METCALFE, Henry, inventor, b. in New York city, 29 Oct., 1847. He is the son of Dr. John T. Metcalfe, a well-known physician of New York city. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1868 and served in the ordnance bureau in Wash- ington, D. C, until 1869. From 1870 till 1875 he was assistant ordnance officer at Springfield ar- mory, Mass. He was made 1st lieutenant on 23 June, 1874, and in 1876 prepared the ordnance department exhibit for the centennial exhibition. Since 1886 he has been instructor of ordnance and gunnery in the U. S. military academy. He in- vented the first detachable magazine that was used with military small arms, and has published " The Cost of Manufactures " (New York, 1885).
METCALFE, Samuel L., physician, b. near
Winchester. Va., 21 Sept., 1798; d. in Cape May,
N. J., 17 July, 1856. He removed with his par-
ents to Shelby county, Ky., in early life, and in
1819 entered Transylvania university, Lexington,
where in 1823 he received the degree of M. D.
He practised in Now Albany, Ind.. and later in
Mississippi, but in 1831 went to England. On
his return he made a geological tour through
eastern Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia.
For several years thereafter he resided in New
York city and devoted himself to writing scientific
books, also contributing to the " Knickerbocker
Magazine " under the initial " M." In 1835 he
again visited England in order to give his atten-
tion to scientific "research, and during this visit he
was solicited to become a candidate for the Grego-
rian chair in the University of Edinburgh, but de-
clined. He then returned to the United States
and devoted his energies to publishing his books.
Dr. Metcalfe was the author of " Narratives of
Indian Warfare in the West " (Lexington, 1821) ;
" New Theory of Terrestrial Magnetism " (New
York, 1833); and "Caloric; its Agencies in the
Phenomena of Nature " (2 vols., London, 1843 ; 2d
ed., Philadelphia, 1853).
METCALFE, Thomas, governor of Kentucky,
b. in Fauquier county, Va., 20 March, 1780; d. in
Nicholas county, Ky.,' 18 Aug., 1855. His parents,
who were poor, emigrated to Kentucky and set-
tled in Fayette county. After a few months in a
country school the son worked with a stone-cutter,
devoting his leisure to study. He served in the
war of 1812, and in 1813 commanded a company
with credit at the battle of Fort Meigs. While he
was absent on this campaign he was elected to the
legislature, in which he served three years. He was
afterward chosen to congress as a Henry Clay
Democrat, serving from 6 Dec, 1819, till 1 June,
1828, when he resigned. From 1829 till 1833 he
was governor of Kentucky. He was a member of
the state senate in 1834, and president of the board
of internal improvement in 1840. Gov. Metcalfe
was appointed U. S. senator in place of John J.
Crittenden, resigned, serving from 3 July, 1848,
till 3 March, 1849, when he retired to his farm be-
tween Maysville and Lexington. He was a friend
and follower of Henry Clay, and often boasted of
his early labors as a stone-mason, delighting in
being called the " Old Stone Hammer."
MEYER, Bernhard (mire), German missionary,
b. in Erfurt in 1537; d. in Liege in 1609. He
became a Jesuit, was attached for several years to the
missions of Cuba, went in 1571 to New Spain, where
he learned the Aztec and Maya languages, and
afterward became president of an Indian
commandery in Yucatan, which he held for twelve
years. His humane policy toward the Indians was
in striking contrast with their cruel treatment by
the Spaniards, and as he forwarded a protest to
the holy see against the dealings of the latter in
the New World, the authorities asked for his
relief, and his superiors sent him back to Germany
in 1599. Meyer settled in Liege, and, with the
materials that he had collected in the New World,
wrote a history of the Spanish domination in
America; but, his intention having become known,
great pressure was exerted on the general of the
Jesuits, who forbade the publication of the work.
Meyer hesitated to obey, and application was made
to the prince bishop of Liege, who ordered the
arrest of the courageous missionary. During the
latter's imprisonment in a convent his manuscripts
and papers were forwarded to Rome, and what
became of them is not known. He published “Origines
gentis Aztecorum” (Liege, 1601) and “Epistola
ad præpositum generalem Societatis Jesu, qua
statum in provincia Novæ Espaniæ exponit” (1602).
MEYER, Hermanus, clergyman, b. in Bremen,
Lower Saxony, 27 July, 1733; d. near Pompton,
N. J., 27 Oct., 1791. He was educated at the
Latin-school and gymnasium in Bremen, and at the
theological academy of Groningen. Having received
a call to the Dutch church of Kingston, N. Y., he
was ordained on 31 March, 1763, and sailed for
New York with Rev. John R. Hardenbergh. In
1764 he was compelled by the civil authorities to
take the oath of allegiance to Great Britain. He
found the church divided by the old quarrel of the
Coetus and Conferentie parties as to whether
ordination should take place in this country or in
Holland. He sympathized with the former in favor of
a ministry trained in America, and his pungent
preaching caused dissatisfaction. The ecclesiastical
difficulties culminated in his suspension from
active duties by an illegal body of Conferentie
ministers in 1766, and for nearly seven years he
remained in Kingston, preaching to his adherents
in private houses. He was a member of the
convention of 1771, which reunited his church, and
in 1772 he removed to New Jersey as pastor at
Pompton and Totowa (now Paterson). The
general synod elected him to two chairs in their
theological institution — that of Hebrew in 1784, and
that of lector in divinity in 1786, which he held
until his death. In 1789 he received the degree of
D. D. from Queen's (now Rutgers) college. He left
in manuscript a Latin translation of the Psalms of
David, with commentaries and emendations.
MIANTONOMO, sachem of the Narragansetts,
d. in September, 1643. He was the nephew of
Canonicus, with whom he was associated in the
government of the tribe, and whom he succeeded
in 1636. Fearing that Sassacus might attempt a
reconciliation and an alliance with Canonicus and
Miantonomo, the governor of Massachusetts sent
a solemn embassage to the Narragansett court,
which was received and entertained royally. After
being feasted an audience was granted in the
statehouse of poles covered with mats, and on hearing
the message Miantonomo replied that he willingly
embraced peace with the English. Soon afterward
the governor was visited by Miantonomo
with a retinue of twenty chiefs. They were
conducted from Roxbury to Boston by a military
escort and received with state and ceremony, the
magistrates and clergy being convened for the
occasion. He proposed the entire destruction of the
Pequots, and made a treaty with the English by
which neither party could make peace with that
tribe without the consent of the other. He
maintained friendly relations with Massachusetts, and
in 1636, with his uncle, deeded to Roger Williams
land for his colony at the head of Narragansett
bay, where Providence now stands. The sachems
