356 PETERS lake surveys of the United States. His last work of this character was the determination of the western boundary of the state of New York. Many of these labors were carried on under the auspices of the regents of the uni- versity of the state of New York. Dr. Peters took a prominent part at Des Moines, Iowa, in the observation of the total solar eclipse of Aug. 7, 1869. At his own observatory he has recorded in chronographic sheets over 20,000 solar spots, and has determined and catalogued, down to the 13th magnitude, 16,000 zodiacal stars. He has also invented a polarizing eye- piece for solar work, by which the inconve- nience arising from the great heat of large glasses is removed. Dr. Peters was chief of the party sent by the United States govern- ment to New Zealand to observe the transit of Venus of Dec. 9, 1874. He sent his assistant, Lieut. Bass, a month in advance to select a station. After careful examination a station in a mountainous region 130 m. inland was chosen as affording the greatest probability of a cloudless sky. The event justified their expectations. Dr. Peters's party was the only one on the island that was completely success- ful, and obtained 237 photographs of the tran- sit. During the transit Dr. Peters by means of the double-image micrometer measured the apparent diameter of Venus, thus .determining for the first time the real size of the planet, with an error of probably not more than ^-^ part of its value. M. Boquet de la Grye, chief of the French party, declared : " There is no need of other observations. Dr. Peters has accomplished all that was to be done." Dr. Peters is noted for his investigations in regard to comets and asteroids, having discovered 22 of the latter during the years 1861-'75, and determined their elements. II. Wilhelm Karl Hart wig, a German naturalist, brother of the preceding, born at Coldenbiittel, April 22, 1815. He studied in Copenhagen and Berlin, and became known by his exploration (1842 -'7), under the auspices of the Prussian govern- ment, of Mozambique, which he described in his NaturwissenschaftlicJie Seise nacJi Mossam- Hque (4 vols., Berlin, 1852-'68), from which Bleek compiled his "Languages of Mozam- bique " (London, 1856). He has been connect- ed for many years with the medical depart- ment of the university of Berlin, and succeeded Lichtenstein in 1857 as professor of zoology and director of the zoological collections. PETERS, or Peter, Hngh, an English dissenting clergyman, born at Fowey, Cornwall, in 1599, executed in London, Oct. 16, 1660. He gradu- ated at Trinity college, Cambridge, in 1622, took holy orders, and preached for some time with great success at the church of St. Sepul- chre in London ; but having been committed to prison by Archbishop Laud for nonconform- ity, he removed on obtaining his release to Rotterdam, and in 1635 went to New England. On Dec. 21, 1636, he became pastor of the church in Salem, succeeding Roger Williams, whose doctrines he disclaimed and whose ad- herents he excommunicated. He took an ac- tive part in mercantile and civil affairs, sug- gested coasting and foreign voyages and the plan of the fisheries, and aided in reforming the town police. In March, 1638, he was ap- pointed by the general court to assist in col- lecting and revising the colonial laws. In 1641 he was sent to England to procure an altera- tion in the laws of excise and trade. He joined the parliamentary party, became a preacher in the army, and in 1649 accompanied it to Ire- land. In 1651 he was appointed by parliament one of the commissioners to amend the laws, and in 1654 he was made one of the "tryers" of ministers. After the restoration he was committed to the tower and indicted for high treason as having been concerned in the death of the king. It was also alleged that he was one of the masked persons who stood upon the scaffold when Charles was beheaded. During his imprisonment he wrote several letters to his daughter, published as " A Dying Father's Last Legacy to an Only Child" (1717). His other published works consist of sermons and political treatises and " Good Work for a Good Magistrate" (1651). His preaching was ren- dered very popular among the multitude by the use of coarse but striking images. His private character has been the subject of much discussion. According to Dr. Palfrey, his name should be written Peter. PETERS, John Charles, an American physician, born in New York, July 6, 1819. He studied in the medical department of Columbia col- lege, and at Leipsic, Berlin, and Vienna, and began practice in New York as a homceopa- thist, but finally became an allopathist. He holds that the homoeopathic law, Similia simi- libuB curantur, is not universally true, but is a complement of the general law of medical treatment, Alterantia alterantiis curantur ; that similar things differ as well as resemble, and as a medicine which acts similarly to a disease necessarily acts somewhat differently from it, it follows that homoeopathic remedies exert an alterative action. Hence homoeopa- thy and antipathy are not in reality opposing systems, but are parts of the great law of spe- cific alterative or specific allopathic treatment. Among the suggestions made by him which have been adopted are the employment of al- cohol in the treatment of consumption ; the use of phosphates in medicine; the curative treatment of Bright's disease of the kidneys with corrosive sublimate ; and the use of bro- mine and bromide of potassium as specific remedies in true membranous croup. He was one of the founders of the New York patho- logical society, and in 1859 was elected presi- dent of the proposed American college of medical sciences ; and he has been president of the " Medical Library and Journal Associa- tion " of New York. He has published trea- tises on " Diseases of the Head " (8vo, New York, 1853); "Diseases of Females" (8vo,
