USA > Ohio > Ross County > Chillicothe > Ohio centennial anniversary celebration at Chillicothe, May 20-21, 1903 : under the auspices of the Ohio State Archaelogical and Historical Society : complete proceedings > Part 54
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Daniel Vaughan (1818-1879), a native of Ireland, came to America in his youth and was attracted to Cincinnati by its literary privileges. There he made more use of the public library than perhaps any other man has ever made. His biographer, Mr. Youmans of the "Popular Science Monthly," describes him as a master of German, French, Italian and Spanish and of Ancient and Modern Greek, and adds that "He pursued a wide course of scientific inquiry with great vigor and enthusiasm, devoting himself mainly to astronomy and to the larger aspects of natural phenomena, which he treated with the freedom and independence of a strong original thinker." His writings are marked by a daring boldness and a splendor of diction which reveal the workings of a poetic imagination coupled with a logical reason. An idea of his eloquent style may be obtained by read- ing a chapter of his "Popular Physical Astronomy," published in Cincinnati in 1858. The last act of the philosopher's life was Socratic in its calm pathos, - on his death-bed he sat up to correct the proofs of an article he had recently written on "The Origin of Worlds."
The name of Johann Bernhard Stallo (1823-1900), a man of whom his biographer, H. T. Rattermann, says that "all the Germans in the United States should be especially proud," may
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be enrolled alike upon the roster of scientists and philosophers, as upon the list of great lawyers and diplomats. Stallo was a man of extraordinary range of intellectual ability. His home in Cincinnati was a kind of university, his library a rich col- lection of vital books in different languages. As long ago as the year 1848, this speculative thinker, in a young western state, occupied himself in the erudite task of writing a book entitled, "The General Principles of the Philosophy of Nature." More than thirty years later, when his powers were at their best, he produced his master-piece, a bold and critical work on "The Concepts and Theories of Modern Physics."
One has only to glance over the proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to convince himself that Ohio ranks with the most progressive states of the Union, in respect to scientific discovery, investigation, and discussion. Of late years the universities and leading colleges of the State have caught the inquiring spirit of the age, and many specialists in various lines of research have issued articles as contributions to scientific journals or in book form. Besides numerous pub- lications in mathematics and in purely physical science, not a few books on psychology, sociology and allied subjects, have gone forth from the desks of professors who are imbued with modern ideas.
The mention of Judge Stallo's thesis on the "Philosophy of Nature," recalls the somewhat surprising fact that the Scotch teacher of classics, Alexander Kinmont, who came to Cincinnati in 1827 and there died in 1838, was the author of a volume of "Lectures on the Natural History of Man," which was published in 1839, anticipating Stallo by ten years. Kinmont's work is still extant, having been reprinted by a leading eastern publisher. It was highly esteemed by Henry James, Sr., who considered Kinmont a remarkable genius born before his time.
The science of man seems to have been a favorite study with speculative thinkers in Ohio during the decade just pre- ceding the Civil War. Dr. J. R. Buchanan started his "Journal of Man" in 1849, and published his "System of Anthropology" in Cincinnati, in 1854. "The Natural History of Human Tem- peraments," by J. B. Powell, and "The Races of Mankind," by
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A. W. Gazlay, both appeared in 1856, from a western press. In the same line of investigation were David Christy's several books, "Lectures on African Colonization," 1849; "Ethiopia," and "Cotton is King," 1856, which last created a great furore. Christy was a resident of Cincinnati, and a noted authority on Chemistry and Geology.
Under the liberal generalization of things scientific, may be mentioned a book issued in Cincinnati, in 1826, expounding the hypothesis that the "Earth is hollow, is Habitable within, and widely open at the Poles." The book is entitled "Symmes's Theory of Concentric Spheres," and was written by J. McBride. It is one of the curiosities of Ohio literature.
Another famous work by a more famous Ohio man is the "Modern Art of Taming Wild Horses," published in 1858. Of this book 15,000 copies were sold in France alone in a single year. John S. Rarey, the author (1828-1866), was the most. successful "tamer of horses" the world has known.
