Brown and White Vol. 12 no. 16

              lehigh university south bethlehem pa wednesday november 16 1904 vol xii death of president drown occurred this morning at st luke's hospital sketch of his career tigation of the natural waters of massachu setts on which work some 250,000 has been expended by the state the importance of its re sults has been universally recog nized the map of natural chlor ine in the waters of massachu setts prepared under his direction as the graphic epitome of thousands of analyses is a brilliant illustration of the value of induction from ac curate and adequate data the re sults of his extended investigations of the sanitary condition of water were published for the most part in the annual reports of the massa chusetts state board of health up to the time of his death he was consulting chemist of that board he published also various papers in the technology quarterly and iri the transactions of the ameri ■, can institute of mining engineers dr drdwri's work as secretary of the institute and editor of the first eleven volumes of its trans actions deserved as it received the highest praise his successor has been guided in all essential particu lars by the admirable lines which he laid down dr drown was appointed in 1890 a member of an international committee to devise standard methods for the chemical analysis of iron and steel and he personally made analyses to aid the discus sion of this subject he did much by personal investigations and by stimulating his professional col leagues to promote the adoption of rapid convenient and accurate methods of analysis,suited for com mercial woik in recognition of these labors and of his services to the institute he was elected in 1884 one of the honorary members and in february 1897 he was made its president in the spring of 1895 he was elected president of lehigh uni versity and on june 19th of that year he was inaugurated the trustees of the university by this action did the best possible thing not only for the wise and efficient management of the institution but also for its fame and prosperity for dr drown was on the one hand peculiarly qualified both by temperament and by training 1 , for successful administration ; and on the other liand he enjoyed to an extraordinary degree the esteem and confidence of a wide public of professional men and captains of industry he had for years given careful thought to the training of engineers being convinced that the standing of engineering as a pro fession depends in large measure upon the character of the training given in engineering schools as president of the lehigh university he found opportunity for develop ing and applying those principles of education of whose soundness he had become convinced as the result of wide experience and observation ; during his administration the at tendance of the university has been constantly increased and the curri culum greatly extended the nine classes which have received their diplomas at his hands number over six hundred students men not merely thoroughly equipped with technical theories and applications but as well prepared to 1 take their places as active and useful mem bers of the social and political world the degree of doctor of laws was conferred upon dr drown by columbia university in june 1895 dr drown as member of the water commission of the bethle hems was actively interested in procuring on adequate supply of pure water ior this community and it was through his influence that the new filter plant was installed dr drown was a member of the american philosophical society philadelphia of the academy of natural sciences philadelphia ; of ihe american academy of arts and sciences positon ; of the boston society of civil engineers ; of the new england water works asso ciation ; of the american chemical society of the british iron and steel institute ; of the society for chemical industry england hor crary member of the berzelius so ciety of the sheffield scientific school of yale university president drown president drown died this morn ing at 6.30 o'clock at st luke's hospital thomas messifiger drown was born march 19 1842 and was edii cated at the philadelphia central high school where he graduated in 1859 he then took up the study of medicine and three years later received the degree of m d from the university of pennsylvania after a brief period of oractice as a 1 hysician he turned to chemistry as his life work and studied under professors brush and johnson at yale and under professor gibbs at plarvard three years were spent in germany in the study of chemis try and metallurgy partly at the school of mines at freiberg and partly under professor bunsen at heidelberg he subsequently es tablished himself as an analytical chemist at philadelphia and re moved in 1874 to easton pa to become professor of chemistry a lafayette college where he re mained for seven years in 1873 he was elected secretary of the american institute of mining en gineers and retained that position by unanimous re-election until he resigned it in 1883 in 1885 he ac cepted the professorship of chem istry at the massachusetts institute oi technology where he built up a large and successful department including at the time of his resig nation twenty-one instructors and five hundred students from 18s7 to 1895 he was in charge of the ; chemical department of the inves speoiilij i±3i>itioi>a the brown and white no 16