est perfection here. The earliest and best the said scholars shall or may learn the engraver on steel was ASHER B. DURAND art of painting; and further, my will and (q. v.), who became one of the first line- mind is that two grinders, the one for oilengravers in the world, but abandoned the colors and the other for water-colors, and profession for the art of painting. The also oil and gum-waters, shall be furart of lithography was introduced into nished, from time to time, at the cost the United States in 1821, by Messrs. and charges of the said college." Mr. Burnet and Doolittle, and steadily gained Palmer purchased a picturesque island favor as a cheap method of producing in the Susquehanna, opposite Havre de pictures. It is now extensively employed Grace, Md., which was originally called in producing chromo-lithographic pict- Palmer's Island. There he expected the ures. Photography, the child of the university and school of fine arts to be daguerreotype, was first produced in Eng- established. The family of Edward land by Mr. Talbot, and was introduced Palmer had been identified with Warhere chiefly by the labors in science of wickshire from the time of William the Dr. J. W. Draper, of New York. Indeed, Conqueror. During the later years of his the discovery of the process of making life Palmer resided in London, and his pictures by employing sunlight as the collection of rarities and ancient Greek artist was the result of the previous ex- and Roman coins was well known among periments and writings concerning the literary men. This school of fine arts chemical action of light by Dr. Draper. in America was projected years before The American Academy of Fine Arts was Dean Berkeley projected his college in the incorporated in 1808, and the first public Bermudas (see BERKELEY, GEORGE) and exhibition of works of art followed. At the brought JOHN SMYBERT (q. v.) with him suggestion of PROF. SAMUEL F. B. MORSE to cultivate art therein. (q. v.) younger painters associated, and In 1791 Archibald Robertson, a Scotchin 1826 organized the National Academy man and a portrait-painter, established a of the Arts of Design in the United States. seminary in the city of New York which In 1622 Edward Palmer, a native of he called the Columbian Academy of Gloucestershire, England, obtained from Painting. He succeeded well, and his the London Company a grant of land in pupils did honor to the institution. In Virginia, and from the Plymouth Com- 1801 Robert R. Livingston, then Ameripany a tract in New England. Mr. can minister in France, proposed the esPalmer died late in 1624. Just before his tablishment of an academy of fine arts in death he made provision in his will for New York. He wrote to friends, suggestthe establishment, conditionally, of a ing the raising of funds by subscription university" in Virginia, with which was for the purpose of purchasing copies of to be connected a school of fine arts. His antique statuary and paintings for the will, dated Nov. 22 (O. S.), 1624, pro- instruction of young artists. An associavided for the descent of his lands in Vir- tion for the purpose was formed late in ginia and New England to his sons and 1802, but it was not incorporated until nephews, saying: But if all issue fails, 1808. Meanwhile Mr. Livingston had obthen all said land is to remain for the tained fine plaster copies of ancient founding and maintenance of a university statues and sent them over. In the board and such schools in Virginia as shall of managers were distinguished citizens, there be erected, and the university shall but there was only one artist-Colonel be called Academia Virginiensis Oxon- Trumbull. It bore the corporate title of iensis.'" After providing for scholarships in the university for the male descendants of his grandfather, Mr. Palmer's will provided "that the scholars of the said university, for the avoiding of idleness, shall have two painters, the one for oil-colors and the other for water-colors, who shall be admitted fellows of the same college, to the end and intent that

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Academy of Fine Arts. It had a feeble existence, though it numbered among its honorary members King George IV. of England, and the Emperor Napoleon, who contributed liberally to its establishment. De Witt Clinton was its president in 1816, when its first public exhibition opened. In 1805 seventy gentlemen, mostly lawyers, met in Independence Hall,

was

Philadelphia, for the purpose of consider- came a Methodist minister in 1809; was ing the subject of founding an academy of a missionary among the Wyandotte Indfine arts in that city. They formed an ians in 1821-27. His publications include association for the purpose, and estab- History of the Wyandotte Mission; lished the Philadelphia Academy of Sketches of Western Methodism; Personal Fine Arts, with George Clymer as presi- Reminiscences Illustrative of Indian Life, dent. Their first exhibition was held in etc. He died in Cincinnati, O., Sept. 6, 1856. 1806, when more than fifty casts of antique statues in the Louvre were displayed, and two paintings by Benjamin West. By purchases and gifts the collection of the academy was unsurpassed in this country in 1845, when the building and most of its contents were destroyed by fire. The as

Fire-arms, a term originally applied to cannon; afterwards to cannon requiring two men to carry it; and now to what are known as rifles and small arms. The following table gives details of the rifles used by the principal nations of the world in 1901:

sociation now has a superb building on Broad Street, which was first opened to the public in April, 1876. Unwise management and alleged injustice to the younger artists who were studying in the New York Academy caused great dissatisfaction, and in the autumn of 1825 they held a meeting and organized a Society for Improvement in Drawing. This movement was made at the instigation of Samuel F. B. Morse, who was made president of the association. At a meeting of the association in January, 1826, Mr. Morse submitted a plan for the formation of what was called a National Academy of Design in the United States. The proposition was adopted, and the new academy was organized on Jan. 15, with Mr. Morse as president, and fourteen associate officers. The academy then founded flourished from the beginning, and is now one of the most cherished institutions of New York City.

