MARSHMAN, JOSHUA, D.13., an English missionary; 1767-1837; b. at Westbury Leigh, Wiltshire. While young he showed a great passion for reading. His parents being poor. he was obliged to struggle for an education. In 1794 he became master of a school in Bristol, and at the same time a student of Bristol 'academy, where he studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac. Deciding to devote his life to the missionary work, he was sent in 1799 by the Baptist missionary society to India to join Carey and his col leamues. The East India company being opposed to missions in their territories, they estailished their mission at Serampore, a town on the Hoogley, 16 m. above Calcutta, 'containing a mixed population of Danes, Dutch, English, and natives. Finding soon after his arrival the support granted by the society insufficient for the wants of the colony, he, with the aid of his wife, opened two boarding-schools for European children, and shortly after a school for natives, which was soon filled, and the income from this enter prise, supplemented by that of Carey as instructor in the government college at For$ William, enabled them soon to make their mission independent of home support. But their course did not meet the approval of the committee of the society, who censured without sufficient information, pinched the mission, and dictated their management. Some American subscribers remonstrated "against any part of their contributions for training young men to the ministry being employed in teaching science." This disagree ment continued for some time, threatening the success of the enterprise. In 1822 Dr. Marsliman sent his son John to England to endeavor to restore amicable relations, which mission being unsuccessful, he himself in 1826 returned in order to confer with the society. I3ut he failed in his object, and the matter ended in a separation of the Seram pore mission from the society. He returned in 1829 to Semmpore. He had experienced a great affliction in the death from w-ith.;whotri lie and Dr. Carey had labored for 23 years. The treatment of the parent society deeply distressed' Min: He became very melancholy, wandering about unable even to write a letter. In 1834'
Dr. Carey died, leaving him alone. In 1836 his daughter, who had married the famous Christian soldier, gen. Heiry Havelock, barely escaped with her life fromolier bungalow, which had caught fire, losing one of her three children iu the flames. Soon after Dr. 3Iarshman died from complete nervous prostration. A few days before his death arrangements were made in London for the reunion of the Serampore mission with the parent society, and the retention of Dr. Marstunan as superintendent. In addition to his special missionary duties, Dr. Marshman gave himself with great zeal to the.study of the Bengalee, Sanskrit, and Chinese languages, which he Plastered. He translated into Chinese the book of Genesis, the four Gospels, the epistles of Paul to the Romans and Corinthians. Ile published also a Diesei*ition on, the Characters and Sounds of the Chinese Language; T he Works of Confucius, containing the Original lext, with a 11-anslation; Clavis Sinica; Elements of Chinese Grammar, with a Preliminary Dissertation on the Characters and Colloquial Medium of the Chinese. He assisted Dr. Carey in preparing a. Sanskrit grammar aud a Bengalee and English dictionary. Rainmolmn Roy having as sailed the miracles of Christ in a work entitled The Precepts of Jesus the Guide to Peace, Dr. Marshman replied in a series of articles in tbe Friend of India (a periodical issued by the Seratnpore missionaries), subsequently republished in a volume under the title of A Defense of the Deity and Atonement .of Jesus Christ. Rammohun Roy replied to this.
Caltha, a genus of plants of the natural order ranunculacem, having about 5 petal-like sepals, no petals, and the fruit consisting of several spreading, compressed, many-seeded follicles. a palustris is a very common British plant, with kidney-shaped, shining leaves, and large yellow flowers, a principal ornament of wet meadows and the sides of streams in spring. It partakes of the acridity common in. the order; but the flower-buds, preserved in•vinegar and salt, are said to be a good sub stitute for capers.