868 THOMAS MESSINGER DROWN. 



THOMAS MESSINGER DROWN (1842-1904) 



Fellow in Class I, Section 3, 1887. 



In the death of Dr. Thomas Messinger Drown, late president of 

 Lehigh University, both the educational and scientific interests of the 

 country suffered a severe loss. 



Dr. Drown was born in Philadelphia, March 19, 1842. He at- 

 tended the schools of that city, graduating from its High School in 

 1859, from which he entered the medical department of the University 

 of Pennsylvania, receiving the degree of doctor of medicine in 1862. 

 As the interest aroused in him by the study of therapeutics or sur- 

 gery during this period was less keen than that for chemical science, 

 he devoted but a short time to medical practice, again becoming a 

 student, this time of chemistry, at the Sheffield and Lawrence Scien- 

 tific Schools, and also serving as assistant under Professor Gibbs at the 

 latter institution. His study of chemistry and metallurgy was con- 

 tinued at the University of Heidelberg and at the School of Mines, at 

 Freiberg, Saxony, where he had exceptional opportunities to meet 

 some of the masters in these sciences and to learn their methods of 

 teaching and investigation. Returning to America with a training in 

 metallurgical chemistry of unusual excellence, he opened an office as 

 analytical chemist in Philadelphia and maintained it for several years. 

 In 1874, he became professor of chemistry in Lafayette College and 

 retained that position until 1881. In 1873 he was elected to the 

 secretaryship of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, of which 

 he was a charter member, holding that office until 1883, and serving 

 as its president in 1897-1898. In 1885 he accepted the professorship 

 of analytical chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

 and was soon after placed in charge of the chemical department. 

 This position he resigned in 1895 to accept the presidency of Lehigh 

 LTniversity, which he held at the time of his death. He also retained 

 a connection with the Massachusetts State Board of Health, begun 

 in 1887, as consulting chemist. 



He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Columbia 

 University in 1895. He was elected Resident Fellow of the Academy 

 in March 1887, and was an Associate P'ellow at the time of his death, 

 which occurred November 16, 1904, after a brief illness. 



Dr. Drown will long be remembered as a successful and unusually 

 inspiring teacher by the many students who came under his influence 



