Josiah Willard Gibbs, an American philologist, born in Salem, Mass., April 30, 1790, died in New Haven, March 25, 1861. He graduated at Yale college in 1809, and was tutor in that institution from 1811 to 1815. In 1824 he was appointed professor of sacred literature in the theological department of Yale college, a post which he held until his death. In his special department, and in philological and grammatical studies generally, he was a thorough and accurate scholar. His principal publications are: a translation of Storr's Essay on the Historical Sense of the New Testament" (Boston, 1817); translation of Gesenius's Hebrew Lexicon of the Old Testament" (Andover, 1824);Manual Hebrew and English Lexicon,' abridged from Gesenius (Andover, 1828);

"Philological Studies" (New Haven, 1857); and Latin Analyst" (New Haven, 1858). He contributed also to several important philological works, including the revised edition of Webster's dictionary and W. 0. Fowler's work on the English language; and furnished valuable papers to the American Journal of Science" and other critical periodicals.