Persifor Frazer

Background

Persifor Frazer was born on July 24, 1844, in Philadelphia. He was the son of John Fries Frazer and his wife, Charlotte Jeffers Cave.

Education

Frazer was educated in private schools of Philadelphia and at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he received the A. and M. A. degrees in 1862 and 1865, respectively.

In Philadelphia, Frazer began the study of chemistry with the commercial firm of Booth & Garrett but left after a few months to enter the Royal Saxon School of Mines at Frei- berg, Germany.

The Université de France bestowed upon him the degree of Docteur ès Sciences Naturelles in 1882, the first foreigner to receive this degree.

Career

Frazer participated in the Civil War: in 1862/63 as a member of the United States Coast Survey attached to the South Atlantic Squadron; as a member of the first troop, Philadelphia city cavalry, during the Gettysburg campaign; and later as acting ensign attached to the Mississippi Squadron, where he served until the close of the war.

After spending three years at Freiberg, he returned to America in 1869 to become mineralogist and metallurgist to the United States Geological Survey, then under the direction of Ferdinand. He wrote “Mines and Minerals of Colorado, ” which appeared in the Third Annual Report (1869) of the Survey.

In 1870, he was appointed instructor of natural philosophy and chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, succeeding his father as head of that department in 1872; and on the division of the department in 1873, he served one year as head of the department of chemistry.

Since by training and predilection he was more geologist than a chemist, he resigned from the University to become assistant to J. P. Lesley in the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania.

During the eight years that Frazer was connected with the survey, his work was largely confined to the south-eastern counties, where the structure presented an intricate geological problem. His able study, published in five volumes of the Reports of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, has not been greatly modified by subsequent work.

He served as general manager of the Central Virginia Iron Company, and a little later began to practice his profession as consulting and reporting geologist, metallurgist and mining engineer. This commercial work necessitated extensive travels in America and abroad, but the professional nature of his work did not detract from the purely scientific value of the reports published in that connection.

Frazer was one of the founders of the American Geologist, and one of its editors from 1888 to 1905. In 1882, he was made a professor of chemistry at Franklin Institute and was one of the editors of its Journal from 1881 to 1892.

He was also noted for his researches in the characteristics of handwriting and the study of manuscript documents, making some original contributions, among which was the colorimeter, an instrument to determine the relative intensity and color value of ink-marks in handwriting.

In this connection, he published A Manual of the Study of Documents to Establish the Individual Character of Handwriting and to Detect Fraud and Forgery. Later editions were published under the title: Bibliotics; or The Study of Documents. Later on, he took up the study of the Bertillon system and visited Bertillon in France to discuss his methods.

In the capacity of handwriting and Bertillon expert, Frazer appeared at many trials, his most noted work in this connection being the Molineux murder case tried in the New York courts.

Achievements

• Frazer was one of the most prolific of the scientific writers of the period, his publications numbering about three hundred titles, most of which were articles in scientific magazines, particularly the American Geologist and Journal of the Franklin Institute. Also, Frazer was one of the founders of the American Geologist. In 1890, the French government gave him the honorary title of Officier de l’Instruction Publique.

Works

More photos

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  • General Persifor Frazer

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • A Manual of the Study of Documents to Establish the Individual Character of Handwriting and to Detect Fraud and Forgery, Including Several New Metho

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Saint Augustine and Haeckel

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Persifor Frazer's Descendants ..; Volume 2

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

  • In Memoriam Edward Yorke MacAuley, Rear Admiral, U. S. N

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

  • Notes and Papers of or Connected with Persifor Frazer in Glasslough, Ireland: And His Son John Frazer of Philadelphia, 1735 to 1765

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

  • Mind Reading

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

  • Persifor Frazer's Descendants ..; Volume 1

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

Personality

Frazer was self-reliant and accurate in his search for scientific truths but was often so vigorous in defense of that which he believed the truth that he gave offense to others.

Connections

In 1871, Frazer married Isabella Nevins Whelen by whom he had four children.

Father:

John Fries Frazer

8 July 1812 - 14 October 1872

Mother:

Charlotte Jeffers Cave Frazer

1 September 1815 - 19 August 1881

Sister:

Sarah Frazer Ashhurst

17 February 1841 - 8 January 1918

Sister:

Anne Frazer Conrad

24 July 1839 - 19 October 1914

Wife:

Isabella Nevins Whelen Frazer

Son:

John Frazer

5 February 1882 - 7 June 1964

Son:

Persifor Frazer

4 July 1874 - 15 June 1925

References

• Joseph Leidy, M.D., LL.D (German Edition)