American scientist, born in Philadelphia, PA, on the 17th of January 1781; son of an English brewer. He early showed an interest in chemistry and physics, and before he was twenty was a member of the Chemical Society of Philadelphia. In 1801 he invented the oxyhydrogen blowpipe; shortly afterward he contrived an apparatus which was the first to render lime, magnesium, iridium and platinum fusible in any considerable quantity; from this discovery proceed what are commonly known as the Drummond or calcium lights. In 1816 he invented the calorimotor, a heat-producing battery; it was the basis of his discovery of the application of voltaic electricity to blasting under water (1831). His chemical “finds” were also many and valuable. In 1818 he became professor of chemistry in William and Mary College, and also accepted a similar position in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He resigned the latter position in 1847. Later he became a believer in spiritualism, and lectured in its advocacy. He made numerous contributions to scientific literature, over two hundred papers in the American Journal of Science, and published Brief View of the Policy and Resources of the United States (1810); Chemical Apparatus and Manipulations (1839); Compendium of the Course of Chemical Instruction in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania (1840); Memoir on the Explosiveness of Nitre (1850); and Spiritualism Scientifically Demonstrated (1855). All his ingenious apparatus, many of them unique in conception and construction, he bestowed by will to the Smithsonian Institution. He died in Philadelphia on the 15th of May 1858.
