Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/395

This page needs to be proofread.

STEWART 383

Elementary Lessons in Physics" (London,

1870) ; " Elementary Treatise on Heat " (1871) ; "Physics Primer" (1872); and "The Conser- vation of Energy " (1873). STEWART, Charles, an American naval officer, born in Philadelphia, July 28, 1778, died in Bordentown, N. J., Nov. 7, 1869. He entered the merchant service at the age of 13 as cabin boy, and rose to the command of an Indiaman. In March, 1798, he entered the navy as lieu- tenant in the frigate United States, employed .in the West Indies against French privateers. In July, 1800, he was appointed to the com- mand of the schooner Experiment, of 12 guns. On Sept. 1 he captured, after an action of 10 minutes, the French schooner Deux Amis, of 8 guns; and soon after, near the island of Barbuda, the French schooner Diana, of 14 guns. He also recaptured several American vessels which had been taken by French pri- vateers. As commander of the brig Siren he participated in the naval operations of 1804 against Tripoli, and aided in the destruction of the frigate Philadelphia. He became cap- tain in 1'806. In the summer of 1813 he took command of the Constitution, and in December sailed from Boston upon a cruise to the coasts of Guiana and the Windward islands, which resulted in the capture of the British schooner of war Pictou, of 14 guns, a letter of marque under her convoy, and several merchant ves- sels. About the middle of December, 1814, he sailed -in the same ship upon a second cruise, and on Feb. 20, 1815, captured, after an action of 40 minutes fought at night, H. B. M. ship Cyane, mounting 34 guns, with 185 men, and the sloop of war Levant, of 21 guns and 156 men. The Constitution mounted 52 guns with 470 men. Her loss was 3 killed and 12 wound- ed, while the total loss of the British ships has been stated at 41. The Levant was re- captured by a British squadron. From 1816 to 1820 Com. Stewart commanded a squadron in the Mediterranean, and from 1821 to 1823 in the Pacific. He afterward served on the board of navy commissioners, and as com- mander of the home squadron and the naval station at Philadelphia. In 1857 he was placed on the retired list, but resumed service in 1859 as commander of the Philadelphia navy yard, under a new commission as senior flag officer ; and on July 16, 1862, he was made a rear ad- miral on the retired list. STEWART, Dugald, a Scottish metaphysician, born in Edinburgh, Nov. 22, 1753, died there, June 11, 1828. His father was the Rev. Dr. Matthew Stewart (!7l7-'85), professor of math- ematics in the university of Edinburgh, and author of several mathematical works. He was educated at the high school and university of his native city, heard the lectures of Reid at Glasgow during one term (1771-'2), was recalled to Edinburgh to act as his father's substitute in the charge of the mathematical classes, and was formally elected conjoint pro- fessor in 1775. For several years he was 765 VOL. xv. 25 prominent in the weekly debates of the specu- lative society, before which he also read essays on philosophical subjects. He was elected pro- fessor of moral philosophy in 1785, and lec- tured in this department during the next 24 years. His aim was always moral and prac- tical more than speculative, to portray ideal perfection and advance the harmonious cul- ture of all the faculties, intellectual, moral, and sensitive, rather than to teach definite solutions of intellectual problems ; and his lec- tures therefore proceeded from psychology to theories of character and manners, life and literature, taste and the arts, politics and nat- ural theology. The prominence which he as- signed to the last subject, as the highest branch of metaphysics, was designed, as he explained, to resist the prevalent skeptical tendencies of the era of the French revolution. From the beginning he gave lectures on the theory of government as a part of the course on moral philosophy, and in 1800 he first delivered a special course on the new science of political economy. He published the first volume of "Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind" in 1792. In the following year he published his " Outlines of Moral Philosophy," and read before the royal society an account of the life and writings of Adam Smith, which was printed in the " Transactions," and was followed by his biographies of Dr. Robertson (1796) and Dr. Reid (1802). Nothing else appeared from his pen till 1810, though in this interval he prepared the matter of all his other wri- tings, with a single exception. In 1806 the sinecure office of gazette writer of Scotland was created for him. He accompanied in that year Lord Lauderdale on his mission to Paris. In 1810 he retired, on account of failing health, from active duty as a professor, and published his "Philosophical Essays." He had in the mean time removed to Kinneil house, on the shore of the frith of Forth, 20 m. from Edin- burgh, where he passed the remainder of his life. His later publications are : " Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind," vol. ii. (1814), and vol. iii. (1827); a preliminary dis- sertation to the supplement of the "Encyclo- paedia Britannica," entitled "A General View of the Progress of Metaphysical, Ethical, and Political Science since the Revival of Letters " (part i., 1815 ; part ii., 1821) ; and " The Phi- losophy of the Active and Moral Powers" (1828), which was completed only a few weeks before his death. In 1822 paralysis deprived him of the power of speech and of the use of his right hand, but by the aid of his daughter as an amanuensis he continued his studies until disabled by a fresh paralytic shock, which soon terminated fatally. His collected works were edited by Sir William Hamilton (10 vols. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1854-'8; supplement, 1860). His lectures on political economy were first pub- lished in this edition. The 10th volume con- tains a memoir by John Veitch, with selec-r tions from his correspondence.