878 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 545. 



of ' acid phosphate, ' so commonly used with 

 summer beverages.* 



The development of the mineral re- 

 sources of our country has been due largely 

 to those "who from their knowledge of 

 chemistry were able to recognize the com- 

 mercial value of the natural deposits in the 

 vicinity of their homes. This has been 

 conspicuously the case with the great fer- 

 tilizer industry of the south, and especially 

 so in South Carolina, where the names of 

 Charles Upham Shepard (1804-86) and 

 St. Julien Ravenel (1819-82) are recog- 

 nized as those of pioneers in that important 

 branch of chemical industry. 



To quote from Silliman again, and he is 

 always an acceptable authority, "No ob- 

 servation or original research of Dr. Shep- 

 ard has been fruitful of so much good in 

 its consequences as his discovery of the 

 deposits of phosphate of lime in the Eocene 

 marl of South Carolina, and the distinct 

 recognition of its great value for agricul- 

 ture, "t It was Dr. Ravenal, however, 

 whose experiments made it possible to 

 transform these phosphate rocks into com- 

 mercial fertilizers, and of him the younger 

 Shepard wrote in 1882 : ' ' Well might this 

 community erect a public monument in 

 honor of the man to whom preeminently 

 is due the inauguration of that phosphate 

 industry which has proven of such incal- 

 culable value to ourselves and others. As 

 the statue of Berzelius adorns beautiful 

 Stockholm, let us commemorate [similarly] 

 the founder of Charleston's greatest in- 

 dustry." It may be added that Dr. Rav- 

 enel differed from the agricultural chemists 

 of his time in devoting greater attention to 

 the physiological phases of the application 

 of fertilizers to plants than to the mere 



* A sketch of his career prepared by Charles L. 

 .Tackson appeared in the Proceedings of the Ameri- 

 can Academy of Arts and (Sciences, XXVIII., 1903, 

 p. 34. 



\ American Chemist, V., 1874, p. 96. 



chemistry of the subject ; this was nat- 

 urally due to his early training in medi- 

 cine. * 



It would lead me too far from chemistry, 

 perhaps, to discuss the work of the younger 

 Shepard (1842- ) in successfully intro- 

 ducing tea culture into the United States, 

 but his farm in Summerville, S. C, is a 

 monument to the application of his chem- 

 ical knowledge to a new industry, and well 

 may his fellow-countrymen be proud of the 

 results. 



It is desirable to mention at this place 

 the remarkable successes achieved by a 

 .small band' of chemists who spent the four 

 years of otit Civil AVar in their southland. 

 George Washington Raines (1817-98), 

 John Le Conte (1818-91), Joseph Le 

 Conte (1823-91) and John WiUiam Mal- 

 lett (1832- ) are among the more con- 

 spicuous names that occur to me. It was 

 Raines who erected at Augusta, Ga., the 

 Confederate powder works, which at the 

 close of the war were regarded 'as among 

 the best in the world. 't 



The Confederate government appointed 

 John Le Conte to the superintendency of 

 the extensive niter works established in 

 Columbia, S. C, which place he retained 

 during the war. + Joseph Le Conte, a 

 younger brother, served as chemist to the 

 Confederate laboratory for the manufac- 

 ture of medicines in 1862-3, and also in a 

 similar capacity to the niter and mining 

 bureau in 1864^5. Professor Mallett was 



* Two memorial pamphlets of Dr. Ravenel have 

 been published. One, entitled ' In Menioriam, St. 

 Julien Ravenel, M.D.' (9 pp.), is a reprint of an 

 editorial from the Charleston Xews and Courier of 

 March 18, 1882. The other, entitled 'Dr. St. 

 .Julien Ravenel,' is a memorial published by the 

 Agricultural Society of South Carolina, Charles- 

 ton, S. C. (54 pp.). 



I He published in pamphlet form a ' History of 

 the Confederate Powder Works' (Augusta, 1882). 



J ' Biographical Memoirs,' National Academy of 

 Sciences, III., p. 309. 



