Background
Alexander Duane was born on September 1, 1858 in Malone, New York, United States. He was the son of General James Chatham Duane, military engineer, by his wife Harriet, daughter of General Henry Brewerton of West Point.
Alexander Duane was born on September 1, 1858 in Malone, New York, United States. He was the son of General James Chatham Duane, military engineer, by his wife Harriet, daughter of General Henry Brewerton of West Point.
Because of the uncertain life of an army officer, Alexander Duane was tutored at home, being guided in literature by his mother, a woman of taste and wide reading, and in mathematics by his father.
He attended the high school at Portland, Maine, while his father was stationed there, and later went to St. Mark’s School from which, at the age of fifteen, he entered Union College.
He was graduated in 1878 with highest honors, including election to the Phi Beta Kappa society. During his academic years he laid an excellent foundation in languages, especially in German and Latin, and to the end of his life he was able to read and write Latin with ease and pleasure.
He spent a year at the Albany Medical College but transferred to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, where he received his medical degree in 1881.
During his academic years Duane laid an excellent foundation in languages, especially in German and Latin, and to the end of his life he was able to read and write Latin with ease and pleasure.
After a year as interne at the New York Hospital, during which he utilized his odd moments by writing medical terms for Webster’s Dictionary, he began to practise in New York as assistant first to a Dr. Ranney and later to Dr. George Stevens.
After a sojourn in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1888, he worked with Dr. Hermann Knapp of New York for two and a half years.
His mathematics fitted him for dealing with abstruse problems in physiological optics, refraction, and muscular weakness, and to all these subjects he made notable contributions.
After a year as interne at the New York Hospital, during which he utilized his odd moments by writing medical terms for Webster’s Dictionary, he began to practise in New York as assistant first to a Dr. Ranney and later to Dr. George Stevens. After a sojourn in Norfolk, Va. , in 1888, he worked with Dr. Hermann Knapp.
His mathematics fitted him for dealing with abstruse problems in physiological optics, refraction, and muscular weakness, and to all these subjects he made notable contributions.
As a linguist his greatest service was the translation of the eight successive editions of Ernest Fuchs’s Textbook of Ophthalmology, the first American edition appearing in 1892 and the eighth and last in 1924.
During the Spanish-American War he served in the navy as lieutenant (junior grade), and during the World War he was acting signal officer of the U. S. S. Granite State.
Duane was a quiet, retiring, and somewhat sensitive personality, much given to hard and persistent work but taking pleasure in the indulgence of his wide literary tastes and in his love of history, astronomy, botany, and music. His photographs show a clear-eyed, simple, kindly face.
On July 14, 1891, Duane married Susan Williams Galt of Norfolk, Virginia, by whom he had three children. His oldest son was killed in action in the World War.