BUTLER, Simeon, publisher, born in 1770; died in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1847. In 1792 he established the first publishing-house in western Massachusetts at Northampton. He printed the earliest American edition of Vattel's "Law of Nations," and the first volume of Massachusetts Supreme Court reports, and brought out Dwight's "School Geography," which had a large sale. He also engaged in paper-making, and manufactured the first domestic letter-paper used by the United States senate. BUTLER, Thomas Belden, jurist, born in Wetherstield, Connecticut, 22 August, 1806; died in Norwalk, Connecticut, 8 June, 1873. He received a classical education, entered Yale medical school in 1826, and took his degree of M. died in 1828. He practiced medicine for eight years in Norwalk, when, finding that it affected his health, he abandoned it, and studied law with Clark Bissell. He was admitted to the bar in Norwalk in 1837, was a member of the Connecticut house of representatives in 1832-'46, and of the state senate in 1848-'53, and in 1849 was elected to congress as a Whig, and served one term. In May, 1855, he was elected a judge of the superior court, in 1861 was appointed to the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and was made chief justice in 1870. He was a careful student of the law, and his insight into difficult points, and perception of the principles of equity, gave his decisions a high reputation. He was also an excellent farmer, versed in the principles of mechanics, and interested in meteorology. He published "The Philosophy of the Weather" (New York, 1856), and in 1870 an enlarged edition under the title of "Concise Analytical and Logical Development of the Atmospheric System, and Prognostication of the Weather" (Norwalk).