Neglecting the restrictions of severe classification, I may de- vote a paragraph to the catologuing of some writers and writings, concerned with the scientific study of the constitution of man and problems of social life. - Washington Gladden (1836 -), a prominent and influential writer on political, social and reli- gious themes, has been a resident of Columbus, Ohio, since 1882, and he is universally esteemed as one of the commanding intellec- tual forces of the State. He has achieved distinction as a poet and story writer, but his fame rests upon his more severe and argumentative works such as "Social Facts and Forces," "Things Old and New," "The Young Man and the Churches," "Applied Christianity," "Burning Questions," "Tools and the Man," etc. - Thomas Lee Wright (1825 -), produced a book of originality and vigor, which he named "Notes on the Theory of Human Existence."- Charles Edward Bolton (1841 -), of Cleveland, is known to students of economics as the author of the book, "A Few Civic Problems," and of suggestive articles in the "Review of Reviews." - Wayland Richardson Benedict (1848 -), professor of philosophy, ethics and logic, in the Uni- versity of Cincinnati, a searching thinker of unusual literary ability, has published "The Nervous System and Consciousness,"
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"Ethics and Evolution," "Theism and Evolution," a text-book on Logic, and "Outlines from the History of Education." In subtile and analytic power, impressive and convincing argument and a certain luminous felicity of statement and illustration, Dr. Benedict has few peers among those who elucidate psychic and ethical truth, whether by lecture or on the printed page.
LAW AND MEDICINE.
The law literature of Ohio, as is stated in the introduction to this sketch, is very abundant, having steadily accumulated from the comparatively early period in which Judge Timothy Walker wrote his learned work on "The American Law," down to the present year in which was published Ellis's "New Ohio Municipal Code." Every legal practitioner is familiar with the names Scribner and Swan and Bates and Kinkead and Love- land and Rockel and Yaple and Wilson and Page and Whittaker and Matthews, and a score of other Ohio men whose treatises on various phases of the great profession, are to be found in all the law libraries and are text-books in the law schools.
And what is said of Ohio law-books, - that they are numer- ous and important of their kind, - may be said of the books in medicine. Even in the pioneer period of the science, original books and journals testified to the learning and industry of great physicians in different sections of the commonwealth. Dr. Drake's monumental treatise, "The Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America," to the making of which its author devoted thirty years, was pronounced by Allibone "probably the most important and valuable work ever written in the United States." Since Drake's day the progress of pharmacy, surgery and general medicine, has been much advanced by the writings of such men as Blackman, Gross, Mendenhall, Wright, Williams, King, Howe, Scudder, Pulte, Conner, Bartholow, Wormley, Whittaker, and many other doctors, eminent in the healing science and in the great art of surgery. - The State is well supplied with pro- fessional journals and libraries. It is doubtful whether there exists anywhere in the world, another collection of books in botany, pharmacy, chemistry, and allied sciences, that will com-
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pare in extent and value, with the famous Lloyd Library of Cincinnati. This unique collection gathered at great expense of time and money, by the brothers, John Uri and Curtis Gates Lloyd, "is incorporated, is free to the public, and is pledged to be donated intact to science."
THEOLOGY AND DENOMINATIONALISM.
The theological and sectarian literature of Ohio is extensive and diverse. All shades of belief are represented, Jewish and Christian, Catholic and Protestant, - orthodox and agnostic. There are in the State some famous theological seminaries, in- cluding Lane Seminary, the Oberlin Theological School, the Hebrew Union College and the old Jesuit stronghold, St. Xavier's, and from these several seats of biblical learning as well as from the more secluded studios of representative clergymen of different creeds, have gone forth numerous volumes of doctrine, controversy and exposition, and church history. In the Library of the "Ohio Church History Society," of Oberlin, the number of publications does not fall far short of 400, nearly all per- taining to a single denomination, the Congregational. Only a very few books of the class indicated can be here specified, and it seems invidious to select. The titles which follow were chosen almost at random, and will suggest to the reader many more of equal importance. - Rev. Frederick Augustus Kemper published in Cincinnati, in 1831, a meditative and devotional book, "Conso- lations for the Afflicted," which breathes a pure and gentle spirit and shows the culture of a college bred gentleman. - Rev. David Austin Randall (1813-1884), was the author of two books, "The Wonderful Tent of the Mosaic Tabernacle," and "God's Hand- writing in Egypt, Syria and the Holy Land," which latter had an enormous sale, fully 100,000 copies being called for. - Rev. Wm. Burnet Wright (1838 -), a distinguished preacher, holds a secure place in literature, by virtue of his two notable works, "Ancient Cities from the Dawn to the Daylight," and "The Ser- mon on the Mountain, Practiced on the Plain." - All who are interested in the so-called "Higher Criticism" in modern thought, have heard of the Rev. Henry Preserved Smith (1847 -), late
