Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/572

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554: MILLER cusses the Biblical bearings of geology. He toiled upon this task night and day, with little sleep or exercise, until, after a week or two of cerebral disorder, he himself became conscious that his mind was on the verge of ruin. He felt occasionally as if a very fine poignard had been suddenly passed through and through his brain, and in some of his paroxysms his face was a picture of horror before which even his wife shrank in dismay. He was found lifeless in his study, his chest pierced with the ball of a revolver which was found lying close by. In a pathetic note left for his wife he had written : " A fearful dream rises upon me. I cannot bear the horrible thought." His prin- cipal works have been republished in America. See "The Life and Times of Hugh Miller," by Thomas N. Brown (republished, New York, 1860), and "Life and Letters of Hugh Miller," by Peter Bayne (2 vols., 1871). MILLER, James, an American general, born in Peterborough, N. H., April 25, 1776, died in Temple, N. H., July 7, 1851. He was edu- cated for the bar, but in 1808 entered the army as major. In May, 1813, he participated in the capture of Fort George. As colonel of the 21st infantry he fought with gallantry at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane. The success of the Americans in the latter conflict was mainly due to the capture of a British battery by his command. In reply to Gen. Scott's inquiry if he could take the battery, he said, "I'll try, sir." For these services he was brevetted brigadier general, and received from congress a gold medal. He was governor of Arkansas territory from 1819 to 1825, and collector of customs at Salem, Mass., from 1825 to 1849. MILLER, James, a Scottish surgeon, born in 1812, died June 17, 1864. He was professor of surgery in the university of Edinburgh for more than 20 years, and at the time of his death of pictorial anatomy to the royal acad- emy and consulting surgeon to the royal in- firmary of Edinburgh and the royal hospital for sick children. He is especially noted for his systematic treatise on the " Principles and Practice of Surgery" (Edinburgh, 1844), which passed through four editions and is highly es- teemed. MILLER, Joaqoin, an American poet, whose real name is Cincinnatus Hmer Miller, born in Indiana, Nov. 10, 1841. When he was about 11 years old his father emigrated to Lane county, Oregon, whence the boy went three years later to try his fortune in California. He wrote verses even then, although he knew nothing of the laws of versification nor of the rules of grammar. After a wandering life of several years, he returned home in 1860, and entered a lawyer's office in Eugene, Oregon. The next year he was an express messenger in the gold-mining districts of Idaho, which he left to take charge of the "Democratic Re- gister," a weekly newspaper in Eugene. This was suppressed for its political sentiments du- ring the war, and in 1863 he opened a law office in Canon City, Oregon. From 1866 to 1870 he served as county judge of Grant county, and during this time began to write his poems. He published first a collection in paper covers called " Specimens," and next a volume with the title "Joaquin et aZ.," from which he derived his pseudonyme. In 1870 his wife, whom he had married in 1863, ob- tained a divorce, and he went to London, where he published in the following year his Songs of the Sierras." In 1872 appeared " Songs of the Sun Lands," and in 1873 a prose volume entitled "Life among the Modocs: Unwritten History." His wife, MINNIE THERESA (DYER) MILLER, has also published verses, under the pseudonyme of "Minnie Myrtle." MILLER, Joseph, an English actor, born prob- ably in London in 1684, died there in 1738. He was popular on the stage, and performed with repute in several of Congreve's best com- edies, particularly in "Love for Love" and "The Old Bachelor," to the success of which he is said to have materially contributed. In 1739 a book of jests passing under his name, and supposed to be the compilation of John Mottley, author of a life of Peter the Great, was published in London, and has gained a celebrity which preserves the name of its assumed author. MILLER, Samuel, an American clergyman, born near Dover, Del., Oct. 31, 1769, died in Princeton, N. J., Jan. 7, 1850. He gradua- ted at the university of Pennsylvania in 1789 (from which he received the degree of D. D. in 1804), studied theology, was licensed to preach in 1791, and in June, 1793, was installed as colleague pastor with Drs. Rodgers and Mc- Knight of the first Presbyterian church in New York city. In 1813 he became professor of ecclesiastical history and church govern- ment in the theological seminary at Prince- ton, and discharged the duties of this office till May, 1849, when he resigned. Dr. Miller was a devoted friend of the Presbyterian church, and enlisted vigorously in the controversy which resulted in its division. He was the author of "A Brief Retrospect of the Eigh- teenth Century" (2 vols., New York, 1803; 3 vols., London, 1805); "Letters on the Consti- tution and Order of the Christian Ministry " (1807), with a " Continuation " (1809) ; "Me- moirs of the Rev. John Rodgers, D. D." (1813) ; "Letters on Unitarianism " (Trenton, 1821); "Letters on Clerical Manners and Habits" (Philadelphia, 1827) ; "An Essay on the Office of Ruling Elder" (New York, 1831); "Letters to Presbyterians" (1833); "Discourses on In- fant Baptism" (1834); " Presbyterianism the truly Primitive and Apostolical Constitution of the Church of Christ" (Philadelphia, 1835) ; " The Primitive and Apostolic Order of Christ vindicated" (1840); "Letters from a Father to his Sons in College " (1843) ; " A Sermon on the Ruling Eldership, with an Appendix " (1843); and "Thoughts on Public Prayer" (1849). He also wrote the "Life of Jonathan