Finley, JAMES BRADLEY, clergyman; born in North Carolina, July 1, 1781; be

pedition in 1779; under Lafayette, in Vir- The powder-ship was the Louisiana, a proginia, in 1781; and was at the sur- peller of 295 tons, having an iron hull. render of Cornwallis, behaving gallantly She was disguised as a blockade-runner. during the siege. For many years after To have the powder above the water-line, 1786, Fish, who had become lieutenant- a light deck was built for the purpose. colonel during the war, was adjutant- On this was first placed a row of barrels general of the State of New York, and of powder, standing on end, the upper was appointed supervisor of the United one open. The remainder of the powStates revenue in 1794. In 1797 he be- der was in canvas bags, holding about came president of the New York State 60 lbs. each, the whole being stored Cincinnati Society. He died in New as represented in the engraving, in which York City, June 20, 1833. the form of the vessel is also delineated. The whole weight of the powder was 215 tons. To communicate fire to the whole mass simultaneously, four separate threads of the Gomez fuse were woven through it, passing through each separate barrel and bag. At the stern and under the cabin was a heap of pine wood (H) and other

Fish Dam Ford, S. C., BATTLE AT. An engagement between the Americans under General Sumter, and the British under General Wemyss, which was fought Nov. 12, 1780, and resulted in an American victory. Fisher, FORT, an extensive earthwork on a point of sandy land between the Cape Fear River at its mouth and the ocean, combustibles, which were to be fired by

H

THE POWDER-SHIP.

the land-face occupying the whole width the crew when they should leave the vesof the cape known as Federal Point, and sel. Three devices were used for comarmed with twenty heavy guns. All along the land-front (1864) was a stock ade, and on the sea-front were the wrecks of several blockade-runners. It was late in 1864 when an attempt was made to close the port of Wilmington against English blockade-runners by capturing this fort and its dependencies. The expedition sent against the fort consisted of a powerful fleet under Admiral Porter and a land force under the immediate command of Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, of the Army of the James, accompanied by Gen. B. F. Butler as commander of that army. The whole force was gathered in Hampton Roads early in December. The troops consisted of General Ames's division of the 24th Army Corps and General Paine's division of the 25th (colored) Corps. The warvessels were wooden ships, iron-clads, monitors, gunboats, and a powder-ship, destined to be blown up abreast of the fort with a hope of destructive effect.

municating fire to the fuses, namely clock-work by which a percussion-cap was exploded; short spermaceti candles, which burned down and ignited the fuses at the same time; and a slow match that worked in time with the candles and the clock-work. The powder-vessel followed a blockade-runner and was anchored within 300 yards of the fort, according to the report of Commander Rhind. When the combustibles were fired and the apparatus for igniting the fuses were put in motion, the crew escaped in a swift little steamer employed for the purpose. The explosion took place in one hour and fiftytwo minutes after the crew left. Notwithstanding the concussion of the explosion broke window-glasses in a vessel 12 miles distant, and the whole fleet, at that distance, felt it, and it was also felt on land at Beaufort and Newbern, from 60 to 80 miles distant, there was no perceptible effect upon the fort.

the command of GEN. ALFRED H. TERRY (q. v.), with the addition of a brigade of 1,400 men. Lieutenant-Colonel Comstock, of General Grant's staff, who accompanied the first expedition, was made the chiefengineer of this. The expedition left Hampton Roads, Jan. 6, 1865, and rendezvoused off Beaufort, N. C., where Porter was taking in supplies of coal and ammunition. They were all detained by rough weather, and did not appear off Fort Fisher until the evening of the 12th. The navy, taught by experience, took a position where it could better affect the land front of the fort than before. Under cover of the fire of the fleet, 8,000 troops were landed (Jan. 13). Terry wisely provided against an attack in the rear by casting up intrenchments across the peninsula and securing the free use of

The appointed rendezvous of the expedition was 25 miles off the coast, facing Fort Fisher, so as not to be discovered by the Confederates until ready for action. There was a delay in the arrival of the war vessels, and the transports, coaled and watered for only ten days, were compelled to run up to Beaufort Harbor, N. C., for both, the fleet remaining off Fort Fisher. The transports returned on Christmas evening; the next morning the war vessels opened a bombardment, and at 3 P.M. the troops began their debarkation two miles above the fort. Only a part of the troops had been landed when the surf ran too high to permit more to go ashore. These marched down to attack the fort. Not a gun had been dismounted, and, as they were ready to rake the narrow peninsula on which the troops stood the moment Masonboro Inlet, where, if necessary, the fleet should withhold its fire, prudence seemed to require the troops to withdraw. They did so, and were ordered to the James River to assist in the siege of PETERSBURG (q. v.), and the expedition of the land force against Fort Fisher was temporarily abandoned. It was resumed ten days afterwards. The war vessels had remained off Fort Fisher. The same troops, led by Weitzel, were placed under

troops and supplies might be landed in still water. On the evening of the 14th the light guns were landed, and before morning were in battery. Wisely planned by Terry, a grand assault was made on the morning of the 15th.

The war-ships opened the battle on the 14th. They kept up a bombardment all day, severely damaging the guns of the fort and silencing most of them. The