Chapter 2

"Mr. T. W. Robertson, 'Objections to the Existence of a Principle of Repulsion.'

"Mr. Francis Brognard, 'On Chemical Affinity.'

"Mr. Lewis Gerhardt, 'On Light.'

"Mr. Dudley Burwell, 'On the Chemical Properties and Medical Uses of Arsenic.'

"Mr. Jeremiah J. Foster, 'On the History, Nature and Properties of Oxygen Gas.'

"Mr. J. C. Foster, 'Objections to the Antiphlogistic Theory of Combustion.'

"Mr. Charles Gignilliat, 'On Hydrogen Gas.'

"Mr. John Bent, 'On Oxygen Gas.'"

The monthly meetings were announced in the city papers. The announcements appeared at intervals through a period of years, hence it may be assumed the Society was an active organization and that its members regarded it as of consequence. The personnel of its official family is not devoid of interest at present. A single volume of memoirs, printed in 1813, is still extant and may occasionally be seen; from it will be learned that the "Hon. Thomas Jefferson, Esq., was the Patron" of the Society and its President was "James Cutbush, Esq., Professor of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and Mineralogy in St. John's College."

Turning to the table of contents two contributions from the President are observed. The first relates to the "Prognostic Signs of the Weather" and the second is "On the Oxyacetite of Iron as a Test or Reagent for the Discovery of Arsenic." There is little chemistry in the first contribution, and the second possesses value chiefly in the qualitative way. They were evidently dashed off with the idea of arousing discussion, in the hope that serious efforts might be set in operation in certain directions.

The thought which intrudes itself in looking through the _Memoirs_, noting the character of the individuals in the membership, and upon recalling the chemical activities of Cutbush, is as to the man himself. Why should he, barely twenty-three years of age, be chosen to such an important and prominent station as that of President of the Columbian Chemical Society? What manner of man was he? What his qualifications, his fitness and his position in the science world of Philadelphia? A search through ancient volumes in many libraries failed to bring to light any facts bearing on these points. The only fact discovered that had any value came from a newspaper advertisement bearing the date October, 1819. It read:

"_Bleaching Liquor_, _Artificial Musk_, _Phosphate of Mercury and other chemical Preparations_, prepared and sold by

"JAMES CUTBUSH "Chemist and Apothecary "No. 25 South Fourth Street, Phila.

"where complete collections of chemical reagents are kept as usual."

Here is a hint as to the occupation of Cutbush. He was a chemist--presumably a manufacturing chemist, supplying the necessary reagents to persons desiring them for their chemical studies; and further he was a pharmacist serving the various requirements of the medical men of the City.

Thorough search through newspaper files disclosed that from the year 1811 and perhaps two years earlier, and extending up to the year 1813--various announcements were made by Cutbush as to lectures of a public nature. These help us realize the character of the individual and his work. For example--

"Dr. Cutbush's course of _Evening Lectures on Chemistry_ will commence early in the second week in November, at the Laboratory in Videl's Court, in Second, near the Corner of Chestnut St."

and several months later the following notice was found--

"_LECTURES_ on _THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL PHARMACY_

"The subscriber, at the solicitation of several medical gentlemen, proposes to give a series of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Pharmacy, accompanied with the necessary chemical elucidations.

"Tickets may be had at 25 South Fourth St.

"Price 20 dollars.

"JAMES CUTBUSH."

This was in the year 1812. Early in 1813, a year after the preceding announcement, there appeared--

"J. Cutbush has the pleasure to announce to the ladies and gentlemen composing his class that the lectures on Chemistry, as well as those which are to follow on Mineralogy and Natural Philosophy, will be given in St. John's Lyceum in a building lately erected at the Corner of Chester and Race, between Eighth and Ninth Sts.

"N.B. The next lecture will be delivered this evening (Saturday) when, at the request of several ladies, the nitrous oxide or the exhilarating gas will be exhibited."

These announcements exhibit a phase in the development of chemical science which is worthy of pause and reflection. Science subjects had taken hold of many persons in the early years of the Nineteenth Century. Some of them became ardent enthusiasts and missioners in the extension of those subjects. As early as 1808 M. Godon gave lectures on Mineralogy, and in 1810 announced a work of two volumes with a quarto supplement of charts. The science of chemistry also had its advocates. Cutbush was evidently one of them, although not the first. This honor belongs to Dr. Patrick Kerr Rogers, father of William B. Rogers, founder and first president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and President of the National Academy of Science, of Dr. Henry D. Rogers, the eminent geologist, and of James B. and Robert E.--both distinguished in the chemical field.

