MAY. 1947
WILLIAM STEPHEN JACOBS WYNDHAM MILES '
The Pennsylvania State College, State College, Pennsylvania
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earliest hook on the subject of chemistry by an American is probably ''Chemical and Economical Essays," written in 1790 by John Penington, a young physician of Philadelphia. The few volumes which had appeared in this country prior to Penington's "Essays" were reprints of European works, such as William Nicholson's "An Introduction to Natural Philosophy," published in Philadelphia in 1788. For decades after Penington's publication, American chemistries were outnumbered by American editions of foreign works. Among the few chemists who wrote hooks during the early days of our republic were James Woodhouse, Samuel Mitchiil, Lyman Spaldmg, Thomas Ewell, James Cutbush, and William Stephen Jacobs. Jacobs is a minor figure in American science, hut since no information is available concernfng h i in our hiogaphical dictionaries, a short account of his career may be of interest to chemists. Jacobs was born in Brabant, a province of Belgium, on March 4, 1772. While still a youth he left home and went to Austria where he began the study of medicine and served in the army. In 1792 he traveled to Paris to continue hiis professional studies, but was drafted into the French army of the Rhime, in which he was an assistant surgeon. Soon after his induction he deserted to the English lines and then made hi way to Amsterdam where he was employed in the military hospitals. In 1794 he sailed for America and reached Philadelphia in late 1794 or early 1795. In Philadelphia Jacobs obtained the position of dissector in the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania. Some of the early anatomical specimens in the W'istar Museum were said to have been Title Pave of t h s Theeia Which William Staphen Jacobs Wrote tor Hi. Doctor'e Degree. In It H . Reported the Chemical An.1g.i. of Six C.l~"li.
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OBSERVATIONS
..ox- URINARY AND INTESTINAL
CALCULI.
Courtesy ofthe American Philarophical Society
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
250
made by him. While working a t the University, he continued his medical studies, and in 1801 graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. As the climate of Philadelphia did not agree with his health, he sailed in 1803 for the island of St. Croix where he settled and began to practice his profession. It was here 14 years later that he married the daughter of a Danish nobleman, Count Rantzen, by whom he had several children. He died in the island on December 30, 1843.' Although Jacobs was educated as a physician and practiced medicine all his life, he was interested in chemistry a t least while he was associated with the University of Pennsylvania. To aid himself in the
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i Courtesy of Lhe American Philosophical Society
Title Page of the First Edition of Jacobs' "The Student's Chemice.1 Pocket Companion."
A S s c m d Edition Appeared in 1807.
' "Obituary Notice of Dr. W. S. Jacobs of St. Croix, by W. E. Homer, read before the American Philosophicd Sooiety, June 20, 1845.'' Manuscript copy in the Society's library, Philadelphia.
study of the science, he abstracted much of the important material found in such well-known texts of the day as Chaptal's "Elements of Chemistry" and Fourcroy's "Lepns ~lementaires." Several of his fellow students, having read his notes, found them useful in supplementing the lectures of the Professor of Chemistry, James Woodhouse.3 Later these students persuaded Jacobs to publish his material and offered to bear the cost of the printing. This is probably the reason Jacobs dedicated his book "To the gentlemen attending the medical lectures in the University of Pennsylvania." The size of the book, 14.6 X 9 em., enabled the students to carry it quite easily in their pockets. This is what Jacobs probably intended, for he called his book "The student's ~ h e & a l pocket Companion." This book was first printed in 1802 and ran into a second edition in 1807. Both editions have the same contents but were printed by different firms and are paged differently. The 1802 edition is paged (arbitrarily numbering the title page as 1) [5] ii [3] 2-114 [2]; the 1807 edition is paged [5] 6 [I] 8-120 [I]. The book contains little on the theories of chemistry. Most of it is devoted to descriptions and properties of metals, gases, salts, alkalies, organic and inorganic acids, earths, and a few organic compounds. In the preface to his book, Jacobs wrote: "The following sheets may probably merit the attention of the students in this university, as they contain a detail of many original and useful experiments, as performed by the professor of Chemistry, Dr. Woodhouse." Woodhouse at this time was engaged in a scientific controversy with Joseph Priestley over the theory of phlogiston, of which Priestley.yva'd the last great adherent. He and Woodhouse published several papers on the subject in the Medical Repository. In one of these Jacobs is mentioned as heing a competent witness of some of the experiments which Woodhouse performed to refute Priestley's opinion^.^ , , , During his residence in Philadelphia, Jacobs was a member and the librarian of the Chemical Society of Philadelphia. This society, which came into existence around 1790 and died about 1809, was the oldest chemical society in this hemisphere and one of the oldest in the world. A brief search through the-American medical and scientific literature of his time has not revealed any papers by Jacobs; perhaps he published none. His only attempt at what might be called research appears in his inaugural thesis, where he reported the chemical analysis of six stones-three from human beings and one each from a cow, a sheep, and a horse. Review of "The Student's Chemical Pocket Companion," Medical Repository, 6, 75-7 (1803). James Woodhouse, 1770-1809, Professor of Chemisbry in the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania, 1795-1809; the first noteworthy American chemist. J. W o o o ~ o u s ~"An : answer to Dr. Joseph Priestley's arguments against the antiphlogistie system of chemistry, published in the Medical Repository, and a vindication of the principles contained in the 72nd essay of the fourt,h volume of the American Philosophical Transactias," Medical Repository, 4 , 25-34 (1800).
