Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/35

 LOOMIS

LOOMIS

versity of the City of New York, 1866-68, and professor of pathology and the practice of med- icine there, 1868-95. He was among those of the medical faculty to re-organize the course of study in 1893. In 1866 the sum of $100,000 was given by some unknown person to the university through Dr. Loomis to build and equip the Loomis labora- tory. Dr. Loomis was married in 1858 to Sarah J., daughter of Henry Patterson of Hoosick Falls, and secondly in 1887 to Anne M., daughter of Thomas H. Morris of Baltimore, Md., and widow of John D. Prince. He was a member and presi- dent of various medical societies in America and Europe. He received the degree of LL.D. from the University of the City of New York in 1883. Dr. Loomis bequeathed $25,000 to the Loomis laboratory and $10,000 to the New York Academy uf Medicine. His " Lectures on Fever " appeared in the New York Medical Record, and his lecture on " Peritonitis " in American Clinical Lectures in 1876. He is the author of: Physical Diagnosis (1868); Diseases of the Respiratory Organs, Heart and Kidneys (1876); Lectures on Fever (1882); Diseases of Old Age (1882); A Text-Book of Practical Medicine (1884). He died in New York city, Jan. 23, 1895.

Looms, Arphaxad, representative, was born in Winchester, Conn., April 9, 1798; son of Thad- deus and Lois (Griswold) Loomis; grandson of Ichabod and Mindwell (Lewis) Loomis, and of Phineas and Lois (Hurlburt) Griswold, and a de- scendant of Joseph Loomis the immigrant. His parents removed to Salisbury, N. Y., in 1802, where his father was for many years a justice of the peace, and assistant justice of the Herkimer county court. Arphaxad was employed on his father's farm, attended the district school and taught shool in the winters of 1812-25, attending Fairfield Academy during the summers of 1812-18. He was admitted to the bar in 1825, practising at Sacket Harbor, 1825-27 and at Little Falls, 1827- 85. He was married in 1832 to Ann, daughter of Dr. Stephen Todd of Salisbury, N.Y. He was surrogate of Herkimer county, 1828-37; a mem- ber of a commission to investigate the policy, labor and discipline in state prisons, in 1834; a Demo- cratic representative in the 25th congress, 1837- 39. A member of the assembly from Herkimer county, 1841-43, a member of the state constitu- tional convention of 1846, and a commissioner to revise the code of practice in 1847. His defective hearing alone prevented his appointment to high judicial stations. He is the author of: Historical Sketch of the New York System of Law Reform (1879). He died in Little Falls, N.Y., Sept. 15, 1885.

Looms, Dwight, representative, was born in Columbia, Conn., July 27, 1821; son of Elam and Mary (Pinneo) Loomis: grandson of Benoni and Grace (Parsons) Loomis; great grandson of

Benoni and Hannah (Woodward) Loomis and a descendant of Joseph Loomis the immigrant. He was a student at Amherst college and at Yale Law school, was admitted to the bar in 1847, and practised at Rockville, Conn., 1847-51. He was married Nov. 26, 1848, to Mary E. Bill of Leba- non, Conn. She died June 1, 1864, and he was married secondly, May 28, 1866, to Jennie E. Kendell of Beloit, Wis., who died March 6, 1876 He was a representative in the Connecticut leg- islature, 1852; a delegate to the People's national convention, Philadelphia, June 17, 18.56, and a state senator in 1858. He was a Republican re- presentative from the first Connecticut district in the 36th and 37th congresses, 1859-63; judge of the superior court of Connecticut, 1864-75, and of the supreme court, 1875-91. He wasapjwinted in 1891, by the state legislature, a state referee for the trial of causes referred to him; was an instructor in law at the Yale Law school, 1891-93, and was appointed presiding judge of the state board of arbitration in 1895, which office he re- signed in 1896. Yale conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1897.

Looms, Elias, physicist, was born in Wil- lington. Conn., Aug. 7, 1811; son of the Rev. Hubbel and Jerusha (Burt) Loomis; grandson of John and Rachel (Harris) Loomis, and of David Burt of Longmeadow, Mass., and a descendant of Joseph Loomis, the immigrant. He was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1830, A.M., 18- 33, and was a tutor at Yale, 1833-36. In 1834 he began mak- ing observations with Albert C. Twining of West Point, N.Y., for determining the altitude of shooting stars, and in the same year made hourly ob- servations of the de- clination of the mag- netic needle. He dis- covered Halley's comet in 1835, and computed the elements of its orbit. He attended the lectures of Arago, Biot, and othei-s in Paris, in 1836. He was married in Tallmadge, Ohio, May 14, 1840, to Julia E. Upson. He was pro- fessor of mathematics, natural philosophy and astronomy in Western Reserve college, Ohio, 1837-44; professor of natural philosophy in the University of the City of New York, 1844-48, and 1849-60; at the College of New Jersey, 1848-49; and Munson professor of natural philosophy and astronomy at Yale, 1860-89. He purchased the philosophical and meteorological instruments for

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