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professor in Lane Seminary, now of Princeton, and thousands have read his books, "Inspiration and Inerrancy," and "The Bible and Islam." - Isaac M. Wise, the most eminent Rabbi in Amer- ica, founder of the Hebrew Union College and of Liberal Juda- ism, was the author of many learned works, and the editor of the "American Israelite." Dr. Wise was a truly great man, pro- foundly respected by both Jews and Christians, and his influence did much to advance learning and literature. His "Life and Writings," by Drs. Philipson and Grossman, was published some years ago. His principal theological work is entitled, "Pronaos to Holy Scripture."-Dr. Moses Milziner (1828-1893), who ranks with the leading Semitic scholars of the world, is the author of an "Introduction to the Talmud." -Dr. Jired Dewey Buck (1838 -), president of the Theosophic Society of America, author of "A Study of Man and the Way to Health," "Mystic Masonry," etc., also wrote "The Nature and Aims of Theosophy," and "Why I Am a Theosophist," books which have circulation in England as well as in America. - John Porter Brown (1814- 1872), a native of Chillicothe, was U. S. Minister to Turkey and a thorough student of Eastern languages and customs, and wrote a scholarly book, "The Dervishes of Oriental Spiritualism."" - Hudson Tuttle (1836 -), of Berlin Heights, Ohio, exponent of spiritualism, has a large clientage of readers of his occult books, "The Arcana of Nature," "Studies in Psychic Science," "What is Spiritualism," etc. - Persons curious to study uncon- mon phases of religious faith and worship, may be interested in the fact that in Lebanon, Ohio, was published, in 1808, the rare. book known as "The Shaker Bible;" and that, in Kirtland, Ohio, was issued in 1837, the second edition of the "Book of Mormon," a scripture which has since been translated into Italian by an Ohio man, Lorenzo Snow, president of the Mormon Church.
I can only allude to the amount and variety of denomina- tional literature, - religious books and newspapers, uttered in the State. Several sects, the Methodists, for instance, and the United Brethren, have extensive publishing houses. The clergy -. men of Ohio, generally speaking, are promoters of literature,. and many of them are accomplished writers ..
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The conflict of opinions on religious subjects, in the Ohio Valley, has given rise to some public discussions of great interest, reports of which were published. One secular debate on the use of the Bible in the Public School was circulated in book form, viz., "The Battle of the Giants." See also "Debate on Evidences of Christianity," R. W. Owen and A. Campbell, 1829; "Debate on the Roman Catholic Religion," A. Campbell and J. B. Purcell; "Debate on Universal Salvation," E. M. Pingree and N. L. Rice ; "Roman Catholic Church and Free Thought," J. B. Purcell and Thos. Vickers.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Allied to the literature of creed and opinion, though not always sectarian, are numerous books of a more or less didactic nature, designed to instruct or to admonish in regard to the con- duct of life. To this department of useful reading belong many juveniles, school text-books, and volumes of sermons, lectures, and essays for readers of all ages. A goodly array could be shown, of names of Ohio men and women, who, in this field of authorship, have labored successfully.
The late Professor David Swing (1830-1894), exerted a strong and salutory influence, not only by his pulpit utterances, but through his books, "Truths for To-day," "The Motives of Life," and "Club Essays." - Rev. Louis Albert Banks (1855 -), Cleveland, Ohio, is a prolific author of books mainly moral and religious, for young and old. Some of his later publications are : "Twentieth Century Knighthood," "Poetry and Morals," "Hid- den Wells of Comfort." - Mrs. Lydia Hoyt Farmer, of Cleve- land, is known to a host of grateful admirers, through her "Boys' Book of Famous Rulers," "Girls' Book of Famous Queens," "Life of Lafayette," "A Moral Inheritance," "What America Owes to Women," etc.
Mrs. Sarah Knowles Bolton (1841 -), another Cleveland woman of recognized literary prominence, in both prose and verse, is especially noted for the excellence, in style and in sub- stance, of her twenty or more entertaining books for youth. Some of the titles are: "Boys Who Became Famous," "Girls
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Who Became Famous," "Famous American Authors," "How Success Is Won."
Charles Franklin Thwing (1853 -), president of Western Reserve University, is an author whose contributions to high class magazine literature and whose published volumes, mainly on educational themes, deserve and receive strong commendation from exacting critics. Of the numerous books written in the United States, on cultural processes and ideal conduct, there are few, if any, that are equalled by those from the pen of Dr. Thwing. Some of the titles are: "American Colleges: Their Students and Work," "The Reading of Books," "Within College Walls," "The College Woman," "The Best Life," "The Youth's Dream of Life," and "God in His World."
