Adam Seybert

Background

He was born on May 16, 1773 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of Sebastian and Barbara Seybert.

Education

After receiving instruction in the classics privately, he was prepared by Caspar Wistar for the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, which granted him the degree of M. D. in 1793.

His inaugural dissertation was an attempt to disprove experimentally the theory that in certain diseases the blood of living animals undergoes putrefaction. In his experiments Seybert used dogs, subjecting them to all the conditions, so far as he could simulate them, which famous physicians, among them, Herman Boerhaave of Leyden, had asserted induced the deterioration of the blood composition. This work was published in 1793 under the title An Inaugural Dissertation, Being an Attempt to Disprove the Doctrine of the Putrefaction of the Blood of Animals; it appeared, also, in a German translation in 1816.

Seybert continued his studies at London, Edinburgh, and Gottingen, but most intensively, in mineralogy, at the Ecole des Mines, Paris, under the A. Hauy, the "father of crystallography. "

Career

Returning to Philadelphia in 1797, Seybert was that year elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society. To the sessions of the Society he contributed pioneer papers upon marsh air, and land and sea air, which were published in its Transactions (1799). In 1799 he became one of the secretaries of the Society, serving as such until 1808; in 1810 and 1811 he was elected a counselor.

To his interest in chemistry, Seybert added a striking ability to analyze minerals correctly, becoming in this respect perhaps the earliest American expert. To the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences he sold his collection of European minerals, enabling that institution to begin, in 1814, a series of lectures upon mineralogy and crystallography.

Upon the death, in 1809, of James Woodhouse, professor of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, Seybert was strongly recommended for the position by his old teacher, Caspar Wistar, but the position eventually went to John R. Coxe through the influence of Benjamin Rush.

During the first few years of the century, Seybert ran a drug and apothecary shop in Philadelphia, to which was attached a laboratory for the manufacture of chemicals. In this early commercial laboratory were manufactured, it is claimed, the first mercurials in America.

In 1809 Seybert was elected to fill the congressional seat made vacant by the resignation of Benjamin Say and served as a Democratic member from 1809 to 1815 and again from 1817 to 1819. During this period he interested himself chiefly in the collection of elaborate statistical data, publishing in 1818 Statistical Annals of the United States, 1789-1818. Careful tables accompanied the book, tabulating the expenditures for the mint, the army, the navy, and other governmental departments; the national revenues and expenditures and the public debts were also summated therein. This work was translated into the French in 1820, and its appearance was noted in the British Isles by an article in the Edinburgh Review (January 1820) from the pen of Sydney Smith.

He died in Paris, died May 2, 1825.

Achievements

• In chemistry and mineralogy Adam Seybert was one of the American pioneers, worthy to rank with Silliman, Hare, Woodhouse, and Mitchill. His famous work - An Inaugural Dissertation, Being an Attempt to Disprove the Doctrine of the Putrefaction of the Blood of Animals, made a part of a collection of outstanding theses of American medical institutions. His another famous work - Statistical Annals of the United States, was the first attempt to elaborate statistical data concerning the revenues and expenditures of the federal government.

Works

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• book

  • Report of the Committee Appointed to Inquire Into the Present Condition and Distribution of the Flags, Standards and Colors, Which Have Been Taken by ... Whether It Would Be Expedient to Make Any...

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Statistical Annals

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Views

In his will he bequeathed the sum of $1000 for the education of the deaf and dumb, $500 to start a fund for discharged prisoners, and other sums to the Philadelphia Dispensary and to its Orphan Asylum. It was his belief, expressed in his will, that the poor unfortunates leaving the penitentiary might be prevented from the commission of further crimes by the donation to them of funds for two days' food and two nights' lodging; hence his provision for discharged prisoners.

Membership

Besides the American Philosophical Society, he was a member of the American Medical Society, of the Chemical Society of Philadelphia, and of the Royal Scientific Society of Gottingen.

Personality

The versatility of Seybert's mind is reflected by the breadth of his interests and activity. To whatever he turned his attention he brought the patience and persistence which exhibited the true scientist and friend of humanity.

Connections

He married, in 1798, Maria Sarah, daughter of Henry Pepper. Two children were born to them, a daughter who died in infancy and Henry Seybert.

Father:

Sebastian Seybert

Mother:

Barbara Seybert

Spouse:

Maria Sarah Pepper

Son:

Henry Seybert

teacher:

A. Hauy

teacher:

Caspar Wistar