USA > New York > Encyclopedia of biography of New York, a life record of men and women whose sterling character and energy and industry have made them preeminent in their own and many other states, Vol. 3 > Part 30
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We cannot bring this short review of the life of Dr. Mercer to a more fitting conclusion than by quoting from a memorial tribute by Dr. John L. Heffron, which appeared in the "New York State Journal of Medicine," in November, 1914:
Dr. Mercer, of all men I ever knew, best illus- trated the virtues of the middle course in life so exquisitely voiced by Horace. He was of medium height and of medium weight. He had strongly chiseled features, the English clear complexion, kindly blue eyes, lips red as a cherry, and ruddy brown beard and hair, luxuriant and but slightly grey at the time of his death. * * He had an inquiring mind, capable of accurate if not rapid observations, and he had perfect intellectual poise. He was rarely enthusiastic, but he had a deep and abiding interest in every subject worthy a man's thought and action. His industry was indefatigable and was always guided by sound judgment. He was by nature temperate in all things, and was never tempted to excess of any kind, excepting perhaps work in younger and middle life. It was but natural that such a man should accumulate a treasure house of knowledge and should mature judgments that were sound and increasingly convincing. *
* * He early learned the withering effects of dogma, and was one of the earnest advocates of intellectual and spiritual liberty of thought. * * * Dr. Mer- cer was not narrow. The interests outside of his chosen profession were many and various, how various only those most intimate with him can judge. * * I never came into Dr. Mercer's presence in his office, in his home, in the college, or in medical meetings, but what I was conscious of being near one who radiated truth and justice and fraternal love. * * Here is a man whose life is a positive inspiration to everyone of us. He had no extraordinary gifts of either body or of mind, but he had perfect self-control. He ordered his daily life with judgment, not with caprice. He weighed the value of things, and de- veloped the keenest perception of the relative importance of even the minor things in life. He cultivated methods, and might have been one who inspired the present movement for efficiency. He was industrious, and did not allow himself to waste a moment. He cared for his body with in- telligence, by correct habits of eating and by observing a due proportion between work and re- laxation. He looked ahead and kept his knowl- edge up to the minute.
MERCER, A. Clifford, M. D., F. R. M. S., Physician, Scientist.
A. Clifford Mercer, M. D., F. R. M. S., son of the preceding, was born at Syra- cuse, New York, July 5, 1855. He at-
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tended the public schools of his native city from 1860 to 1875, then matriculated at Syracuse University from which he was graduated in the class of 1878 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He was a post-graduate student at St. Thomas' Hospital, London, England, in 1878-79-80.
He was instructor in pathology in the College of Medicine, Syracuse Univer- sity, from 1880 to 1886, and Professor of Pathology from 1886 to 1893. He was a student and held clinical appointments in the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, London, England, in 1890 and 1891, was Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the College of Medicine, Syracuse University, from 1893 to 1904, and since 1904 has been Professor of Pediatrics. For seventeen years he was a member and secretary of the medical and surgical staff of the Hospital of the House of the Good Shepherd. He is consulting physician at the Children's Clinic of the Syracuse Free Dispensary and to the Babies' Summer Camp of the Visiting Nurses' Association, and physician to the Children's Pavilion of the Syracuse Hos- pital for Women and Children.
He was for years treasurer of the Col- lege of Medicine and of its Alumni Asso- ciation, and of the Medical Association of Central New York. He has served as president of the American Microscopical Society, the Central New York Micro- scopical Club, the Onondaga Medical So- ciety, the Syracuse Medical Association, the Syracuse Academy of Medicine, the Milk Commission of the Onondaga Medical Society (responsible, under New York State law, for the maintenance of national standard requirements in the production and transportation of certified milk) and the board of managers of the Onondaga Sanatorium for Tuberculosis. He has repeatedly served on public health
committees of medical societies and the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the advisory committee of the Syracuse Bureau of Health. He was health officer of Syracuse for three years (1883-85). The selection of an exception- ally beautiful and suitable site for the Onondaga Sanatorium for Tuberculosis, which for a long time met with wide and bitter opposition, was finally brought about largely by the incessant work of Dr. Mercer and his professional co- workers.
