Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/79

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LYLE
LYMAN
59

west. He was the first to establish schools exclu- sively for the education of young women, and also the first to suggest the circulation of the scrip- tures by means of colporteurs. During the relig- ious excitement that began in the southwest in 1800, accompanied by violent physical manifesta- tions, he did all in his power to curb the extrava- gances of the revival.


LYLE, William, poet, b. in Edinburgh, Scot- land, 17 Nov., 1822. He was taken at the age of twelve to Glasgow, where he was subsequently ap- prenticed to a potter. He continued to study by himself and in night-schools, made rapid progress, and on completing his apprenticeship soon obtained work as a journeyman. In 1802 he was offered a place in England, and while there lie published various poems in the Scottish dialect. Among these was one entitled "' The Grave of Three Hun- dred," having reference to the Barnsley mine dis- aster. It was issued in book-form and had an ex- tensive sale. Mr. Lyle subsequently came to the United States, and became manager in a manufac- turing business at Rochester, N. Y., where he has since resided. His poems are well known to Scot- tish residents both in this country and in Canada. Besides writing in the Scottish dialect, Mr. Lyle is the author of several English poems, including his " Diotima." He has also published " The Martyr Queen and other Poems" (New York, 1888).


LYMAN, Benjamin Smith, mining engineer, b. in Northampton, Mass., 11 Dec, 1835. He was graduated at Harvard in 1855, after which he was assistant on the lowa^state geological survey, and then studied at the Ecole des mines in Paris in 1859-61, and at the Freiberg mining-school in 1861-'2, after which he resumed the practice of his pi'ofession in the United States and British Ameri- ca. In 1870 he made a survey of the oil lands in the Punjaub for the government of India. In 1873-5 he was chief geologist and mining engineer of the geological survey of Hokkaido in Japan, and in 1876-'7 of the oil lands of Japan, finally filling a similar office on the geological survey of Japan in 1878-'9. It is said of him that " he has surveyed and described in printed reports a large part of the Japanese empire, and knows more about it than any other living white man." At the end of 1880 he left Japan, and went to live in Northampton, Mass., where he has since held several offices in the local government. In 1887 he joined the corps of the geological survey of Pennsylvania, with head- quarters in Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. Lyman has intro- duced several improved forms of surveying instru- ments — such as the topographer's transit, level rod notation, mine stadia, solar transit, and the use of equidistant curves, or contour-lines, for mapping the structure of rock-beds. He is a member of scientific societies, and has published about one hundred professional papers. Among them the more important are " General Report on the Punjaub Oil Lands " (Lahore, 1878) ; " Preliminary Report on the First Season's Work of the Geological Survey of Yesso " (Tokio, 1874) ; " A Geological Trip through and around Yesso in 1874, and Four other Reports "(1875); "Report of Progress of the Yesso Geological Surveys for 1875, and Seven Coal Survey Reports " (1877) ; " A General Report on the Geology of Yesso " (1877) ; " A Report of Progress for the First Year of the Oil Surveys " (1877) ; " Report on the Second Year's Progress of the Survey of the Oil Lands of Japan " (1878) ; " Geological Survey of Japan ; Reports of Progress for 1878 and 1879 " (1879) ; also sixteen maps of surveys in Japan, and " Logarithms of Numbers, Sines, and Cosines" (Northampton, 1885).


LYMAN, Chester Smith, educator, b. in Man- chester, Conn., 13 Jan., 1814; d. in New Haven, 29 Jan., 1890. He early showed a fondness for as- tronomy, acquiring that and kindred sciences with- out a teacher, constructing, while yet a boy, astro- nomical and optical apparatus. In 1829 he com- puted almanacs for the two following years, and also the eclipses of the next fifteen years. He was graduated at Yale in 1837, after which he was head teacher of the school in Ellington, Conn., and then studied at Union theological seminary in New York and at Yale theological seminary during 1839-42. In 1843-'o he was settled as pastor over the 1st Con- gregational church in New Britain, Conn., but fail- ing health compelled him to relinquish this charge, and he spent several yeai's in travel. In 1846-'7 he visited the Hawaiian islands, where for a time he had charge of the Royal school at Honolulu, and explored the volcano Kilauea. He then spent three years in California as a surveyor, being one of the first to send to the eastern states authentic accounts of the discovery of gold on the Pacific coast. He then returned to New Haven, where he at first was occupied in the revision of '• Webster's Dictionary," having charge of the scientific terms in the edition of 1864. In 1858 he became asso- ciated in the development of the scientific depart- ment of Yale (now the Sheffield scientific school), and was assigned to the chair of industrial mechan- ics and physics, which he held till 1871. He then was made professor of astronomy and physics, and so continued until 1884, and afterward had charge of astronomy only. His special work included the invention of the combined zenith telescope and transit for latitude, longitude, and time, which was designed and mainly constructed in 1852, and in 1867 he invented and patented an apparatus for illustrating the dynamics of ocean waves. About 1871 he constructed an apparatus for describing acoustic curves, also making improvements in clock escapement, compensating pendulums, and similar apparatus. Prof. Lyman was the first to observe the planet Venus as a delicate luminous ring when seen in close proximity to the sun near inferior conjunction. He was a member of various scientific societies, was president of the Connecti- cut academy of arts and sciences during 1857-'77, and was also an honorary member of the British association for the advancement of science. His writings were confined to scientific papers, which appeared principally in the " American Journal of Science "' and in " The New Euglander."


LYMAN, Daniel Wanton, philanthropist, b. in Providence, R. I., 24 Jan., 1844 ; d. there, 19 Dec, 1886. He was a lineal descendant of Gov. Wan- ton, of Rhode Island. He was for a time a mem- ber of the class of 1864 in Brown university, but was not graduated. For several terms he repre- sented the town of North Providence in the gen- eral assembly. In addition to $50,000 that he be- queathed to Brown university, Mr. Lyman left by his will $60,000 to the Society for the prevention of cruelty to children, $25,000 to the Providence lying-in hospital. $5,000 to the Providence nursery, $10,000 to the city of Providence for a monument to his grandfather, Elisha Dyer, $5,000 to the town of North Providence for a soldier's monument, and many other legacies.


LYMAN, David Belden, missionary, b. in New Hartford, Conn., 28 July, 1803 : d. in Hilo, Hawaiian islands, 4 Oct., 1884. He was graduated at Williams in 1828. studied theology at Andover, and was ordained in Hanover, N. H. — On 3 Nov., 1831, he married Sarah Joiner, of Rovalton, Vt.. b. there, 29 Nov., 1805 ; d. in Hilo, 6 Dec., 1885, and the next