1821. George Howe, editor of the Sydney Gazette, died. His paper commenced in March, 1803, in the 15th year of the colony, and was the first Australian periodical.
1838. Andrew Thomas Knight died. His horticultural writings were exceedingly beneficial, as well to the gardeners as farmers.
1839. Thomas Cooper, president of South Carolina college, died, aged 80. He wrote on law, medical jurisprudence and political economy, and translated Justinian and Broussais.
1844. Stephen Wood, died at Miami, Ohio, aged 82. He was the last survivor of those who were associated with John Cleves Symmes in the settlement of North Bend.
1848. An expedition under Sir James Ross, sailed for the Arctic regions, in search of Sir John Franklin.
1853. Peter Hitchcock, an eminent civilian, died at Painesville, Ohio, aged 70. He was a member of the Ohio senate, and of the house of representatives at Washington; also for twenty-five years a judge of the supreme court of Ohio.
1854. The packet Pike, from St. Louis to Louisville, struck a snag, and sank in a few minutes, by which about fifty passengers lost their lives.
1854. J. Delius, of Bremen, assistant professor of English literature at Berlin, fell into the crater of Vesuvius, and perished there.
MAY 12.
48 B. C. Battle of Pharsalia, between Cæsar and Pompey, in which the latter was defeated, and escaped on foot. This battle forms an important era in the history of the world.