Horace Wells, of Hartford, Conn. (b. January 21, 1815; d. January 14, 1848), was a dentist. His use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to render the extraction of teeth painless led to its fuller application as an anæsthetic in surgery, and hence to the discovery of modern anæsthesia by ether and chloroform. Though robbed of the honor of his discovery by others, the dentist Wells is no less a contributor to mankind of one of the greatest boons of the century.
Louis Pasteur, of France (b. December 17, 1822; d. September 28, 1895), gave new direction and impulse to chemistry and pathology by the discovery that fermentation arose from micro-organisms, and also that disease was, in many instances, due to the presence of bacilli in blood or tissue. He followed this with his system of culture and inoculation, by means of which he performed most miraculous cures of even such a vicious disease as hydrophobia. The Pasteur Institute in Paris stands a monument to his genius and philanthropy.
Philanthropists.—Stephen Girard (b. May 24, 1750; d. December 26, 1831) was crabbed, unapproachable, penurious, irreligious, yet strangely liberal in large public or charitable affairs. Twice he helped the government with large loans. Public charities and improvements, hospitals, and paradoxically enough, even churches, were indebted to him for munificent gifts. The greatest monument to his philanthropy is Girard College, founded by a bequest of $8,000,000, for the education of poor white male orphans.
James Smithson, of England (b. about 1765; d. June 27, 1829), was possibly the first philanthropist to bestow a large endowment upon the United States. With the sum of $500,000 to $600,000, which came to it from this benevolent foreigner, the young republic founded and endowed the splendid Smithsonian Institute at Washington for the spread and increase of knowledge, thus putting Mr. Smithson in the highest rank of the world’s benefactors, and erecting an imperishable monument at another turning-point in the progress of civilization.
George Peabody (b. February 18, 1795; d. November 14, 1869) ranks as one of the century’s greatest philanthropists. Among his noblest gifts were $3,500,000 for free education and the training of teachers in the Southern States, $1,000,000 for a scientific institute at Baltimore, large sums to Harvard University, and a great amount to his native town, Danvers, Mass., for educational purposes. Dying in England, he left $2,500,000 to London, to found workingmen’s homes.
John Jacob Astor (b. July 17, 1763; d. March 29, 1848) used much of his colossal fortune in philanthropy. Perhaps his largest single gift, at least that by which he is best known as a benefactor, was the sum of $400,000 to found the Astor Library of New York city. This noble institution is conducted on the public plan, and contains nearly 300,000 volumes.
James Lick (b. August 25, 1796; d. October 1, 1876) amassed a fortune in California, out of which he provided a trust fund for certain public and charitable purposes. This fund amounted to $5,000,000 at the time of his death. To him is due the famous Lick Telescope in the University of California, which cost $700,000; the California School of Mechanic Arts, costing $540,000; the free public baths of San Francisco, costing $150,000; and numerous other charities and benefactions.
Leland Stanford (b. March 9, 1824; d. June 20, 1893) acquired a great fortune in California. Inspired by a dream at the time of his little son’s death, he determined to found and endow an institution of learning in his State. The result was the Leland Stanford Junior University, whose direct endowment was princely, and whose indirect endowment is expected to amount to $20,000,000 or more.
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.