404 THE POPULAR SCIEXCE MOXTHLY. 



SKETCH OF DR. CHAELES T. JACKSOX. 



THE name of Dr. Charles T. Jacksox deserves to be awarded a 

 prominent place in the annals of American science. It is closely 

 associated with the earlier geological investigations in the United 

 States and the British Provinces, and with the initiation of discoveries 

 which have contributed immenselv to the increase of the economical 

 resources of the world and to the amelioration of the pains of suffer- 

 ing men. However the balance of merit in the discovery of the elec- 

 tro-magnetic telegraph and of anaesthesia may be awarded, the fact 

 that Dr. Jackson conceived the ideas which embody the principles of 

 those discoveries, and probably imparted them to the more practical 

 men who made them known to the world, can hardly be disputed. 



Dr. Jackson was born at Plymouth, Massachusetts, June 21, 1805. 

 Having studied medicine under Drs. James Jackson and AValter Chan- 

 ning, he entered the Medical School at Harvard University, and re- 

 ceived its degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1829. He had alreadv 

 manifested an inclination toward other studies than those required in 

 the practice of medicine, and became particularly interested in chem- 

 istrv, mineralosrv, and oreolosrv. Indeed, before receivinor his decree, 

 he explored, in company wiih his friend Mr. Francis Alger, a consid- 

 able part of the province of Xova Scotia, and made there a large col- 

 lection of minerals ; these being new to foreign cabinets, he was able, 

 bv means of exchancjes with them, to form for himself a cabinet of 

 great value. 



Soon after receiving his degree he went to Europe to complete his 

 studies, where he remained for three vears. At Paris, he became ac- 

 quainted with many eminent men, among them the celebrated geolo- 

 gist, Elie de Beaumont, with whom he formed a warm friendship that 

 continued through life. In 1831 he made a pedestrian tour of a large 

 part of Central Europe, visited the principal cities of Italy, and made 

 a geological tour of Sicily, and of Auvergne, in France. It was while 

 returning from his European residence, in October, 1832, having elec- 

 tro-magnetic, galvanic, and other philosophical apparatus with him, 

 that he had those conversations with Professor Morse which he claims 

 implanted in that inventor's mind the germs of the idea of the elec- 

 tro-magnetic telegraph. A year and a half afterward, in the spring 

 of 1834, as he asserts, he constructed, successfully worked, and exhib- 

 ited to his friends, a telegraphic apparatus similar to that the concep- 

 tion of which he claimed to have described to Professor Morse. 



He settled in Boston, in the practice of medicine, in 1833, but in a 

 short time abandoned his profession, so that he might give his whole 

 time to the chemical, mineralogical, and geological investigations 

 which he preferred. He soon became known as one of the leading 



