Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/305

 DOREMUS

DOREMUS

entrusted with nearly all the important medico- legal cases in New York and vicinity as a chemi- cal expert, and for this woi'k he established a special toxicological laboratory, kept under lock and key and sealed. He was the expert in the Bur- dell murder case (1857), and the Mrs. Stephens murder case in 1858, and his skill disi^layed in these cases gave him a wide reputation. He was also for twenty -five years the principal expert in patent suits involving a knowledge of chem- istry, electricity and kindred branches of physics. With his assistant. Dr. D. L. Budd, he devised in 1861 a method for using granulated gunpowder in cannon without the serge envelope. By com- pressing the grained powder in a solid elongated mass he did away with the necessity of sponging the gun after each discharge and at the same time relieved the strain upon the gun. Napoleon III. witnessed its demonstration at Bois de Vin- cennes and the French government adopted the system. "La<Poudre Comprimee " was also used in Mt. Cenis tunnel for blasting. In 1863 he ac- cepted the chair of chemistry and physics in the Free academy, afterward knovv-n as the College of the city of New York. He there established a chemical analytical laboratory and also the first physical laboratory in New York. He introdviced in 1865 the use of chlorine gas as a disinfectant on cholera infected ships and in hospitals and asylums, thoroughly disinfecting the entire buildings and even the stones used in their con- struction. The same year the death of his little boy by his dress taking fire, led him to investi- gate and determine some chemical that, applied to light fabrics, would render them fireproof. He found it in a solution of phospliate of ammonia, which was used effectively in theatres and else- where. In 1871 he was appointed president of a board for examining druggists and prescription clerks. He introduced reforms in manufacturing and purifying illuminating gas, and in methods used in testing the purity of milk. He patented methods for quickly extiuguisliing fires on ship- board with liquefied carbonic acid and discovered a method of bleaching gray ostrich feathers with the peroxide of hydrogen and ammonia, which resulted in the commercial use of the peroxide as a disinfectant. He received the degree of LL.D. from the University of the city of New York in 1874. He was elected a fellow of the New York academy of science and of the New York geo- graphical society, and a member of the New York electrical society, the Union league club and the St. Nicholas society. He was president of the Medico-legal society, editor of the Journal of the New York medical college, established 1852; and of the chemical definitions in the " Standard Dictionary " (1891-94), his associates in the work being Dr. Marcus Benjamin and ^I. A. Eourgoug-

non. He lectured in 1854 before the New York Mechanics' society on "Electricity" and ar- ranged a row of arc lights around the gallerj^ of the hall. The previous year he had lectured on " Light " and caused daguerreotypes to be taken of the occupants of the proscenium boxes by aid of the electric light. In the course of three lec- tures for the benefit of the Brooklyn mercantile laboratory, 1865, he first exhibited the chloro- hydrogen jet, Stewart's electro-motor and other electrical devices. In 1873 he lectured on " His- tory and Properties of Anaesthetic Agents" for the benefit of the widow of Dr. Horace Wells, who first used " laughing gas " for dental opera- tions in 1844. In 1876 and 1877 he lectured before 10,000 persons at Chautauqua on "Physical Science " and in 1892 on the " Agreement between the Mosaic and Scientific Histories of the Crea- tion," involving astronomy, chemistry, geology and physics, and illustrated by colossal apparatus weighing several tons. His bibliography includes: Impurities in Soda Water; Analyses of Solidified Milk; Disinfection of Cholera Ships; Disinfection of Bellevue Hospital; The Lactometre; The Improjyer U^e of Cocaine; Duties of Experts and Others in Poison Cases (1880); Timj Death Dealers (1884); The Comparison of Medical Education at Home and Abroad; The Harmony Betioeen the Scientific History of Creation and the Mosaic Becord: The Impurities of Croton Water; Preservation of the Egyptian Obe- lisk; The Microscopie; Toxicology; Medical Juris- prtidence; Transactions of the First Pan-American Medical Congress (1893).

DOREMUS, Sarah Piatt Haines, philanthro pist, was born in New York city, Aug. 3, 1802; daughter of Elias and Mary (Ogden) Haines; granddaughter of Robert Ogden, 3d. and a de- scendant of John Og- den, who received a grant of land in Americaf rom Charles II. for services to his father, Charles I. She was also a descendant of the Haines family, whose ance.stor was knighted by Edward I., and who was a Crusader; also of the Piatt family, who founded colonial set- tlements in Long Island and Connecti- cut. She was married to Thomas C. Doremus, a prosperous mer- chant, Sept. 11, 1821. ■ She early united with the Presl)yterian church, but at her marriage be- came an active member of the Reformed Dutch church. In 1828 she began her first organized

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