It was in 1802 that Patrick K. Rogers received his medical degree and embarked upon practice. Having spare time, he began public lectures on the sciences, confining himself from 1807 to chemistry. He was very successful. One of his advertisements as it appeared in the _Aurora_, in 1809, read:

"EVENING LECTURES MEDICAL AND CHEMICAL For Gentlemen

DR. P. K. ROGERS

"Having commenced a course of experimental lectures on Chemistry to ladies, proposes to give a similar course to gentlemen at a different hour. Twelve o'clock is the hour fixed for the former, but as the gentlemen of the city are variously engaged in business during the day, an evening hour will be more convenient for them. The evening course is particularly intended to accommodate men who have a taste for scientific information and who cannot, on account of their respective engagements during the day, attend the lectures in the University.

"A course for gentlemen will commence on Tuesday and will terminate in the last week of February. The hour will be seven o'clock in the evening. Two lectures at least, sometimes three, will be delivered every week. About 1500 interesting experiments will be exhibited and submitted to the familiar inspection of the class. Several important experiments not hitherto introduced in any series of chemical demonstrations in this place will be displayed in the illustrations of different subjects.

"The laboratory is in the lecturer's house in South Ninth Street, opposite the University and is furnished with an excellent chemical apparatus.

"The tickets for this course will be ten dollars. The persons to take tickets will be entitled to the use of the lecturer's excellent medical and chemical library during the season.

"Persons wishing to attend this course will please call at the lecturer's home at any time before next Tuesday in order to enter the names on the list.

"Ladies are informed that the list of subscribers to their course will not be closed until next Monday at twelve o'clock at the hour the next lecture, properly the first of the regular series, will be delivered. Gentlemen are not admitted to these lectures."

In 1810 Dr. Rogers gave out a Syllabus of 12 octavo pages "On Experimental Lectures on Natural Philosophy and Chemistry," in which great emphasis was laid on the practical application of these sciences. It also stated that "it is even esteemed, in some measure, a cause of shame, for persons of respectable education, to be ignorant of their general principles." In one newspaper announcement Rogers said that in order to get sufficient space for his audience he had procured the "use of the elegant and spacious ball room of M. Guillou." In this special work he was repeating the labors of Sir Humphrey Davy in London. In reality, Rogers and his contemporaries and coadjutors were pioneer University Extension Lecturers. They sought to popularize the natural and physical sciences and also broaden the vision or outlook of their hearers. In the case of Cutbush there was a strong desire to utilize chemistry in manufacture. This he emphasized more strongly than any other lecturer.

Another participant in the science propaganda was Dr. Thomas P. Jones, who devoted himself to Chemistry. The following notice of his lecture course is not devoid of interest:

"On Saturday, the 13th inst., at seven o'clock in the evening, at Dr. Jones' Chemical Lecture Room, S.W. Corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets, a lecture will be delivered on the properties of nitrous oxide, or the exhilarating gas, accompanied with a number of experiments. A large quantity will be prepared to exhibit its effects when inhaled.

"Tickets at fifty cents each may be had at A. Finley's Bookstore, S.E. Cor. of Chestnut and Fourth Streets, or at the lecture room on the stated evening."

On perusing early chemical texts and advertisements, such as those just given, attention is pointedly called to nitrous oxide, especially to its exhilarating properties, for then it was "_laughing gas_!" One Philip H. Nicklin published a brochure entitled

"THE ONLY GENTEEL WAY OF GETTING DRUNK

"A character representation of the effects produced by inhaling nitrous oxide gas. The accuracy of which no man breathing can deny. Price 25 cts."

To-day, nitrous oxide means a benign anæsthetic, so helpful and merciful when one is brought under the knife of the skillful surgeon.

The honor accorded Cutbush by his election to the Presidency of the Columbian Chemical Society was merited. He was not only an active, intelligent chemist, devoted to the advancement of his science in all directions, but he seems to have been an ardent enthusiast in the cause of education, for on the 7th of November, 1811, he delivered an Oration on Education before the Society for the Promotion of a Rational System of Education. His audience was large and consisted of the very best people of the city. The printed oration shows that in addition to his chemical knowledge he was versed in the humanities, in mathematics, in philosophy and ancient history. To-day the intelligent reader would pronounce the oration scholarly in every particular. His chief purpose seems to have been to introduce into what was then the customary curriculum in schools a definite amount of science--natural and physical. This is marked in the title of the organization before which he appeared on the occasion referred to, in Old St. John's Church. The whole community was interested in education. A society of educators had existed for a number of years. Neef had for a long time been advocating a system which was in reality a modification of the Pestallozian System, and men in every walk of life were seriously considering the innovations and advancements in this all-important subject.

