CHAMBERS, Charles Julius, author, born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, 21 November, 1850. He was graduated at Cornell in 1870, and soon became engaged in journalism, traveling as a special correspondent of the New York "Herald" in the West Indies, Europe, the United States, and Canada. in 1872 he equipped and led a canoe expedition to Itasca lake, the supposed source of the Mississippi river, of which he published an interesting account. In 1875, during a period of popular excitement concerning alleged abuses of the insane in certain public and private institutions, Mr. Chambers volunteered to simulate insanity, and personally observe the workings of one of the suspected institutions from the inmate's point of view. He was pronounced insane by two reputable physicians who were not in the plot, and presumably acted in good faith. He was admitted as a patient to the institution in question, spent several weeks there, and published an account of his experiences, under the title of "A Mad World" (New York, 1876). This excited much interest, and provoked bitter rejoinders on the part of those interested. He is the author of two novels: "On a Margin" (New York, 1884), and " Lovers Four and Maidens Five" (Philadelphia, 1886). He is a frequent writer for periodicals.