He is also a life fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society, London, England, a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Amer- ican Medical Association, Alpha Omega Alpha (honorary medical society), Na- tional Association for the Study and Pre- vention of Tuberculosis, National Asso- ciation of Medical Milk Commissions, New York State Medical Society, Central New York Medical Association, Thurs- day Night Club (medical), Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse Acad- emy of Science, University Club and Citizens' Club. He is an honorary mem- ber of the Syracuse Botany Club and corresponding member of the Rochester (New York) Academy of Science.
When Dr. Mercer was president of the American Microscopical Society a sketch of his life work by Professor S. H. Gage, of Cornell University, appeared in the "American Monthly Microscopical Jour- nal," February, 1896, from which the fol- lowing are extracts :
* Thus surrounded by the microscopical influences of his father's office, enjoying the ac- quaintance of the famous optician, Charles A. Spencer, and Spencer's Syracuse friend, Willard Twitchell, it was only natural that very early there was awakened in the boy the keenest in- terest in the microscope and its revelations. In the Syracuse high school in 1874 and 1875 an
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added interest in this and in photography de- veloped under the practical teaching of Dr. Wal- ter A. Brownell. From this period may be dated Dr. Mercer's career in photo-micrography, the first apparatus being constructed by Charles A. Spencer after Mercer's drawings. His interest in photo-micrography has never flagged and many members of the American Microscopical Society feel under deep obligation to him for help and suggestions. He has not only used this beau- tiful art for scientific purposes but has made ex- cellent use of it in demonstrating the truth of his conclusions in courts of justice.
After receiving the degree of M. D. from Syra- cuse University in 1878, he spent about two and one-half years in St. Thomas Hospital and Medi- cal School in London, England, where he was a pupil in pathology of Dr. W. S. Greenfield, now professor of pathology in the University of Edinburgh. After becoming assistant to Dr. Greenfield in the Brown Institution, Dr. Mercer cut and mounted the first sections of tuberculous joints studied in England and furnished the ma- terial described by Mr. John Croft in Vol. xxxii (1881) of the transactions of the Pathological Society of London.
While in London he became acquainted with Dr. Lionel S. Beale, and revised for him "Part V., On Taking Photographs of Microscopic Objects" of his well-known book, "How to Work With the Microscope." On Dr. Beale's nomina- tion he was made a fellow of the Royal Micro- scopical Society. He found a warm personal friend in the late Dr. John Matthews, editor of the second edition of the "Preparation and Mounting of Microscopical Objects," by Thomas Davis, and always recalls with gratitude the demonstration which Mr. John E. Ingpen gave him of the Abbe diffraction theory of microscopic vision. This was before the theory had become generally known to the microscopical world.
During this period and a subsequent visit to London for professional study, Dr. Mercer had the good fortune to be brought in friendly rela- tions with Dr. R. L. Maddox, Mr. E. M. Nelson and Mr. Andrew Pringle, England's most skill- ful photo-micrographers. With a mind prepared and open as was Dr. Mercer's the association with these masters of the photo-micrographic art could only be productive of good, and our own country has been the gainer thereby, for Dr. Mercer is most generous in freely giving. To Dr. Maddox, the discoverer of the present dry plate process in photography, he is indebted for a share of the suggestive, helpful and generous correspondence with which that Nestor of photo-
micrography has, for many years, favored his fellow workers on both sides of the Atlantic- with its warmth of friendship and stimulus to progressive work.
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He has been active in the practice of his pro- fession and has prepared papers which find an honored place in the medical literature of the country. He has served in various positions of honor and trust in medical societies thus showing that he possesses the esteem and confidence of his professional brethren. While he fills an honored place in the medical profession and his main energy and work lie in that direction his interests are very broad, and he has a keen appre- ciation of the ultimate gain to medicine of the pursuit of pure science, although the connection may seem remote to those who cannot see the invisible threads that bind all truth into a har- monious whole. He has also a keen love of na- ture for her own sake, and while studying for his degree in medicine took up the miscroscopical study of the mosses as a part of the work of the Syracuse Botanical Club, and later was elected an honorary member of that club.
