John William Mallet

Background

John William Mallet was born on October 10, 1832, near Dublin, Ireland. He was the eldest of six children of Robert Mallet, an engineer, and a fellow of the Royal Society, and Cordelia Watson Mallet.

Education

After studying chemistry at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Mallet entered Trinity College in 1849, publishing about this time his first scientific contribution, "Notice of a New Chemical Examination of Killinite," in the Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin.

In 1852, John received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Göttingen and in 1853 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree at Trinity College, Dublin.

Career

Mallet assisted his father in experiments on the velocity of shock-transmission from gunpowder explosions through rock and lose earth and had commenced the preparation of a "Catalogue of Recorded Earthquakes from B. C. 1606 to A. D. 1842," which was published in the Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1852, 1853, and 1854.

Coming to America in 1853, he was an assistant professor of analytical chemistry at Amherst College for several months in 1854, then became chemist to the state geological survey of Alabama (1855-1856) and professor of chemistry at the state university (1855-1860). From the papers of Michael Tuomey he edited "The Second Biennial Report on the Geology of Alabama" (1858). He also undertook an exhaustive scientific study of the culture of cotton.

For this work specimens of plants, soils, and rocks were secured from India, Algeria, Africa, and America; soils were analyzed; density, cohesion, capillarity, and absorption of gases were determined; stems, roots, seeds, fibers were separately analyzed. The resulting treatise was published in book form under the title, "Cotton: the Chemical, Geological, and Meteorological Conditions Involved in Its Successful Cultivation" (1862) and appeared the same year in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.

Enlisting as a private in the service of the Confederacy shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, Mallet became in November 1861 an officer on the staff of General R. E. Rodes, and in 1862 was given general supervision of the ordnance laboratories of the Confederacy. After the war, for a group of Northern capitalists, he made a survey for petroleum in Louisiana and Texas (1865).

He was a professor of chemistry in the medical department of the University of Louisiana, 1865-1867; at the University of Virginia, 1867-1883; in the University of Texas, 1883-1884; and in Jefferson Medical College (present-day Thomas Jefferson University), 1884-1885. He then returned to the University of Virginia, where he remained, as professor emeritus after 1908, until his death.

He insisted that each of his students make some investigation and so add his fragment to the sum total of knowledge. His own publications comprised more than one hundred papers on new compounds, minerals, and chemical and physical phenomena. In 1881-1882, he made investigations of drinking waters, reporting the results in the Annual Report of the National Board of Health, 1882 (1883). Three times (1886, 1888, 1896), Mallet was a member of the Assay Commission.

In 1877-1878, he lectured at Johns Hopkins University. He was one of the founders of the American Chemical Society and its president in 1882, a member of several European chemical societies, and a fellow of the Royal Society of London. He served as a member of the International Committee on Atomic Weights, 1899; and of the International Congress of Applied Chemistry in Berlin, 1903, and Rome, 1906.

Achievements

• John William Mallet is known for his work as a professor of chemistry in numerous universities in the United States. He worked at the University of Virginia for 40 years and became professor emeritus. He was one of the founders of the American Chemical Society and its president in 1882, he was a member of several European chemical societies, and a fellow of the Royal Society of London.
  
  Mallet Assembly was located in Mallet Hall was named in his honor.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association, With the Discussion, Curves, and Maps, Etc 1858
  • The Physiological Effect of Creatin and Creatinin and Their Value as Nutrients
  • Shenandoah Alum Springs! Shenandoah County, Va: The Nearest Alum Springs to Washington, Baltimore, and the Northern Cities; Analysis
  • A lecture delivered before the University of Virginia May 30 1868 1868
  • Cotton: The Chemical, Geological, and Meteorological Conditions Involved in Its Successful Cultivation
  • Syllabus Of A Course Of Lectures On General Chemistry

Religion

John was an Episcopalian.

Views

Mallet's scientific work spanned a wide area, including general and applied chemistry and chemical mineralogy. He developed methods for determining the organic substance in drinking water and characterized meteorites and rare terrestrial minerals. In particular, he examined the occurrence of silver in the ashes of South American volcanoes. He precisely determined the density of solid mercury, the molecular weight of hydrofluoric acid, and the atomic weights of lithium, aluminum, and gold.

Membership

John William Mallet was a member of Royal Society, College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Medical Society of Virginia, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Society of Arts in London, American Chemical Society (of which he was president in 1882), Société Chimique de France, German Chemical Society, American Philosophical Society.

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  Royal Society , United Kingdom

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  Medical Society of Virginia , United States

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  American Academy of Arts and Sciences , United States

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  American Association for the Advancement of Science , United States

• Royal Society of Arts , United Kingdom

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  American Chemical Society , United States

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  Société Chimique de France , France

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  German Chemical Society , Germany

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  American Philosophical Society , United States

Personality

As a lecturer Mallet was systematic, concise, clear in his presentation, and explanation of facts. Although he was a resident of the United States for more than fifty years, Mallet never relinquished his status as a British subject.

Interests

• Shooting, fishing

Connections

Mallet was married in 1857 to Mary Elizabeth Ormond of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who died in 1886; and in 1888 to Marie Josephine Pages of Louisiana. Three children were born of his first marriage.

Father:

Robert Mallet

Mother:

Cordelia Watson Mallet

late wife:

Mary Elizabeth Ormond Mallet

Wife:

Marie Josephine Pages Mallet

1845-1927

Daughter:

Mary Constance Mallet Elliot

Son:

John Ormond Mallet

1858-1884

Friend:

William S. Clark

References

• Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy
  1977