Hough

AT. Y. (1860), and Letters and Extracts from Testi-
monials Accompanying the Application of Dr. Franklin
B. Hough for Appointment as Superintendent of the
Ninth Census (1870); R. B. Hough, "Incipiency of
the Forestry Movement in America/* Am. Forestry,
Aug. 1913 ; N. Y. Geneal. and Biog. Record, Apr. 1886;
J. H. Hickcox, "A Bibliog. of the Writings of Frank-
lin Benj. Hough," ggth Ann. Report of the Regents of
the Univ. of the State of N. Y. (1886).] H. S. G.

HOUGH, GEORGE WASHINGTON (Oct.

24, i836-Jan. I, 1909), astronomer, was espe-
cially noted for his systematic study of Jupiter,
begun in 1879 and continued to the time of his
death; for his discovery and measurement of
many difficult double stars; and for his inven-
tion and construction of astronomical and me-
teorological instruments. Born at Tribes Hill,
N. Y., the son of William and Magdalene (Selm-
ser) Hough, he was descended from German
ancestors who were early settlers in the Mohawk
Valley. The boy evidently grew up with the idea
of becoming an astronomer. It is said that he
devised a contrivance of fish poles to measure
the right ascensions and declinations of the stars
when he was nine years old. His mechanical
genius, inherited from his father, found early ex-
pression in the harnessing of the brook to run his
mother's churn. He attended school at Water-
loo and Seneca Falls, N, Y., and then entered
Union College. After graduating in 1856 with
high honors, he taught school in Dubuque, Iowa,
for two years. He then took a year of graduate
work in mathematics and engineering at Harvard
University. In 1859 ^e went to the Cincinnati
Observatory as assistant astronomer under 0.
M. Mitchel, and in the following year he went
with Mitchel to the Dudley Observatory, where
he succeeded the latter as director in 1862 and
remained until 1874. Meanwhile, in 1870, he
married Emma C Shear, the daughter of Jacob
H. Shear. From 1874 until 1879 ^e was engaged
in commercial pursuits, then in 1879 he was ap-
pointed director of the Dearborn Observatory,
holding this position for the last thirty years of
his life.

At the Dudley Observatory Hough's syste-
matic astronomical and meteorological observa-
tions suggested many instrumental improvements.
He invented a machine for mapping and cata-
loguing stars, and in 1865 he invented his record-
ing and printing barometer in which the rising
and falling of a float, resting on the surface of
the mercury, was transmitted electrically to the
recording device. He also devised a simpler ma-
chine, called the meteorograph, which registered
the height of the barometer and the temperatures
by the wet and dry bulb thermometers. Another
important invention was his automatic anemom-

Hough

eter for recording the direction and velocity of
the wind. His study of batteries led him to the
substitution of lead for copper in the Daniell
cell and to the conclusion that the current in the
exterior circuit depended on the specific gravity
of the zinc sulphate. He was also interested in
photography and invented a sensitometer for
testing plates. In Chicago he perfected his print-
ing chronograph and when the Dearborn Ob-
servatory was moved to Evanston he had the
great dome built on new and original plans, ap-
plied an electric control to the telescope, and de-
vised a very convenient observing chair.

In 1869 the Dudley Observatory fitted out an
expedition to observe the solar eclipse at Matoon,
111. Hough, who was chief of the party, made at
that time the first accurate record of the duration
of "Baily's Beads." As early as 1867 he had be-
come interested in double stars and had meas-
ured a few close pairs at the Dudley Observa-
tory. At the Dearborn Observatory he found S.
W. Burnham measuring double stars with the
i8j^-inch telescope. He became fired with
Burnham's zeal for this field of observation with
the result that he measured a large number, pay-
ing especial attention to very difficult pairs, and
discovered over six hundred new ones. It was
at Dearborn, too, that he began and carried on
throughout the rest of his life the systematic ob-
servation of the surface details of Jupiter.
Hough's influence in scientific circles was wide-
spread and he was an active member of many
learned societies.

[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Soc.,
Feb. 1910; four, of the British Astronomical Asso.,
Feb. 19, 1909; the Observatory, Mar. 1909; Popular
Astronomy, Apr. 1909; Pubs, of the Astronomical Soc.
of the Pacific, Apr. 1909; Science, Apr. 30, 1909;
Astrophysical Jour., July 1909; Who's Who in Amer-
ica, 1908-09; N. Y. Times, Jan. 3, 1909.] R. $.0.

HOUGH, THEODORE (June 19, i86s~Nov.
30,1924), physiologist, was born at Front Royal,
Va., the son of Rev. Robert Hough and Virginia
(Baer) Hough. In 1886 he received the degree
of A.B. from Johns Hopkins University and in
1893, the degree of Ph.D., his major subject of
study being physiology, under Prof. H. Newell
Martin [#.#.]. After obtaining the doctor's de-
gree, he entered at once on the teaching of bi-
ology and physiology at the Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology, first as instructor, then as
assistant professor, being associated with Prof.
William T. Sedgwick [#.z/.] in the course in bi-
ology given at that institution. In 1903 he severed
his connection with the Institute of Technology
and went to the newly founded Simmons College,
where he served as associate professor and later
as professor of biology, resigning in 1907 to ac-

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