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He became a member of the American Micro- scopical Society under its earlier name (American Society of Microscopists) in 1882. He has attended the majority of the annual meetings since then, often as the writer well knows at considerable inconvenience. He has furnished articles to the "Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society" and to photographic journals, and in nearly every volume of the proceedings of the society of which he is now president may be found one or more articles from his pen. The article in the proceed- ings for 1886 "Photo-micrograph versus Micro- photograph," furnished the information on which the definitions of the words in the Century Dic- tionary and in Dr. G. M. Gould's Illustrated Dic- tionary of Medicine are founded. The Syracuse solid watch glass for microscopical purposes de- signed by him finally solved the problem of a watch glass for the microscopist and there is hardly a histological or microscopical laboratory in the country that does not count these watch glasses as an indispensable part of its equipment.
Dr. Mercer has also designed several pieces of apparatus which have been used in microscopical, photographic and x-ray work. He has also devoted considerable time to experimental work in photo- micrography and roentgenology and is
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the author of "An Experimental Study of Aperture as a Factor in Microscopic Vision," an expansion of his presidential address before the American Microscop- ical Society in 1896. In recent years his chief interest has been in pediatrics, diseases of infants and children, to which he has given most of his time and thought in college, hospital, dispensary and private practice.
SKINNER, Charles Rufus, Journalist, Legislator, Educator.
Charles Rufus Skinner was born at Union Square, Oswego county, New York, August 4, 1844, son of Avery and Charlotte Prior (Stebbins) Skinner, and a descendant of worthy New England ancestry. Avery Skinner was a native of New Hampshire, a farmer by occupation, settled in Watertown, New York, in 1816, from whence he removed to Oswego county, New York, in 1826. He was postmaster at Union Square, which place he settled and name, for fifty years, hav- ing been appointed by John Quincy Adams.
Charles Rufus Skinner was brought up on his father's farm, attended the district school in his native town until his six- teenth year, after which he accepted the position of teacher in a neighboring school, assisted in the work of the post office at Watertown, New York, and in various other ways obtained sufficient capital to enable him to pursue his educa- tion further. He became a student in the Clinton Liberal Institute, and later in the Mexico Academy, New York, from which he was graduated in 1866, the valedictor- ian of his class, and during the following year he acted as teacher in the same institution. In December, 1867, he went to New York City and took charge of the agency of the Walter A. Wood Mowing
and Reaping Machine Company, but re- mained only three years, his father being in such ill health that he was obliged to return home to manage the farm. In 1870 he became a resident of Watertown, New York, and until 1874 was part owner, business manager and city editor of the Watertown "Daily Times and Reformer." He was a member of the Board of Educa- tion of Watertown from. 1875 to 1884; member of the New York Assembly from 1876 to 1881 from Jefferson county, dur- ing which time he served as chairman of the committee on public printing and railroads, and as member of the commit- tees on cities, insurance, internal affairs, etc. In 1877 he introduced and pushed to its passage the bill prohibiting frequent changes in text-books in schools, and in 1879 introduced a bill to reduce legislative expenses, and an amendment to the con- stitution to bring about biennial sessions of the Legislature. This resolution passed one Legislature, but in the follow- ing year was defeated in the Senate. This proposition was favored by Gov- ernor Cornell in his message of 1882, and urged by Governor Black in 1898. In 1879-80 Mr. Skinner was active in advo- cating the anti-discrimination freight bill, and the measure for five-cent fares on the New York elevated railroads. In 1878 he served on a special committee of the Assembly to consider and report on the State normal schools. He was a member of the Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses, 1881-85, representing Jeffer- son, Lewis and Herkimer counties, where he was instrumental in securing the re- duction of letter postage from three to two cents, was the author of the bill providing for the special delivery system and the passage of the law giving letter carriers a vacation. He opposed the Chinese restrictive act, urging in a power- ful speech that the United States was
