DAVID SMITH. 
315 
DAVID SMITH. 
1834-1903. 
[Read before the Society, May 13, 1905.] 
David Smith was a mechanical engineer of important at¬ 
tainments when he was elected to membership in the Philo¬ 
sophical Society, in 1876, and came into the association of 
the distinguished men who, according to the custom of that 
time, continued to meet together in one society, under the 
presidency of Prof. Joseph Henry, for the discussion of sub¬ 
jects relating to all branches of science. 
Although of foreign nativity, having been born in Scot¬ 
land on December 13, 1834, his entire education was ac¬ 
quired in America, whither he had been brought at an earl y 
age. As a youth he was graduated from Phillips-Andover 
Academy, and subsequently laid the foundation of his pro¬ 
fessional education at the Lawrence Scientific School of 
Harvard University. 
He became an officer of the Steam Engineering Depart¬ 
ment of the United States Navy in 1859, and served afloat 
with great credit throughout the Civil War. In 1867 he 
was placed in charge of the engineer’s department of the 
United States steamer Wampanoag, which at that time had a 
larger installation of horse-power than any other steamer 
afloat. He became temporary assistant to the Chief of the 
Bureau of Steam Engineering of the Navy Department in 
1869, and, while engaged in the duties of that position, 
prepared valuable technical briefs in regard to the work of 
the Confederate cruiser Shenandoah and other cruisers of her 
class, and received the special commendation of the Ameri¬ 
can representative at the Geneva Conference for the excel¬ 
lence of these papers. In 1874 President Grant appointed 
Mr. Smith as a member of the United States Steel Board, 
which was charged with the performance of an exhaustive 
