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Pickering (WILLIAM HENRY an American)
WILLIAM HENRY, an American astronomer; born in Boston, Mass., Feb. 15, 1858; was graduated nology in 1879; became assistant pro- PICTS at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- and alcohol, very soluble in ether. The of the Western Hemisphere in 1878- Obtained by the action of nitric acid on aqueous solution stains the skin yellow. fessor at the Harvard Observatory; and Obtained by the action of nitric acid on conducted several expeditions to observe phenol, or by the nitration of monothe total solar eclipses in different parts chlorbenzol in the presence of sulphuric of the Western Hemisphere in 1878- acid. Very poisonous and explosive. 1893. He established astronomical sta- Used in the manufacture of explosives, tions in Southern California in 1889; at Arequipa, Peru, in 1891; and at Mande- dustry. Also in the laboratory in urine ville, Jamaica, W. I., in 1900. He had a record as a mountain-climber, having ascended over 100 peaks. Among his American military officer; born in Rich- PICKETT, GEORGE EDWARD, an tions of the Moon and Planets." for dyeing silk and in the tanning inanalysis, and as a reagent for detecting alkaloids. In medicine, it is used ex- analysis, and as a reagent for detecting ternally in the treatment of burns and acute eczema, and internally for treating malaria and as a bitter tonic. (See LYDDITE.)