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bound to keep the terms of the treaty made with China ; made speeches in favor of prompt action to suppress polygamy, and against the Morrison tariff bill in 1883, and was active in all debates on post office questions. In 1884 he was appointed on the board of visitors at West Point with General Rosecrans, Colonel Waring and others. In 1885, after his term in Congress expired, he edited the Watertown "Daily Repub- lican" and served in that capacity until January, 1886, and then for a short time was city editor of the Watertown "Daily Times." He was Deputy State Superin- tendent of Public Instruction from 1886 to 1892 ; supervisor of teachers' institutes and training classes from 1892 to 1895; State Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion from April 7, 1895, to 1904, and was elected president of the National Educa- tion Association at its meeting in Buffalo in 1896. Dr. Skinner's administration as Superintendent of Public Instruction re- vealed a marked enthusiasm in the cause of popular education, a sincere devotion to its interests and forceful methods of promoting them. He was zealous in up- holding the integrity of his department against all assaults upon it and consist- ently advocated the placing of all tax- supported schools within its control. A few of the significant events of his tenure was the proposal of an educational quali- fication for school commissioners (not perfected) ; the fixing of the statutory school age at from five to eighteen years ; the observance, in 1895, of the centennial of the law establishing common schools ; the act of 1895 requiring the display of the "Stars and Stripes" upon the school- houses of the State; the commemoration of the one hundredth birthday, May 14, 1895, of the great educator, Horace Mann; the judicial decision in the Water- vliet case, affirming the power of the
State to compel a municipality, or school district, to provide and maintain ade- quate educational facilities, and forbid- ding teachers to wear sectarian dress in schools; the satisfactory execution of the compulsory education law, enacted in 1894; and the enlargement of the num- ber of State scholarships in Cornell Uni- versity from 128 to 150, to conform to the apportionment of assembly dis- tricts under the constitution of 1894. While State Superintendent, Dr. Skin- ner made educational visits and ad- dresses in every county of the State, and in many neighboring States. He served as assistant appraiser of the port of New York from 1906 to 1911; was librarian of the New York Assembly, 1914; and since 1915 has been legislative librarian in charge of a library formed by the consolidation of the Senate and As- sembly libraries.
Dr. Skinner is a life member of the New York State Press Association, and has frequently been delegated to repre- sent it in the meetings of the National Editorial Association. He has been a member of the Fort Orange Club of Albany, the Republican Club of New York City, the Union League of Brooklyn and the Thousand Island Club of Alex- andria Bay. He was a trustee of St. Lawrence University and of the Albany Home School for the Deaf. He received the degrees: Master of Arts from Hamil- ton College, 1889; Doctor of Laws from Colgate University, 1895; Doctor of Literature from Tufts College, 1901. He is the author of: "Commercial Advan- tages of Watertown, New York," 1876; "New York Question Book," 1890; "Arbor Day Manual," 1891; "Manual of Patriotism for the Schools of New York," 1900; and "The Bright Side," 1909.
Dr. Skinner married, October 16, 1873, at Watertown, New York, Elizabeth
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Baldwin, daughter of David W. and Laura (Merriman) Baldwin, of Water- town. Seven children have been added to his household, four sons and three daughters. Three sons and one daughter are living: Harold Baldwin and Charles Rufus, Jr., are connected with the New York Edison Company ; Albert Merriman is an architect in Watertown; Alice died in 1882; Bessie, in 1889; a son died in infancy ; Elizabeth was married in Sep- tember, 1915, to Lieutenant Dana Palmer, of the Third United States In- fantry.
HILL, David Jayne, Educator, Diplomat, Historian,
David Jayne Hill, distinguished as edu- cator, accomplished as diplomat, brilliant as orator and illustrious as author, was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, June 10, 1850, son of the Rev. Daniel T. and Lydia Ann (Thompson) Hill, grandson of Isaac Hill, whose ancestors came from England about 1640.
David Jayne Hill acquired his prelim- inary education in the public schools of his native town, and this knowledge was supplemented by a course at the Univer- sity of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania (now Bucknell) from which he was graduated in 1874, with the degree of A. B., receiv- ing the degree of A. M. from the same institution in 1877. Succeeding courses of study in the universities of Berlin and Paris, he became an instructor in Ancient Languages at Bucknell University ; was Crozer Professor of Rhetoric there from 1877 until 1879; and president of the uni- versity from 1879 until 1888, attaining this position before he was thirty years of age. Therein, he was eminently suc- cessful in increasing the resources, at- tracting students, advancing the prestige of the institution, and securing for him-
self a place among the leading educators of the land. In 1888, he was called to the presidency and the Burbank chair of In- tellectual and Moral Philosophy in the University of Rochester, as successor to Dr. Anderson.
