Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/660

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PACKARD
PACKER

form of Lamarckianism, to which he gives the term of neo-Lamarckianism. In studying this subject he has made observations on variations in insects in- duced by climate, on salt-water animals, and on cave or blind animals. Prof. Packard is a member of many scientific societies in the United States and Europe, and in 1872 was elected to membership in the National academy of sciences. He was one of the founders of the " American Naturalist " and its editor-in-chief until 1886. His bibliography in- cludes upward of 400 titles. His larger scientific memoirs include " Glacial Phenomena of Maine and Labrador " (1866) ; "Revision of the Fosso- rial Hymenoptcra of North America " (1866-7) ; "Structure of the Ovipositor of Insects" (1868) ; "Development and Anatomy of Limulus Polyphemus" (1871-85) : "Monograph of the Geometrid Moths" (1876) ; "The Brain of the Locust" (1881); "Monograph of North American Phyllopod Crustacea" (1883) ; and "The Cave Fauna of North America" (1888). His popular works and text-books comprise "A Guide to the Study of Insects" (Salem, 1869) : " Record of American Entomologv " (1868-'72) ; " The Mammoth Cave and its Inhabi- tants." with Frederick W. Putnam (1872) : " Our Common Insects " (Boston, 1876) ; " Life Histories of Animals, including Man, or Outlines of Com- parative Embryology" (New York, 1876); "Half- Hours with Insects " (Boston, 1877) ; " Insects of the West" (Washington, 1877; London, 1878); " Zoology for Students and General Readers " (New York, 1879; briefer course, 1883); "First Lessons in Geology " (Providence, 1882) ; " First Lessons in Zoology" (New York, 1886); "Ento- mology for Beginners " (1888) ; " A Naturalist on the Labrador Coast" (1888); and "Forest and Shade -Tree Insects" (Washington, 1888). See "The Entomological Writings of Dr. Alpheus Spring Packard," by Samuel Henshaw (1887).


PACKARD, Jasper, soldier, b. in Austintown. Ohio, 1 Feb., 1832 : d. in Lafayette, Ind., 13 Dec, 1899. He removed with his father to Indiana, and studied at Oberlin and afterward at the Uni- versity of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1855. He then engaged in teaching, settled at Laporte, edited " The Union " there, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1861. He en- tered the National army as a private at the begin- ning of the civil war, served as lieutenant during the Vicksburg campaign, being wounded during the assault on that place, received two promotions during the Atlanta campaign, and on 13 March, 1865, was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for meritorious services. He was mustered out of service in 1866, was auditor of Laporte county in 1866-'8, and a member of congress from Indiana from 4 March. 1869, till 3 March, 1875. He was U. S. internal revenue agent from January, 1876, till July, 1884. He established the "Laporte Chronicle" in July. 1874, and published it for four years, and had been proprietor and editor of the "Laporte Daily Public Spirit" since 1886.


PACKARD. Silis Sadler, educator, b. in Cummington, Mass.. 28 April, 1826; d. in New York city.'^27 Oct., 1898. He was educated at Granville academy, Ohio, and afterward taught school. He published a newspaper in western New York in 1853-'6, and " Packard's 3Ionthly " in New York city in 1868-'70. In 1858 he established a business college in New York city, and he contributed much to the advancement of business education in the United States. He was the author of " The Bryant and Stratton Book-keeping Series" (New York, 1859); "Complete Course of Business Training" fl867); "Commercial Arithmetic "(1882); and "New Manual of Book-keeping and Correspondence " (1883). The college is still (1900) carried on.


PACKER, Asa, capitalist, b. in Groton, Conn., 20 Dec, 1806; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 17 May, 1879. He received a common-school education, and began to learn the tanner's trade, but in 1822 went to Susquehanna county. Pa., and served an apprenticeship with a relative who was a carpen- ter. He worked at his trade in New York city, but soon returned to Pennsylvania, and when the Lehigh Valley canal was opened established his home at Mauch Chunk, in 1829, became the owner and master of a boat that carried coal to Philadel- phia, and acquired an interest in others, but in 1831 gave up boating in order to carry on a store and boat-yard. He took a contract for locks, which he completed in 1837, became well known as a contractor, and in 1838 began to build boats at Pottsville for the transportation of coal to New York by way of the new canal, which soon attracted all the traffic that had before passed through Phila- delphia. He became extensively engaged in the mining and transportation of coal, working the mines of the Lehigh coal and navigation company, and purchasing and operating new mines at Hazle- ton. In 1844 he was elected to the legislature, and secured the creation of the separate county of Car- bon, with Mauch Chunk for its county-seat, after which he filled for five years the post of county judge. He projected the Lehigh Valley railroad, secured the necessary subscriptions, and by 1855 had the line completed from Mauch Chunk to Easton, with branches to Hazleton and Mahanoy. Subsequently he procured its extension northward, to connect with the Erie railroad, thus opening up the an- thracite region. Mr. Packer was presi- dent of the com- pany, and, though financially embar- rassed before the completion of the line, shared largely in the profits of the mining and trans- portation business that was developed, and became the richest man in Pennsylvania. In

1844 he was elected

to the state legislature. He was instrumental in forming Carbon county, and for five years was judge of the county court. He was elected to congress as a Democrat, and re-elected as a Nebraska Democrat, serving from 5 Dec, 1853, till 3 March, 1857. In 1868 he received the votes of the Pennsylvania delegates for the presidential nomination in the National Democratic convention, and in 1869 he was the Democratic candidate for governor. In 1876 he was a commissioner for the Centennial exhibition. Mr. Packer in 1865 gave $500,000 and 115 acres of land to found Lehigh university at Bethlehem, Pa. (see illustration), for the purpose of affording young men of the Lehigh valley an advanced technical education without charge. The scheme of studies embraces civil, raining, and mechanical engineering, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, French, and German. By his last will he secured an endowment of !|1,500,000 to the university and one of $500,000 to the library. His daughter, Mrs. Mary Packer Cummings, gave a memorial