Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/69

 invention it had always been thought that cupellation, the method of directly extracting silver from lead, could not be profitably conducted in the case of lead containing less than eight ounces of silver in the ton; but by his process silver can profitably be extracted from lead when present only in the proportion of two or three ounces to the ton of lead. Pattinson's process has led to the invention of the German verb ‘pattinsoniren,’ and French substantive ‘pattinsonage’ (for a full description of the process, with diagrams, see Percy's ‘Metallurgy,’ Lead, pp. 121–44). Almost equally important were two others of his discoveries: (1) a simple method for obtaining white lead by a process (patented 1841) which gave rise to the formation of the then new compound, oxychloride of lead; and (2) a new process (patented 1841) for manufacturing ‘magnesia alba.’ Pattinson also first announced the discovery, from observations which had been made at a neighbouring colliery in 1840, that steam issuing from an orifice becomes electrical, a phenomenon subsequently turned to account by Mr. (afterwards Lord) Armstrong in his hydro-electrical machine.

Pattinson had joined in 1822 the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle. He was vice-president of the chemical section of the British Association in 1838, a fellow of the Geological Society and of the Royal Astronomical Society, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in June 1852.

Pattinson visited America in 1839–40 to investigate a proffered mining speculation, which, however, turned out worthless, and he, with his party, had to decamp by night to escape the threatened violence of the disappointed proprietors. In 1858 he retired from business, and, in order to master astronomy, devoted himself to the study of mathematics and physics. The 7½-inch equatorial telescope which he erected at his residence, Scot's House, near Gateshead, was used by Piazzi Smyth. Pattinson died at Scot's House on 11 Nov. 1858.

He was the author of eight papers on lead-mining and electrical phenomena that appeared in the ‘Philosophical Magazine,’ the ‘Transactions of the Northumberland Natural History Society,’ and in the ‘Reports of the British Association.’

On 25 Dec. 1815 he married Phœbe, daughter of John Walton of ‘The Nest,’ Alston, having two days before been baptised into the church of England at the Angel Inn, when he took the additional christian name of Lee in honour of his mother.

[Percy's Metallurgy, ‘Lead,’ pp. 121–44; Lonsdale's Worthies of Cumberland, 1873, pp. 273–320, with portrait; information kindly supplied by his daughter, Mrs. Newall; English Cyclopædia; Roy. Soc. Cat.] 

PATTISON, DOROTHY WYNDLOW, known as (1832–1878), philanthropist, was tenth and youngest daughter of Mark James Pattison, rector of Haukswell, near Richmond, Yorkshire, who died on 30 Dec. 1865. Mark Pattison [q. v.] was her brother. Born at Haukswell on 16 Jan. 1832, she resided with her parents till her twenty-ninth year, when, with philanthropic aims, she became village schoolmistress in the parish of Little Woolston, near Bletchley, Buckinghamshire. There she remained for three years, till 1864. In the autumn of 1864 she became, in opposition to her father's wish, a member of the sisterhood of the Good Samaritan at Coatham, near Redcar, Yorkshire, and adopted the name of Sister Dora. In accordance with the rules of the order, she became a cook in the kitchen. In the early part of 1865 she was sent to Walsall to help in nursing at a small cottage hospital which had been established by the sisterhood there. In December 1865 the mother superior at Coatham cruelly refused her permission to attend her father's deathbed. She now set to work to become a good surgical nurse, and she was soon exceptionally skilled in the treatment of wounds and fractures. The patients were chiefly men and boys disabled by coal-pit accidents, or wounded by machinery in workshops. In 1867 a new hospital was built, of which she had sole charge. Her power of work was very great; her naturally exuberant spirits never deserted her, and a deep sense of religion completely controlled her conduct. Her courage was as notable as her enthusiasm. She did not scruple to attend the most virulent cases of smallpox, and regularly attended the post-mortem examinations. In this way she acquired an accurate knowledge of anatomy, and could perform minor operations with dexterity. For a time she studied at the Birmingham Ophthalmic Hospital. She also trained lady nurses at Walsall. Grateful for her many services to them, the men of the South Staffordshire railway line in 1871 presented her with a carriage and a pony. During 1874 Sister Dora left the community of the Good Samaritan, and in February 1877 she resigned her connection with the cottage hospital of the sisterhood in order to take charge of the Municipal Epidemic Hospital in Walsall. The cases were chiefly smallpox. Full as her hands were, she found time to take part in missions to the unfortunate, and was never weary of trying to improve the con-