BLACK. 134 BLACK. in 1831, and soon acquired a considerable prac- tice. He served for some time as deimty atlor- nev-general for Somerset County, and from 1842 to" r851 was president judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. He was one of the Supreme Court Justices of Pennsylvania from 1851 until 1857, when he became Attorney- General of the United States in President Bu- chanan's Cabinet. In this capacity he protected the Government against the frauds involved in many of the famous 'California land-claims,' which grew out of alleged ilexiean grants cov- ering 19,148 square miles, issued before the ces- sion of California to the United States: and on the approach of the Civil War contended vig- orously against any interpretation of the Con- stitution which would justify secession or would prohibit the President from suppressing insur- rection or protecting Federal property against the attacks of State forces. Black replaced Cass as Secretary of State in December. 18U0, and soon afterwards rendered an important service to the country by inducing Buchanan to take a firm attitude "in his negotiations with the South Carolina commissioners with regard to the with- drawal of the United States troops from Fort Sumter. At the close of Buchanan's. administra- tion, Black served for a time as United States Supreme Court reporter, but resigned to devote himself to his private practice, and subsequently took part in many celebrated cases. He was counsel for Preside"nt Johnson in the famous im- peachment trial of 1868, but withdrew from the case after the President's answer had been filed. In 1877 he was conspicuous as one of Tilden's counsel before the Electoral Commission (q.y.), and afterwards wrote an able argument against the decision of the Commission in favor of Haves. Besides winning a foremost place at the" bar, Judge Black was known as a thor- ouh classical scholar and a brilliant conversa- tionalist. Soon after his death the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States spoke of hini as having been "a lawyer profoundly versed in the science of the law and worthy to be ranked with the greatest and ablest of our age and country." Consult C. F. Black, Essays and Speeches of Jeremiah S. Blacl-, irith a Bio- graphical Sketch (New York. 1885). BLACK, .lonN (1783-18.55). A Scottish journalist. He was born near Dunse. where he pursued his studies, and was subsequently articled to a writer. He afterwards obtained em- ployment as an accountant in Edinburgh, attend- ing" classes at the University, and doing some literary work. He became a reporter for the London Morning Chronicle in 1810, and editor in 1817 John Stuart Mill says that Black "played a really imi)ortant part in the progress of English opinion for a number of years which was not properly recognized." and th.-it he wa.s the "first journalist who carried criticism .ind the spirit of reform into the details of English institutions." The institutions especially af- fected by this criticism were the courts and the Church," with the result that the press enjoyed a much larger measure of freedom in dealing with them. Black was a friend of .Tames Mill, and Lords Palmerston, Melbourne, and Brough- am, and was a patron of Charles Dickens whose connection with the Chronicle began m 183.5. He published translations of Humboldt's I'oUiical Essay on New Spain (1811-1-2) ; von Buch s Travels in yorway and Lapland (1813); Ber- zelius's System of Mineralogy (1814); and Sehlegel's Lectures on Dramatic Literature (1814). BLACK, Joseph (1728-99). A Scottish chem- ist. He was born in Bordeaux, France, where his father was engaged in the wine-trade. Both his parents were of Scotch descent, but natives of Belfast, whither their son Avas sent for his edu- cation in 1740. In 1746 he entered the Uni- versity of Glasgow; in 1751 he went to Edin- burgh to complete his medical course, and in 1754 took his degree. His thesis on the nature of the mild and caustic alkalies and alkaline earths contained his first contribution to chem- ical science. In those days the transformation by heat of a mild alkali fa metallic carbonate) into the corresponding caustic alkali (an oxide, or hydroxide) was interpreted on the hypothesis that the mild alkali combines with the fiery principle called phlogiston, and thus the caustic alkali is produced. Black showed, however, that the transformation was accompanied by a loss of weight, and that during the transformation an aeriform substance escaped from the mild alkali. This aeriform substance he found to be different from atmospheric air, and gave it the name of fixed air. Thus the existence, both in the free state and in combination, of a gas different from air — namely, carbonic acid — was first clearly estab- lished by Black. Black succeeded Cullin as pro- fessor of anatomy (which branch he afterwards exchanged for medicine) and lecturer on chem- istry in Glasgow. Between 1759 and 1703 he evolved that theory of 'latent heat' on which his scientific fame chiefly rests, and which formed the immediate preliminary to the next great stride in discovery by his pupil and assistant, James Watt. In 1760 CuUen was apjiointed to the chair of theoretical medicine in Edinburgh, and Black succeeded him in the chair of chem- istry. Thenceforth he devoted himself chiefly to the elaboration of his lectures, in which he aimeil at the utmost degree of perspicuity, and with perfect success. Black published: Experi- ments on Magnesia, Quicklime, and Other Alka- line Substances ; Observations on the More Heady Freezing of Water that Has Been Boiled: and Analysis of the faters of Some Boiling Springs in Iceland. His Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry was published after his deatli. by Robinson (2 vols., London, 1803). Consult Brougham, Lives of Philosophers of the Time of Oeorge III. (London and Glasgow, 1855). BLACK, Wii.l.iAM (1841-98). A British nov- elist. He was born in Glasgow, November 9, 1841. He studied art for a time in the Govern- ment school there, with the intention of becom- ing an architect: but he soon abandoned art for journalism. After some experience on the (lias- gow Weekly Cifi'icn, he went to London, where at first he" wrote for the magazines. In 1805 he joined the staff of the Morning Star, becimi- ing the next year its special war correspondent duriiur the PrussoAustrian War. Subsequently he was for a short jieriod assistant editor of the Daily News. He died December 10, 1898. He produced thirtv-odd novels, among which are: .i Daughter of Helh (1871), which gained him his reputation; Strange Adventures of a Phaeton (1872): A Princess of Thulc (1873); Madcap Violet (1870) ; .Vacleod of Dare (1878) ;
