Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/188

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TROWBRIDGE

war, which were copied extensively in the Cana- dian press, and his contributions concerning the northwest territories were published in pamphlet- form, to the number of 80,000 copies, by the Do- minion government, although it was then under the control of his political opponents.


TROW, John Fowler, printer, b. in Andover, Mass., 29 Jan.. 1810 ; d. in Orange, N. J., 8 Aug., 1886. He was apprenticed to a printer in his native town for seven years, and, on attaining his majori- ty, established the Nashua, N. H., "Herald," which was unsuccessful. He settled in New York city in 1833, formed a partnership in the printing business with John F. West, became sole owner of the es- tablishment in 1836, and in 1842 admitted Jona- than Leavitt into the firm, but returned to the conduct of the business alone about 1848. He was one of the first to introduce electrotyping into the printing business, and adopted many inven- tions to facilitate type-setting and the manufac- ture of books. For many years he was active in the publication of directories, was interested in the " Wilson Business Directory " in 1849, and in 1852 began to issue " Trow's New York City Direc- tory," which has since appeared yearly. In 1865 he issued the " United States Business Directory," an undertaking of greater magnitude than had ever before been attempted in this country. In 1855 he published a specimen-book of the typo- graphic art, for which the University of New York conferred on him the title of University printer.


TROWBRIDGE, Edmund, lawyer, b. in New- ton, Mass., in 1709 ; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 2 April, 1792. He was graduated at Harvard in 1728, and for some time bore the name of Goff, after an uncle. " This Goff," wrote John Adams in 1759, "had been attorney - general for twenty years, and commanded the practice in Middlesex and Worcester and several other counties. He had power to crush, by his frown or his nod, any young lawyer in his country." He became attorney- general of Massachusetts in 1749, and was a mem- ber of the council several years, but lost favor with the popular party in 1766, on account of his luke- warmness in resisting British aggressions. He was elevated to the supreme bench of Massachusetts the next year, and, notwithstanding his loyalist princi- Eles, is declared by all his contemporaries to have een the most profound lawyer in New England prior to the Revolution, and an honorable and up- right judge. In the trial of Cant. Thomas Preston and other British soldiers for firing on the people in State street, Boston, 5 March, 1770, his fairness and ability commanded universal praise. But, al- though he was attached to the royal government, he did not approve of all its measures, and in 1772, alarmed at the aspect of affairs, he resigned his office and retired to private life. As an executor of John Alfred, a wealthy merchant of Boston, he had the power of determining to what the latter's bounty should be applied, and founded in Harvard the Alfred professorship of natural religion, moral philosophy, and civil polity. He was the last of the judges of the supreme court of Massachusetts that wore the scarlet robe and powdered wig.


TROWBRIDGE, John, physicist, b. in Bos- ton, Mass., 5 Aug., 1843. He was prepared for Harvard at the Boston Latin - school, but was graduated at the Lawrence scientific school of that university in 1866. After graduation he was made a tutor, and he continued so until 1869, when he was called to the assistant professorship of physics in Massachusetts institute of technology. In 1870 he returned to Harvard to establish a laboratory course of instruction in physics, out of which has grown the Jefferson physical laboratory, which is now the largest of its kind in the United States. In order to secure this great means for advancing the study of physical science, Prof. Trowbridge did much in the way of personal so- licitation, and also by publishing, both in journals and as pamphlets, papers upon the necessity of a well - equipped physical laboratory. His original investigations gained for him in 1873 the degree of S. D. from Harvard, and in 1880 he was made professor of experimental physics. In 1888 he was advanced to the Rumford professorship of the application of science to the useful arts, which chair he still (1888) holds. His scientific work has consisted largely of original investigations con- ducted under his direction and issued as " Contri- butions from the Physical Laboratory of Harvard College." His independent researches include papers on " Animal Electricity " (1872), in which he showed that the existence of the so-called muscu- lar electric current had not been proved, although generally accepted at that time. He has devised among other instruments " A New Form of Gal- vanometer " (1871) ; " A New Induction Coil " (1875) ; and " A New Form of Mirror Galvanome- ter " (1876). His later papers have had much to do with electricity, and among his memoirs on this subject is " On Telegraphing without a Cable " (1884) and " Niagara Falls considered as a Source of Electricity " (1885). During 1887-'8 he instituted experiments that have proved the presence of car- bon and platinum in the sun, and also a series which indicate the absence of oxygen-lines from the solar spectrum. Prof. Trowbridge, in addition to membership in many societies, was secretary of the American academy of arts and sciences in 1879-84, and in the latter year presided over the physical section of the American association for the advancement of science. Then he delivered a vice-presidential address, on " What is Elec- tricity 1 " which was very rich in suggestions con- cerning the possibilities of that science. He was a member of the International congress of electri- cians that met in Paris in 1883, and was a delegate to the U. S. congress of electricians that convened in Philadelphia in October, 1884. In 1878 he was chosen to membership in the National academy of sciences. Prof. Trowbridge was one of the editors of the " Annals of Scientific Discovery for 1869 " (Boston, 1870), and since 1879 has been an asso- ciate editor of the " American Journal of Science," with charge of the notices on physics. His scien- tific papers exceed fifty in number, and he has published " The New Physics " (New York, 1884).


TROWBRIDGE, John Townsend, author, b. in Ogden, N. Y., 18 Sept., 1827. He was educated in the common schools, learned the elements of Latin, Greek, and French without a master, and, after teaching and working on a farm for one year in Illinois, settled in New York city, where he wrote for the journals and magazines. He removed to Boston about 1848, and in 1850, during the absence of Ben. Perley Poore in Washington, D. C., edited his paper, the "Sentinel," but wrote for it an editorial on the fugitive-slave law that nearly destroyed the popularity of the paper. He has since been connected with many magazines and newspapers, has. led an active literary life, and was managing editor of "Our Young Folks" in 1870- '3. He was one of the original contributors to the "Atlantic Monthly"; and the "Vagabonds," " At Sea," and the " Pewee " among his poems, and the popular short story " Coupon-Bonds," appeared in that magazine. John Burroughs says of him: " He knows the heart of a bov and the heart of a