Addison Peale Russell (1826 -) was born in Clinton County and his conduct and ideals have been shaped almost wholly by Ohio influences and associations. Mr. Howells alludes to him as the author "whose charming books of literary comment have so widely endeared him to book-lovers; but whose public services to his state are scarcely known outside of it among the readers of 'Library Notes' or of 'A Club of One'." Mr. Russell was in public life from 1855 to 1868, as legislator, Secretary of State, and Financial Agent for Ohio. During the term of the last named office, he resided in New York City, where in 1867, he published his first book "Half Tints." For the last thirty years or more, he has devoted himself entirely to literature, in undis- turbed retirement in the quiet town of Wilmington. He leads the contented life of a philosopher whose books are his world and whose mind "his kingdom is." In powers of assimilation he has been likened to Bayle, who had "the art of writing down his curious quotations with his own subtile ideas." Every library in Ohio should certainly contain his books, "Library Notes," "A Club of One," "In a Club Corner," "Characteristics," "Sub Coe- lum," and "Thomas Corwin."
Mrs. May Alden Ward (1853 -), a descendant of John Alden, the Plymouth Pilgrim, was born in Ohio. She now lives in Boston, and is one of the most accomplished of American critical writers. Her books, "Old Colony Days," "Life of Dante," "Life of Petrarch," are clear, succint, scholarly and sympathetic.
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Latest and best of her writings is the little volume entitled“Proph- ets of the Nineteenth Century," being essays on Carlyle, Ruskin. and Tolstoi.
To the academic literature of the State belong the books, "Refercences for Literary Workers," and "Knowledge and Cul- ture," by Rev. Henry Matson ( 1829 -), of Oberlin; "The De- velopment of the English Literature and Language," and "Eng- lish Literature of the Eighteenth Century," by Alfred Hix Welsh. (1850-1889) ; "A History of the Novel Previous to the Seven- teenth Century," by Frederick Morris Warren (1859 -), of Adelbert College; "Master Virgil, as He Seemed in the Middle Ages," by J. S. Tunison ; "Modern Poet Prophets ; Essays Criti- cal and Interpretative," by William Norman, Guthrie; and "Ten- nyson's Debt to Environment," "The Poetry of Robert Brown- ing," and "Studies in Literature," by Prof. Wm. G. Ward (1848 -), now of Boston, but born and brought up in Ohio.
David Philipson (1862 -), Rabbi of the Congregation B'nai. Israel, Cincinnati, has contributed to critical literature a work: entitled "The Jew in English Fiction." This clear and forceful. writer is the author of "Old European Jewries," and "A Holiday Sheaf," the latter a volume of sermons.
That most stimulating of all provocatives to literary com- mentary and controversy, the Shakesperean drama, has furnished a theme for more than one Ohio publication. Whatever may be thought of the merits of the Shakespeare-Bacon discussion, the bibliographer notes with some surprise that the first gun in that strange battle was fired by a young woman of Tallmadge, in the County of Summit,- Miss Delia Salter Bacon (1811-1859), whose famous book, "Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare, Unfolded," with preface by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was published in London, 1857, it being the author's zealous purpose "to solve the enigma of those mighty dramas" which the audacious critic devoutly admired though she endeavored to prove they could not have been written by "that booby," Wm. Shakespeare. Carlyle, to whom she came with a letter of introduction from Emerson, laughed at her theory, which, nevertheless, has found many ad- vocates. One of the latest books on the mooted question, is a
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Cincinnati publication and bears the title "The Shakesperean Myth."
More important than the "Cryptogram" literature, are the scholarly speculative works of Denton Jaques Snider (1841 -), an author who was born and raised in Ohio and who now lives in St. Louis. His critical writings on Shakespeare are regarded by so competent a judge as Dr. Wm. T. Harris, as of especial value in revealing the ethical significance of the immortal dramas. Dr. Snider, a graduate of Oberlin College and one of the lectur- ers of the Concord School of Philosophy, devotes himself ex- clusively to authorship and to the elucidation of his somewhat transcendental doctrines, from the platform. He is a man of profound erudition and of very bold speculative views. Besides his nine volumes of "Commentary on the Literary Bibles," viz., Shakespeare, Goethe, Homer and Dante, he has published five volumes of poems, three volumes on psychology, three on Froe -- bel and the Kindergarten, and several miscellaneous books, includ- ing one novel. His latest publications are: "The Father of History," "Ancient European Philosophy," and a political treatise entitled "The State."
