Earle. I. Pliny, an American inventor, born in Leicester, Mass., Dec. 17, 1762, died there, Nov. 19, 1832. In 1785 he became connected with Edmund Snow in the manufacture of machine and hand cards for carding cotton and wool. Mr. Earle at first made them by hand, but soon invented the machine still in use for their manufacture, by which the labor of a man for 15 hours could be performed in as many minutes. Aside from his inventive genius, he deserves a record for his extensive attainments in science and literature. II. Pliny, an American physician, son of the preceding, born in Leicester, Mass., Dec. 31, 1809. He was educated at the Friends1 school in Providence, R. I., where he was subsequently employed as a teacher. He received bis diploma of M. D. in 1837, and in 1840 was appointed resident physician of the insane hospital at Frankford, Pa., where he remained about two years. In 1844 he was appointed physician to the asylum for the insane at Bloomingdale, N. Y., where he remained till April, 1849, when he visited the insane hospitals of England, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Poland, and a part of those of France. In 1847 he declined an appointment of visiting physician to the New York city lunatic asylum, but accepted it in 1853. In 1841 he published a small volume of poems entitled "Marathon and other Poems;" and in the same year " Visit to thirteen Asylums for the Insane in Europe." In 1848 he published the " History, Description, and Statistics of the Bloomingdale Asylum." After his return from his second European tour, he published in the "American Journal of Insanity " a series of articles on institutions for the insane in Germany and Austria, which were subsequently collected in a volume.

Another series of articles on "Bloodletting in Mental Disorders " was published in 1854. His other contributions to the medical and psychological journals are very numerous. III. Thomas, a writer on law, brother of the preceding, born in Leicester, Mass., April 21, 1791, died in Philadelphia, July 14, 1849. In 1817 he removed to Philadelphia, and engaged in mercantile pursuits for a few years, and afterward became distinguished as a lawyer and journalist. He edited in succession the "Columbian Observer," "Standard," "Pennsylvania!!," and "Mechanics' Free Press and Reform Advocate." In 1837 he took an active part in calling a convention to revise the constitution of Pennsylvania, was a prominent member of it, and is believed to have made the original draft of the new constitution. At this time he lost the support of the democratic party by advocating the extension of the right of suffrage to negroes. In 1840 he was the candidate of the liberty party for vice president. After that period he mingled little in political affairs, and devoted himself almost entirely to literary pursuits.

His first published work was an "Essay on Penal Law," which was followed by an "Essay on the Rights of States to alter and annul their Charters," a work which elicited the approbation of Thomas Jefferson; a " Treatise on Railroads and Internal Communications" (1830); a spelling book for schools; and a "Life of Benjamin Lundy." At the time of his death he had nearly completed a history of the French revolution.