Morfit, Campbell, , Missouri 1820 1897 Male Chemist chemist, son of Henry Mason Morfit, a native of Norfolk, Va. , and Catherine (Campbell) Morfit, was born at Herculaneum, Mo.
His father moved to Baltimore in 1861 and lived there until his death; he was a successful lawyer and held several public offices.
After an interrupted schooling Campbell Morfit enrolled as a student in Columbian College (now George Washington University), Washington, D. C. , but before completing his course he went to Philadelphia to enter the private chemical laboratory which had recently been established there by James Curtis Booth [q. v. ].
Meanwhile he associated himself with the University of Maryland.
His generous tender was declined, however, because the trustees decided that industrial chemistry did not fall within the field of a medical school, but in appreciation of Morfit's liberality and interest the University gave him the honorary degree of M. D.
His researches in industrial chemistry included studies in guano, salt, sugar, coal, gums, and glycerine.
Accounts of this varied work were published in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, the American Journal of Science and Arts, and other scientific periodicals.
He assisted Booth in preparing The Encyclopedia of Chemistry (1850), writing most of the longer and many of the smaller articles on subjects in industrial chemistry, e. g. fats, essential oils, dyes, starch, waxes, sugar, and varnish.
He also cooperated with Booth in the monograph On Recent Improvements in the Chemical Arts (1852).
He edited and revised an American edition of H. M. Noad's Chemical Analysis (1849).
In addition he was the author of several books, the best known being Chemistry Applied to the Manufacture of Soap and Candles (1847); 2nd ed. , A Treatise on Chemistry Applied (1856); Chemical and Pharmaceutical Manipulations (1849; 1857), in collaboration first with Alexander Mucklé and then with Clarence Morfit; A Practical Treatise on the Manufacture of Soap (1871), and A Practical Treatise on Pure Fertilizers (1872).
Jour.
Pharmacy, Feb. 1898; Royal Soc.
of London, Cat.
of Sci.
Papers, 1800-1863, vol.
IV (1870); J. C. Poggendorffs biographisch-literarisches Handw"rterbuch 1863-1904 (1926), vol.
II; Chemical News (London), Dec. 17, 1897; Times (London), Dec. 9, 1897. ]
His contributions to industrial chemistry were recognized by diplomas and awards from scientific societies and by his election as a Fellow of the Chemical Society of London.
Campbell Morfit was one of sixteen children.
She died Apr. 26, 1855, leaving a daughter who became a chemist, worked with her father in London, and died there Feb. 21, 1916.
Morfit never married again.