Dr. Hill's administration of this office was especially able and noteworthy. To wide knowledge and a signal faculty of imparting it, constraining the esteem of students, he added a gracious personality, winning their affection; and, on the ad- ministrative side, kept the affairs of the institution in excellent order ; while out- side of his official duties, he gained a splendid reputation as a public speaker. A master of his themes and of the Eng- lish tongue, his addresses were compact, in clear and telling phrase, chaste and sparkling in wit. A reference to one of these is pertinent as relative to his future career. In the presidential campaign of 1892, William McKinley spoke at a Re- publican meeting and was banqueted at the leading social club in Rochester, the principal speech at the latter gathering, aside from that of the guest of honor, being made by Dr. Hill, whose thought- ful and graceful remarks greatly im- pressed the coming president of five years later, initiated a cordial friendship be- tween the two, and was not without bear- ing upon the invitation to the university president to accept the second place in the State Department when Mckinley had the opportunity to recognize Hill's ability as a publicist.
Even before his Rochester residence, Dr. Hill had established a national repu- tation as an author. He published his "Elements of Rhetoric" in 1877, the "Science of Rhetoric" in 1886, and the "Elements of Psychology" in 1886-all extensively adopted as text books in schools and colleges, and, by the way, quite remunerative to the author in
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royalties. His "Life of Washington Irving" appeared in 1877 and that of William Cullen Bryant in 1878-con- densed, but admirable and appreciative, biographies of each. While still in Rochester, he published "Social Influence of Christianity" (1888), "Principles and Fallacies of Socialism" (1888) and "Genetic Philosophy" (1893), In 1896, he resigned as president of the university, in- tending to pursue historical studies abroad. His departure was keenly re- gretted, not only by the authorities and students, but by the community which he had served in all good works as a citi- zen, and especially by its social and lettered classes to whom he had become endeared. Retaining his legal residence in Rochester, he spent nearly three years mainly in Paris and Berlin in the study of philosophy and public law, laying the foundation for the elaborate volumes re- lating thereto, which he published sub- sequently.
He was recalled to this country, Octo- ber 1, 1898, when President Mckinley appointed him First Assistant Secretary of State to succeed John B. Moore, and while in the State Department he also served as Professor of European Diplo- macy in the School of Comparative Juris- prudence and Diplomacy at Washington, D. C., from 1899 until 1903. He was then commissioned as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Switzerland from 1903 to 1905; to the Netherlands from 1905 until 1908; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Germany from 1908 until 1911. He became a member of the Permanent Administrative Council of the Hague Tribunal, and delegate to the Second Peace Conference at the Hague, 1907. Of his diplomatic service it is needless to speak; it was enlightened in full degree, and faithful to the coun- try's interests, held in high esteem by the
representatives of all nations and the courts to which he was accredited, and abounding in kindly offices to his fellow countrymen, visiting the various em- bassies.
His pen still busy, he gave to the press "A Primer of Finance;" "The Concep- tion and Realization of Neutrality" (1902); "Life and Work of Hugo Gro- tius" (1902); and "The Contemporary Development of Diplomacy" (1904). In 1905 he issued the first volume of his great work, "A History of Diplomacy in the International Development of Eu- rope," entitling it "The Struggle for Uni- versal Empire;" the second volume, "The Establishment of Territorial Sover- eignty," followed in 1906; and the third, "The Diplomacy of the Age of Absolut- ism," in 1914. "World Organization as Affected by the Nature of the Modern State," (translated into German and French) appeared in 1911. Since his re- turn to America, with temporary abode in Washington about two years, Dr. Hill has written many articles on political and governmental topics for leading maga- zines, and has frequently been heard from the platform upon the same. In the Re- publican primaries of the State in 1914, his name was presented for United States Senator, and, although abroad at the time and without organized effort in his behalf, he received a flattering vote there- for, particularly in Western New York. He has recently published "The People's Government" (1915), and "Americanism : What It Is" (1916) ; and is preparing a volume on "International Readjust- ments."
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