re- maining years of his life he devoted much atten- tion to agriculture. The manufacture of artificial fertilizers was one of his inventions, and he origi- nated the use of super-phosphates in the United States, receiving a patent for his process in 1859. Conspicuous among the machines and implements invented by him is the lifting subsoil plow. Early in life Prof. Mapes took considerable interest in military affairs, and was captain and then colonel of militia. His command was subsequently merged into the state national guards, as the 7th regiment. He was elected president of the Mechanics' in- stitute in 1844, was vice-president for many years of the American institute, and active in its work, and organized the Franklin institute of Newark. Prof. Mapes was a member of scientific societies both in the United States and Europe, and, besides being a member of the principal clubs, was presi- dent of the Novelty club, a body of men who had made their mark. His addresses before agricul- tural societies exceeded 150 in number. As the editor and publisher of " The American Repertory of Art, Sciences, and Manufactures" (New York, 1840), he encouraged the application of science to the useful arts. Later he was associated in the edi- torship of the " Journal of Agriculture," and subse- quently edited " The Working Parmer " for nearly fifteen years, beginning in 1850. Horace Greeley wrote of him : " Few men have delivered more ad- dresses at agricultural fairs, or done more lasting good by them. Certainly American agriculture owes as much to him as to any man who lives or has ever lived." — His son, Charles Victor, agri- cultural chemist, b. in New York city, 4 July, 1836, was graduated at Harvard in 1857, and has since devoted his efforts to the realization of the theories on artificial fertilizers that were advanced by his father. His work has included the study of the composition of the soil, determining the ingre- dients required for certain crops, and the subse- quent preparation of fertilizers that have the de- sired materials. The future of successful agricul- ture depends upon artificial fertilizers, and it has been Mr. Mapes's mission to reduce the discoveries and investigations of chemistry to actual practice. He has published various articles and pamphlets on this subject, and has held the office of presi- dent of the New York fertilizer and chemical ex- change since its organization.


MAR, Juan Manuel del (mar), Peruvian states- man, b. in Cuzco in 1806 ; d. in Lima. 15 June, 1862. He received an excellent education in his native city, and then entered the University of, San Marcos, Lima, where in 1825 he became professor of philosophy, and in 1830 was graduated as doctor in law, and taegan to practise at the bar. In 1832 he was appointed assessor of the superior court and was elected successively deputy to congress, judge of the supreme court, senator, and minister in all the different branches of the administration. In 1855, while secretary of war, he proposed and car- ried a law to annul the unjust measure by which the victorious officers of Ayacucho had been de- prived of their rank, and thereby contributed to conciliate contending parties. As president of the ministry in 1856-7, during the revolution of Vi- vanco, he sustained order in the capital by his en- ergy, and during the absence of President Castilla from the republic in his invasion of Ecuador he was in charge of the executive as vice-president from Septernber, 1859. to March, 1860. At the ex- piration of Castilla's term in May, 1862, when the country prepared to reward Del Mar's services by his election to the presidency, he fell sick and re- tired from the^candidacy.


MARANHAO, Jeronimo de Alburquerque (mar-an-yong), Brazilian soldier, b. in Olinda in 1548; d. in Maranhao, 11 Feb., 1618. His mother was the daughter of the cacique Arco-Verde Mornbixaba, and his father was a Portuguese nobleman. The son accompanied his father on the latter's expeditions till he was fifteen years of age, without any education, but afterward he entered the Jesuit college, and made rapid progress. At the age of eighteen he subdued the warlike tribes of Parahyba. In 1598 he raised an expedition at his own expense, and conquered the province of Rio Grande, taking several chiefs prisoners in 1599. In 1613 he was sent by the government to Ceara, and founded the city of Nossa Senhora do Rozario. Hearing there that a French expedition had landed and taken possession of the island of Maranhao, he prepared his small army to attack the intruders. The government sent aid and appointed Alburquerque commander-in-chief. The French forces had founded the city of St. Luiz, now the capital of the province of Maranhao, and had fortified it. Alburquerque, though his forces were inferior in number, attacked them in December, 1614, and was victorious. Ravardiere, the French commander, asked for an armistice of one year, and. on account of the inferiority of his forces, Alburquerque was obliged to accept. Portugal and France disapproving the treaty and sending re-enforcements, Alburquerque gave battle to the French, who, after a desperate resistance, were de-