one he invented two new and valuable ploughs, but his chief invention was in 1831, when with his own hands he built the first practical reaping-machine that was ever made. As early as 1810 his father had attempted to construct a reaper, but it was a total failure. The son worked in an entire- ly different chan nel. He patented his reaper in 1834, and improvements on it in 1845-'7 and 1858. In 1847 he removed to Chica- go, where he built large works for the construction of his inventions. Mr.Mc- Cormick was awarded numerous prizes and medals for his
reaper, and in 1878
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received for the third time, for his reaping and self-binding machine, a grand prize of the French exposition, and the rank of officer of the Legion of honor was conferred upon him. He was also, at that time, elected a corresponding member of the French academy of sciences, " as having done more for the cause of agriculture than any other living man." Reverdy Johnson said, in 1859 : " The Mc- Cormick reaper has already contributed an annual income to the whole country of $55,000,000 at least, which must increase through all time." About this time William H. Seward said : " Owing to Mr. McCormick's invention, the line of civilization moves westward thirtv miles each year." In 1859 Mr. McCormick gave $100,000 to found the Pres- byterian seminary of the northwest in Chicago, and he also endowed a professorship in Washing- ton and Lee university, Virginia. See " Memoir " (printed privately, Boston, 1884).
Mccormick, Richard Cunningham, author,
b. in New York city, 23 May, 1832. He received a
classical education and became a broker in 1850.
In 1858-'9 he edited the " Young Men's Magazine,"
and in 1860 entered the editorial department of
the New York " Evening Post." He was a war-
correspondent of several New York newspapers,
and became chief clerk of the U. S. department of
agriculture in 1862. He was secretary of Arizona
territory in 1863-'6, and governor in 1866-'9, was
elected a delegate to congress from that terri-
tory for three consecutive terms, and served in
1869-'75. Pie established " The Arizona Miner "
in 1864, and " The Arizona Citizen " in 1870, and
was a delegate to the National Republican conven-
tions of 1872, 1876, and 1880. He was a commis-
sioner to the Centennial exhibition in 1871-'6, as-
sistant secretary of the treasury in 1877-'8, and
commissioner-general to the Paris exposition in the
latter year, was made a commander of the Legion
of honor by the French government, and was tend-
ered the mission to Mexico on his return, which
he declined. He published a " Visit to the Camp
before Sebastopol " (New York, 1855) ; " St. Paul's
to St. Sophia" (1860); and "Arizona, its Re-
sources " (1865). The reports of the U. S. commis-
sioners to the Paris exposition (5 vols.) were pre-
pared and published under his direction.
McCOSH, James, educator, b. in Carskeoch,
Scotland, 1 April, 1811 ; d. in Princeton, 6 Nov.,
1894. He studied at the University of Glasgow, and
at that of Edinburgh from 1829 till 1834. In the
latter institution he was a pupil of Dr. Thomas
Chalmers. Having written an essay on the Stoic
philosophy, the honorary degree of A. M. was con-
ferred upon him on motion of Sir William Hamil-
ton. He was ordained a minister of the Church of
Scotland at Arbroath in 1835, but removed in 1839
to Brechin, where he ministered to 1,400 commu-
nicants. In 1843 he took an active part in the
organization of the Free church of Scotland.
While pastor at Brechin he published a work enti-
tled •' Method of the Divine Government, Physical
and Moral " (Edinburgh, 1850 ; 5th ed., revised,
London, 1856), in which he endeavors to interro-
gate nature by the inductive method, inquiring
what is the method of the divine government,
primarily in the physical world, and secondarily in
providence as related to the character of man and
tending to his restoration. This work discusses
the laws of substance and phenomenon and of
cause and effect in physical nature and in the hu-
man mind. He subsequently continued the argu-
ment in " The Supernatural in Relation to the
Natural " (Belfast, 1862), which was intended as the
first part of a work on " The Method of the Divine
Government, Supernatural and Spiritual." The-
publication of the " Method " attracted public at-
tention to its author both in Great Britain and the
United States. Some one having sent a copy of it
to Earl Clarendon, then lord-lieutenant of Ire-
land, that nobleman began to read it before divine
service on a Sabbath morning, and became so in-
terested in it that he forgot to attend church. He
immediately afterward appointed Mr. McCosh pro-
fessor of logic and metaphysics in Queen's college,
Belfast. Here he remained for sixteen years, draw-
ing to the institution a large body of students, and
taking a deep interest in defending the national
system of education in Ireland. While there he
wrote his " Intuitions of the Mind Inductively In-
vestigated " (London, 1860), which established his-
reputation as a meta-
physical writer. It
explains what intui-
tions properly are,
which of them are
moral convictions,
and how they are
related to the sci-
ences, particularly
to metaphysics and
theology. In 1866
he removed to the
United States, and
in 1868 was elected
president of the Col-
lege of New Jersey,
at Princeton, where
his administration
was remarkably suc-
cessful. The staff
of professors was
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increased from seventeen to forty-one, and the average attendance of students from 264 to 603. Having been tlius successful in his administration, and desiring to be relieved on account of advancing years. Dr. McCosh offered his resignation in November, 1887, which took effect in June, 1888. He was voted a salary as president emeritus, and retained the chair of philosophy. He received the degree of LL. D. from Aberdeen in 1850, and from Harvard in 1868, while Queen's university, Ireland, gave him that of D. Lit. Dr. McCosh was a voluminous writer, and besides the works already mentioned, and many important addresses and contributions to various pe-