718 SIEMENS, CHARLES W. 



SMITH, JAMES L. 



SIEMENS, Charles William, an English electri- 

 cian and engineer, died in London, Nov. 20, 

 1883, of rupture of the heart, the result of a 

 fall. He was born at Lenthe, in Hanover, 

 April 4, 1823, and was educated in the gymna- 

 sium at Ltibe3k, the Polytechnic of Magdeburg, 

 and Gottingen University. In 1842 he entered 

 as an apprentice the engine-works of Count 

 Stolberg, and the following year he went to 

 England to introduce the electroplating pro- 

 cess invented by his elder brother, Werner Sie- 

 mens, and improved by himself. Applying to 

 the firm of Elkington, he found them engaged 

 in the same process, but was able to furnish 

 valuable suggestions as to practical details. In 

 1844 he returned to England to patent a differ- 

 ential governor for steam-engines, invented by 

 the two brothers. From that time he remained 

 in England, becoming naturalized in 1859. 



In conjunction with his brother he brought 

 out the anastatic printing process in 1844, and 

 perfected the chronometric governor in 1847. 

 He turned his attention to the study of the 

 dynamical theory of heat. The recovery of 

 the heat of the exhausted steam of an engine 

 was made the subject of experiments. In 1851 

 he introduced the Siemens water-meter. Be- 

 tween 1856 and 1861, with the assistance of 

 his brother Frederick, he worked out the re- 

 generative gas-furnace, and in 1867 he applied 

 the invention in the manufacture of open- 

 hearth steel. He experimented on the manu- 

 facture of iron and steel direct from the ore, 

 establishing for this purpose the experimental 

 works at Birmingham, from which samples of 

 steel were sent to the Universal Exposition at 

 Paris. Dr. C. W. Siemens interested himself 

 in telegraphy as early as 1848, and in 1858, in 

 connection with Werner Siemens and Halske, 

 of Berlin, and with his brother Carl, he estab- 

 lished the works which manufactured the Di- 

 rect United States, the Indo Telegraph, and 

 other cables, including the one to be laid for 

 the Bennett-Mackay company from Ireland to 

 the United States in 1884. 



Dr. Siemens gave much attention to pure 

 science, and was a prominent participant in 

 the proceedings of the Royal Institution, the 

 British Association, the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, the Iron and Steel Institute, and 

 other learned bodies devoted to theoretical and 

 practical science, and was also a frequent con- 

 tributor to the scientific press. 



SIMS, James Marion, an American surgeon, 

 born in Lancaster district, S. C., Jan. 25, 1813 ; 

 died in the city of New York, Nov. 13, 1883. 

 He was graduated at South Carolina College 

 in 1832, studied medicine, and entered upon 

 practice in Charleston. Thence he went to 

 Philadelphia, where he took a full course at 

 the Jefferson Medical College, and in 1836 

 he settled in Montgomery, Ala., where he 

 turned his attention more especially to sur- 

 gery. The idea of curing vesico-vaginal fis- 

 tula, at that date considered incurable, origi- 

 nated with Dr. Sims about 1845, and for the 



purpose of demonstrating his theories he estab- 

 lished a private hospital for women in Mont- 

 gomery, and supported it for four years at his 

 own expense. In the course of his experi- 

 ments he invented many new instruments, 

 one of which was a speculum that still bears 

 his name. The peculiarity of Dr. Sims's treat- 

 ment of the distressing ailment above named 

 was the substitution of silver wire for silken 

 sutures. In after-years he extended the use of 

 metallic sutures to every department of surgery 

 where they are employed. 



In 1849 Dr. Sims was prostrated with a 

 serious illness; in 1853 he began to improve, 

 and after his removal to New York his health 

 grew steadily better. During this period he 

 pondered over the idea of establishing a wom- 

 an's hospital, and in May, 1854, soon after 

 reaching New York, he delivered an address 

 upon that subject. Much discussion ensued, 

 and unexpected opposition followed. A pub- 

 lic meeting was held for the purpose of giving 

 definite shape to his idea ; and Drs. Delafield, 

 Francis, Mott, Stevens, Green, and Sims, to- 

 gether with Peter Cooper and the Hon. E. C. 

 Benedict, were appointed a committee for or- 

 ganizing a hospital for the treatment of dis- 

 eases of women. From this movement origi- 

 nated the Woman's Hospital Association. A 

 building on Madison Avenue was leased for 

 three years, and a temporary hospital was 

 opened in May, 1855, with Dr. Sims as surgeon- 

 in-chief. A charter was procured in 1857, 

 and in 1858 the Legislature of New York 

 appropriated $50,000 for the new hospital. 

 Soon after, the city authorities gave the site 

 on which the hospital now stands. Dr. Sims 

 devoted himself with enthusiastic energy to 

 this great work, and was largely aided and 

 encouraged by professional brethren, as well 

 as by ladies and gentlemen of New York. He 

 went abroad to study the subject, and by 

 special invitation operated in several of the 

 great hospitals in Paris, Brussels, London, and 

 Dublin, and received numerous decorations. 



Dr. Sims took his family to Europe in 1862, 

 and a large part of his time during the next 

 six years was spent there. In 1870, while he 

 was on a visit to Paris, the Franco-Prussian 

 War broke out, and he took charge of the 

 Anglo-American Ambulance Corps as snr- 

 geon-in-chief. He built up a large practice, 

 more particularly in France and Belgium. 



Dr. Sims was an honorary member of many 

 medical and scientific societies both in Europe 

 and America. In 1875 he was elected Presi- 

 dent of the American Medical Association. 

 His more important publications are, " Trismus 

 Nascentium"; "Silver Sutures in Surgery" 

 (1858) ; " Clinical Notes on Uterine Surgery " 

 (1866) ; " History of the Discovery of Anaes- 

 thesia"; and "Treatise on Ovariotomy." He 

 was also a frequent contributor to medical 

 and surgical journals. 



SMITH, James Lawrence, an American chemist 

 and mineralogist, born near Charleston, S. C., 



