Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/814

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794 EVANS EVANSVILLE in the universities of Gottingen, Berlin, and Munich. In the autumn of 1862 he became professor of modern languages in the university of Michigan, which position he resigned in 1870 to travel in Europe and collect materials for a history of German literature. He has pub- lished translations of Stahr's life of Lessing (2 vols., Boston, 1866) and Coquerel's "First Historical Transformations of Christianity " (Boston, 1867); Abriss der deutschen Litera- turgeschichte (New York, 1869); and various philosophical articles in periodicals. EVANS, Frederick William, presiding elder of the community of Shakers at New Lebanon, Columbia co., N. Y., born in Leominster, England, June 9, 1808. His father settled in the United States in 1820, and apprenticed him to a hatter in New York. He was a dili- gent student in his leisure hours, was attracted by the theories of Owen and Fourier, and after a brief visit to England joined the Shaker com- munity, whose leader he became in the Uni- ted States. He has published " Tests of Di- vine Revelation," "Anne Lee, or Shakers and Shakerism," "Compendium," "Autobiography of a Shaker," and "Religious Communism." EVANS, Lewis, an American geographer and surveyor, born about 1700, died in June, 1756. During an active professional life he collected many materials for a map of the British North American colonies, and in 1749 published one of the middle colonies, chiefly of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, and of the Indian country adjacent. A second edition appeared in 1755, much enlarged, and containing in ad- dition Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and a part of New England. He also published "Geographical, Historical, Political, Philosoph- ical, and Mechanical Essays " (No. 1, Philadel- phia, 1755 ; No. 2, London, 1756). A new edi- tion of his map appeared in 1776. EVANS, Marian. See LEWES, MAKIAN EVANS. EVANS, Oliver, an American inventor, born in Newport, Del., in 1755, died in New York, April 21, 1819. He was apprenticed to a wheelwright, and before he had reached the age of manhood the construction of a land carriage to be propelled without animal power began to occupy his attention. At the age of 22 he invented a machine for making card teeth which superseded the old method of manufacturing them by hand. Two years later he entered into business with his brothers, who were millers, and in a short time invented the elevator, the conveyor, the drill, the hopper- boy, and the descender, the application of which to mills worked by water power effected a revolution in the manufacture of flour. In 1786-7 he obtained from the legislatures of Maryland and Pennsylvania the exclusive right to use his improvements in flour mills, and Maryland also gave him a similar privilege with respect to steam carriages. It was not till 1799 or 1800 that he was able to set about the construction of a steam carriage ; but finding that his steam engine differed in form as well as in principle from those in use, it occurred to him that it could be patented and applied to mills more profitably than to carriages ; and in this he was completely successful. This was the first steam engine constructed on the high- pressure principle ; and to Evans, who had conceived the idea of it in early life, and in 1787 and again in l794-'5 had sent to England drawings and specifications, the merit of the invention belongs, although it has been com- mon to assign it to Vivian and Trevithick, who had had access to Evans's plans. In 1803-'4, by order of the board of health of Philadelphia, he constructed the first steam dredging ma" chine used in America, consisting of a flat scow with a small engine to work the machinery for raising the mud. The machine, which he named the "Orukter Amphibolos," propelled itself on wheels to the Schuylkill, a distance of H m., was fitted with a paddle wheel in the stern, and navigated the river to its junction with the Delaware. This is believed to have been the first instance in America of the ap- plication of steam power to the propelling of land carriages. He predicted the time when such carriages would be propelled on railways of wood or iron, and urged the construction of a railroad between Philadelphia and New York, but was always prevented by his limit- ed means from prosecuting his mechanical ex- periments to the extent he desired. He was the author of " The Young Engineer's Guide " (8vo, Philadelphia, 1805 ; translated into French, Paris, 1821-'5 and 1838), and "Miller and Millwright's Guide " (8vo, Philadelphia, 1797, 1807, 1818; and 8vo, Paris, 1830; 14th ed., with additions and corrections by Thomas P. Jones, and a description of an improved merchant flour mill by C. and O. Evans, 8vo, Philadelphia, 1853). EVANSTON, a township of Cook co., Illinois, on Lake Michigan and on the Chicago and Northwestern railroad, 12 m. N. of Chicago ; pop. in 1870, 3,062. It is the seat of three Methodist educational institutions, viz. : the Northwestern university, organized in 1854, and having in 1872 11 professors and instruc- tors, 452 students, and a library of 22,000 volumes ; the Garrett Biblical institute, estab- lished in 1856, which in 1872 had 6 profess- ors, 64 students, a library of 3,000 volumes, and an endowment of $424,000 ; and the Evans- ton college for ladies, organized in 1871, having 12 instructors and 250 students. EVANSVILLE, a city, port of entry, and the capital of Vanderburg co., Indiana, 144 m. S. S. W. of Indianapolis, built on high ground on the N. bank of the Ohio river, nearly 200 m. from its mouth and the same distance below Louisville, Ky. ; pop. in 1850, 3,235 ; in 1860, 11,484; in 1870, 21,830, of whom 6,276 were foreigners and 1,427 colored. The river at this point describes a half-moon, whence Evansville is sometimes called the " crescent city." In the vicinity are found coal and iron ore. The city contains a handsome court house, city hall,