Little can be found in regard to the Society for the Promotion of a Rational System of Education, but it may be inferred that the society had branches throughout the city and perhaps far beyond, because elsewhere Cutbush spoke of the society as under the Presidency of John Goodman, Esq., and that its purpose was to bring about a reformation in education. Further, Goodman was a prominent layman in the Church of Old St. John, who with his associates, Messrs. Greiner and Braeutigam, fellow churchmen, deeply impressed with the new thought, seem to have established a school "formed out of the Lutheran congregation of the Church of St. John ... instituted several professorships ... one of which, that of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Natural Philosophy" was conferred upon Cutbush, who proceeded to deliver courses on these subjects.

Desirous of learning something in regard to St. John's College, the authorities of St. John's Lutheran Church were consulted. It must be remembered that this is the oldest English-speaking Lutheran Church in America. It was founded by General Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, and a unique distinction of this church is that in a period of 113 years it has had but three pastors. Nothing in the minutes of the church showed that a movement toward the establishment of a college had ever been made. Moreover, search in the archives of the State Department failed to bring to light the granting of a charter for an institution bearing the name of St. John's College, although in an old directory of Philadelphia, reference is made to St. John's College, and to the fact that Cutbush was Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Natural Philosophy in it. The same source of information declared that "the lectures were held back of St. John's Church in Race Street." It may be questioned whether Messrs. Goodman, Greiner and Braeutigam, who were the leaders of the congregation in the early years of 1800, and enthusiasts in regard to the reformation in education, did not, perhaps, carry out their thought without consulting the rest of their church associates. In the history of the church there is a singular reference to the purchase of houses and lots which were known as "the fourteen chimneys" and the statement is made that the object of the purchase is not given. These "fourteen chimneys" may have been the buildings back of St. John's Church on Race Street.

Benjamin Smith Barton was another professor in St. John's College, who devoted himself to Natural History and Botany. Mr. Greiner, who was associated with Messrs. Goodman and Braeutigam also taught in the institution, and the head of the college or school was a Mr. Bachman, who later became a Lutheran clergyman and naturalist of high repute in South Carolina.

It is interesting at this far-away day to note the purposes of the Society for the promotion of education as set forth in its constitution. Among other things, it is said "the education of youth in useful knowledge ought to be a primary object with parents and friends, that more especially ought every endeavour to be made in a religious community to lay a sure and solid foundation for every moral and social virtue. Impressed with a conviction of this important truth, a number of the members of St. John's congregation, willing to give every aid within their power toward the establishment and support of a Rational System of Education, have formed themselves into a Society for that purpose."

The copy of Oration on Education, printed by Cutbush, which it was the privilege of the writer to peruse, was the copy handed by Cutbush "To Dr. Seybert with the compliments of the author." In spite of age, these words are very clear and legible, and if the only relic by which to judge of the character of Cutbush, would indicate him to be a man of intelligence.

There were many other societies extant at this period and through subsequent years which had for their object the promotion of scientific education. Among these was the Linnean Society, of which James Cutbush was Vice-President.

Cutbush had the honor of being one of the few of the original Society of Philadelphia for the Promotion of National Industry, whose essays excited the attention of the citizens of the United States. Samuel Jackson, M.D., Professor in the College of Apothecaries, was one of the most active members.

Amidst all the activities of Cutbush as a manufacturing chemist, as a teacher of the science, as a promoter of educational reforms, as a member of many organizations, he was very busy in a literary direction. For example, in 1812 he published a brochure on Hydrostatics, in which were described various hydrometers and their application. Numerous tables appear in it as well as many interesting and serviceable problems. It was designed for and was helpful to artisans and to beginners in the science of physics and chemistry. It is appropriately dedicated to the Columbian Chemical Society.

In the year 1813, Cutbush placed before the public his "Philosophy of Experimental Chemistry" in two volumes. It was dedicated to the "Professors and Students of the University of Pennsylvania and to the Trustees of St. John's College." One cannot fail to wonder why Cutbush should have so honoured the University when there is no record anywhere that he ever pursued studies under the ægis of the University. Indeed, it will probably remain a query as to where he was educated. He is often spoken of as "Doctor Cutbush" and in at least two instances the title "M.D." is placed after his name, yet it is a fact that in no place where he personally was responsible for the printing of his name is there any title affixed to it. Every source of information from which it was hoped to ascertain where Cutbush might have obtained the Doctorate in the first decade of the 19th Century failed to produce the fact. Libraries were searched and volumes that ordinarily convey such information were studied without positive result.

