Samuel Luther Dana (born 11 July 1795 in

Amherst, New Hampshire Amherst is a town in Hillsborough County in the state of New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,753 at the 2020 census. Amherst is home to Ponemah Bog Wildlife Sanctuary, Hodgman State Forest, the Joe English Reservation and Baboosic ...

– 11 March 1868 in

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, It is one of two traditional county seat, seats of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,5 ...

) was an American

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe ...

Biography

He studied at

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

, and graduated from Harvard in 1813. Desirous of becoming a

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...

, he applied for an appointment to the

U. S. Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

, but instead was commissioned a lieutenant in the 1st artillery. He served during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

, and at its close resigned from the army. Subsequently, he studied medicine, and graduated from

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools ...

in 1818. From 1819 until 1826, he practised in

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, ...

, where he was brought into intimate relations with the early cotton manufacturers of the state, and his fondness for physical science determined him to devote his attention to chemistry as applied to the manufacture and coloring of cotton goods. About 1826, he established a laboratory in Waltham for the manufacture of sulphuric acid and bleaching-salts, which afterward was merged in the Newton Chemical Company, and he was its chemist until 1834. In 1833 he visited

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, and spent some time in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

prosecuting chemical investigations. On his return he removed to Lowell, where he became resident and consulting chemist to the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, and continued as such until his death. His investigation in the bleaching of cotton led to the invention of the so-called "American system" of bleaching, which attracted much attention abroad when first published in 1838 in the ''Bulletin de la société industrielle de Mulhouse''. Many other important improvements in the printing of cottons and the chemical processes involved in that work were made by him, and gave to the goods produced in Lowell a high reputation in the United States. His researches on the action of

cow manure Cow dung, also known as cow pats, cow pies or cow manure, is the waste product ( faeces) of bovine animal species. These species include domestic cattle ("cows"), bison ("buffalo"), yak, and water buffalo. Cow dung is the undigested resi ...

as a

mordant A mordant or dye fixative is a substance used to set (i.e. bind) dyes on fabrics by forming a coordination complex with the dye, which then attaches to the fabric (or tissue). It may be used for dyeing fabrics or for intensifying stains in ...

, showing that its fixing properties are due to the

sodium phosphate Sodium phosphate is a generic term for a variety of salts of sodium (Na+) and phosphate (PO43−). Phosphate also forms families or condensed anions including di-, tri-, tetra-, and polyphosphates. Most of these salts are known in both anhyd ...

that it contains, with the subsequent introduction of "substitutes", was a decided advance in the art of

calico Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...

printing. Prof. Benjamin Silliman Jr., wrote of him: "In point of time, originality, and ability, Dr. Dana stood deservedly first among scientific writers on agriculture in the United States." William Jay Youmans (1896
Samuel Luther Dana
in ''Pioneers of Science in America'', D. Appleton & Company via Google Books

Works

Dana prepared for the City of Lowell a valuable report on the injurious influence of lead pipes for water used for drinking and culinary purposes. His interest in this subject led him subsequently to translate from the French a ''Treatise on Lead Diseases''. He contributed many papers on technical topics to the ''

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived a ...

'' and Silliman's ''

American Journal of Science The ''American Journal of Science'' (''AJS'') is the United States of America's longest-running scientific journal, having been published continuously since its conception in 1818 by Professor Benjamin Silliman, who edited and financed it himsel ...

''. * 1818: (with James Freeman Dana
Outlines of the Geology and Mineralogy of Boston and its Vicinity
via

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

* 1833: "Chemical Changes occurring in the Manufacture of Sulphuric Acid" * 1843
An Essay on Manures
via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

* 1848
Lead Diseases: a Treatise
translated from French original written by L. Tanquerel des Planches * 1858
Muck Manuel for Farmers, fourth edition
includes chapter on bones, superphosphates of lime and alkalies

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dana, Samuel Luther 1795 births 1868 deaths Physicians from Massachusetts American chemists Harvard Medical School alumni Phillips Exeter Academy alumni