In concluding these rambling notes relating mainly to dram- atic criticism by Ohio writers, I would mention that Henry Hoop- er of Hamilton County, who has written luminously on the phil- osophy of Shopenhauer, is also the author of various scholarly articles published in "Shakesperiana."
James E. Murdock, the celebrated actor whose home was in Warren County, wrote "A Short Study of Hamlet," "A Short Study of Macbeth," and other critical pieces ; and his volume en- titled "The Stage," published in 1884, is replete with suggestive comments on the dramatic art. One chapter discusses the topic "Shakespeare and his Critics."
FICTION.
In the days long ago, when James G. Percival was consid- ered the chief of American poets, and when the old "Knicker- bocker Magazine," and the "Port Folio," were arbiters of liter- ary destiny, there dwelt within the borders of Ohio at least two
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men of national reputation, who essayed to write novels. These pioneers of the imaginative pen were Timothy Flint (1780-1840), and James Hall (1793-1868).
Of Flint's masterpiece, "Francis Berrian, or the Mexican Patriot," 1826, Mrs. Trollope, who was a neighbor to the author, in Cincinnati, says in her "American Manners," "It is excellent : a little wild and romantic, but containing scenes of first rate in- terest and pathos."- Other of Flint's novels were "Arthur Clen- ning," and "George Mason, the Backwoodsman." One who had read Flint's "Recollections" would expect to find charm in his works of fiction. A reviewer of his "Geography and History of the Mississippi Valley," declared those books "too interesting to be useful !"- Many readers found as good as fiction in Flint's delightful pseudo-biography, "The First White Man of the West, or the Life and Exploits of Colonel Daniel Boone." Though somewhat prolix and too much given to moralizing, Timothy Flint is characteristically delightful and two or three of his books are of such permanent interest and charm of style that they should be reprinted.
Judge James Hall, the author of an elaborate "History of the Indian Tribes," and other noted books in biography and his- tory, wrote several historical romances, modeled somewhat after the style of Cooper, and valuable on account of their fidelity to life and scenery in the early west particularly in Kentucky. His best works are "Legends of the West," "Harpe's Head," and "Tales of the Border."
"The Western Souvenir," first of the so-called Annuals is- sued west of Philadelphia, was published in Cincinnati, in 1829. It was "embellished" with six steel engravings, and was made up of stories, sketches and poems, by James Hall, Timothy Flint, Otway Curry, and others. Perhaps the most interesting contri- bution in it is a character sketch of "Mike Fink, the Last of the Boatmen," by Morgan Neville.
A volume of original pieces collectively called "Tales of the Queen City," by Benjamin Drake, brother of Dr. Daniel Drake, was published in Cincinnati, in 1839. The merit of this book is that it attempts to delineate local scenes and characters with simplicity. But the "Tales" are not nearly so readable as the
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author's other ventures, "The Life of Tecumseh," and the "Life of Black Hawk," which are romantic in their essence.
The first woman to gain literary reputation in Ohio was Mrs. Julia L. Dumont ( 1794-1841), preceptress of Edward Eggleston, the author of "The Hoosier Schoolmaster." Mrs. Dumont wrote respectable verse and good honest prose. Her stories had vogue in the Ohio Valley and some of them found publishers in the East. She wrote "The Brothers," "Gertrude Beverly," "Ashton Gray," "Sketches from Common Paths" .- Of livelier imagina- tion and brighter touch than Mrs. Dumont, was Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz (1800-1854), a popular writer who, for several years was a resident of Ohio. Some of her numerous novels are of a mildly sensational character, which perhaps accounts for the faci that nearly 100,000 copies of them were sold within three years. She is the author of several tragedies, one of which, "Lamorah, or the Western Wild," was written and acted in Cincinnati .- Mrs. Francis D. Gage ( 1808-1884), born and bred in Ohio, was a prac- tical writer, of strong common sense and much energy, who, like Mrs. Dumont, Mrs. Hentz, Mrs. Stowe, Alice Cary and other talented women of her day, helped to create a love for literature in the West. Her best story is one entitled "Elsie Magoon." Early in the sixties she published a volume of poems. Mrs. Gage was a descendant of Anne Bradstreet, "The Tenth Muse," who wrote the first book of verse published in New England.
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