The little contribution on the "Philosophy of Chemistry" was favorably known, for Silliman, in his reference to Gorham's Chemistry as the first book upon this subject by a native American, credits Cutbush with having written a similar work, but speaks of the effort of Cutbush as more elementary and not as exhaustive as that of Gorham. The introduction in the first volume of Cutbush's work will always be interesting to American students of the science. For example, this quotation:

"Several original works have, accordingly, appeared, and some editions of European treatises have been published with revisions, corrections and additions by our countrymen. The Chemical and Economical Essays of Pennington, the edition of Chaptal enlarged by the late James Woodhouse ... that of Henry's Chemistry by Professor Silliman of Yale College, with some others, evince not only the learning and talents of our countrymen, but a growing taste for the encouragement of learning and the acquisition of chemical knowledge. Besides these, in the Transactions of our Societies and in the journals, or periodical works, several valuable papers have appeared. The genius of the medical students of the University of Pennsylvania, in particular, has been shown in a number of excellent inaugural dissertations, some of which have added to the improvement of chemical science.

"The first teacher of chemistry was Dr. Benjamin Rush ... who may justly be styled the father of chemistry in America. He commenced a course of lectures on this science in the then College of Philadelphia; and although chemistry at that day (1768) may be said to have been in its infancy, yet the Doctor did honour to the chair, the school, and his country. We now speak of him only as a chemist.... The advancement of chemistry in our city ... is also indebted to other institutions. The American Philosophical Society, the College of Physicians, instituted in 1787, the Medical Society, formed in 1771; the Chemical Society under the patronage of Doctors Woodhouse and Seybert, which has since been dissolved; the Linnean Society, instituted under the presidency of the learned Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton; the Columbian Chemical Society, founded in 1811; the Academy of Natural Science--all show the zeal for useful knowledge and philosophical inquiry.... For the introduction of popular chemistry, the citizens of Philadelphia are also indebted to Doctors Rogers and Jones, and to Benjamin Tucker, who have taught Chemistry with much zeal and talents."

Many attractions are found in the Philosophy of Experimental Chemistry. The first discussion is that on Chemical Affinity. Two experiments are introduced. In the first it is stated

"If equal parts, by weight, of sulphur and mercury be introduced into a crucible, and in this situation exposed to a sufficient heat; a compound will be formed, called sulphuret of mercury."

In the second experiment the student is advised to

"Mix together sulphur and potash, and throw them into water; the sulphur will separate. If the same articles be put into a crucible and melted, and then thrown into water, the sulphur as well as the potash will be dissolved."

And next comes the

"_Rationale._ In the first experiment there is an instance of chemical action, as well as of single affinity, for the sulphur and mercury would remain separate if heat was not applied. In consequence of this agent, they unite into an uniform whole, totally inseparable by mechanical means, and possessing characters distinct from either of its constituent parts.

"In the second experiment, the union of sulphur with potash is effected by heat; for if a sulphuret was not formed, no solution of the sulphur would take place. Hence it is that chemical action is the consequence of a power, without which it could never ensue, and with which it always acts in unison. This power is affinity."

Then it is remarked:

"Chemistry is a science, which has for its object to discover the constituent properties of bodies, the result of the various combinations, and the laws by which those combinations are effected. Its operations being either analytical or synthetical, consist of composition, or decomposition. The laws which govern chemical changes have been resolved into those of attraction or affinity. Affinity of composition of chemical affinity differs from that of aggregation or cohesion or corpuscular attraction, by acting upon matter of a different kind; or by taking place between the ultimate constituent parts of bodies, producing by its action, substances possessing properties frequently very different, and sometimes contrary to those of the constituent parts."

Throughout the book the order of presentation is the experiment, rationale, and remarks. A study of the "Philosophy" shows clearly that Cutbush presented his material in a rather original fashion. His method is not observable in any of the text-books of that date.

In discussing potash, Cutbush wrote:

"It has been supposed ever since our countryman, Dr. Woodhouse, made an experiment with potash that this alkali had an inflammable base. I am disposed to believe that the Doctor was the first one who hazarded this conjecture as to the inflammable nature of potash _when treated in certain ways_. The Doctor found that a mixture of pearl ash with soot, calcined by a very intense heat in a covered crucible, when cold caught fire on the affusion of water. The experiment was repeated with charcoal with the same result and the inflammation probably arose from the action of the base of the alkali on the water."

He says:

"That Thomas Cooper ... repeated this experiment, and succeeded, I think, after several attempts, in procuring the metal. Dr. John Redman Coxe and myself also performed it, but in our attempt we failed. The professor, however, persevered, and finally procured it.... My brother, Dr. Edward Cutbush, succeeded in procuring it by using the heat of a black-smith's forge. I have not heard of any other attempts in this country except by a gentleman in New York, who was also successful."

These statements substantiate the idea that Woodhouse isolated the metal potassium quite independently from any European chemist; it even looks as if he may have isolated it in the manner referred to before Sir Humphrey Davy had separated it with the aid of the electric current.