Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/607

Rh 1848, was pastor of Baptist churches in P. .iiL'h- keepsie. X. Y.. Cleveland, Ohio. Buffalo. X. Y., Philadelphia. Pa., and Brooklyn, X. Y. During his occupation of the last charge liis advocacy of open communion caused the exclusion of Mr. Smit li and his congregation from the Long Island Bap- tist association. He was elected to congress in 1880. as an Independent, receiving 22.085 votes, against 20.620 votes for Simeon B. Chittenden. Republican. For a time he did double duty in his church and in congress, but resigned his pulpit in September, 1881. and on the expiration of his con- gressional term became pastor of the East Con- gregational church, Brooklyn, N. Y. His publi- cations include " Gilead " (New York, 1863), and "The Open Door " (1870).

SMITH, John Lawrence, chemist, b. near Charleston, S. C., 17 Dec., 1818 ; d. in Louisville. Ky.. 12 Oct.. 1883. He entered the University of Virginia in 1836, and devoted two years to the study of chemis- try, natural phi- losophy, and civ- il engineering, after which for a year he was as- sistant engineer in the construc- tion of a rail- road line be- t vi-n Charles- ton and Cincin- nati. Abandon- ing civil engi- neering, he stud- ied medicine, and was gradu- ated at the Medi- cal college of the state of South Carolina in 1840. After studying in Paris, he de- termined in 1841 to devote himself to chemistry, and thereafter he spent his summers in Giessen with Baron Justus von Liebig and his winters in Paris with Tlu'ophile J. Pelouze. He returned to Charleston in 1844, began the practice of medicine, delivered a course of lectures on toxicology at the Medical college, and in 1846 established the " Medi- cal and Surgical Journal of South Carolina." Mean- while he had published in the "American Journal of Science " several papers, including one " On the Means of detecting Arsenic in the Animal Body and of counteracting its Effects" (1841), in which certain of the conclusions of Orfila were shown to be erroneous, and one on " The Composition and Products of Distillation of Spermaceti " (1842), which was the most elaborate investigation on or- ganic chemistry published by an American up to that time. Dr. Smith's fondness for chemistry led to his appointment by the state of South Carolina to assay the bullion that came into commerce from the gold-fields of Georgia and the Carolinas. About this time his attention was directed to the marl- beds in the vicinity of Charleston, and his invr-ti- gations of the value of these deposits for agricul- tural purposes were among the earliest scientific contributions on this subject. He also investigated the meteorological conditions, soils, and modes of culture that affect the growth of cotton, and made a report on these subjects. In 1846 he was invited by the sultan of Turkey, on the recommendation of James Buchanan, to teach Turkish agricultu- rists the proper method of cotton-culture in Asia Minor. On reaching the East, he found the pro- posed scheme to be impracticable, and was then appointed by the Turkish government to explore its mineral resources. For four years he devoted lii- energies to this work, tmd the Turki-h govern- ment still derives part of its income from his dis- coveries. Besides the chrome-ore and coal that he made known, his discovery of the emery-deposits of Asia Minor was of great value, for the island of Naxos was at that time the only source of supply, and, in consequence of the opening of new deposits, the use of the substance was extended. The sub- sequent discovery and application of emery in this country is due to his publications on the subject. In 1850 he severed his relations with the Turkish authorities, spent some time in Paris, and projected there the inverted microscope, which he completed after his return to the United States in October. Dr. Smith then made Xew Orleans his home, and was elected to a chair in the scientific department of the university of that city, but in 1852 he suc- ceeded Robert E. Rogers in the professorship of chemistry in the University of Virginia. While filling this chair, with his assistant, George J. Brush, he undertook the " Re-examination of American Minerals," which at the time of its completion was the most important contribution to mineral chem- istry by any American chemist. He resigned this appointment in 1854, and settled in Louisville, Ky., where he married Sarah Julia Outline, daughter of James Guthrie, secretary of the treasury in 1853-'?. Dr. Smith filled the chair of chemistry in the medi- cal department of the University of Louisville till 1866, and was superintendent of the gas-works in that city, of which he also acted as president for several years. He established a laboratory for the production of chemical reagents and of the rarer pharmaceutical preparations, in which he associ- ated himself with Dr. Edward R. Squibb. From the time of his settlement in Louisville he devoted attention to meteorites, and his collection, begun by the purchase of that of Dr. Gerald Troost, be- came the finest in the United States. It is inferior only to those of London and Paris, and is now owned by Harvard. His interest in this subject led to the study of similar minerals with the sepa- ration of their constituents, and while investigating smarskite, a mineral rich in the rare earths, he an- nounced his discovery of what he considered a new element, to which he gave the name of mosandrum. Dr. Smith was exceeding ingenious in devising new apparatus and standard methods of analysis. He was a chevalier of the Legion of honor, and re- ceived the order of Xichan It'tabar and that of the Medjidieh from the Turkish government, and that of St. Stanislas from Russia. In 1874 he was president of the American association for the ad- vancement of science, and he was president of the American chemical society in 1877. In addition to membership in many foreign and American sci- entific bodies, he was one of the original members of the Xational academy of sciences, and in 1879 was elected corresponding member of theAcademy of sciences of the institute of France, to succeed Sir Charles Lyell. The Baptist orphan home of Louis- ville was founded and largely endowed by him. In 1867 he was one of the commissioners to the World's fair in Paris, furnishing for the government re- ports an able contribution on " The Progress and Condition of Several Departments of industrial Chemistry." and he represented the United States at Vienna in 1873. where his report on "Chemicals and Chemical Industries" supplements his excel- lent work at the earlier exhibition. At the Cen- tennial exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876 he was one of the judges in the department relating to chemical arts, and contributed a valuable paper on