Viewing page 396 of 607

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[newspaper clipping]]
Tribune
OBITUARY. Jan 19 1887 
PROF. EDWARD LIVINGSTONE YOUMANS.
Professor Edward Livingstone Youmans, the writer and lecturer on scientific topics, died yesterday morning at his home in the Knickerbocker Flats, No. 247 Fifth-ave., from lung troubles induced by an attack of pneumonia about two years ago, from which he had never fully recovered. He had been failing for a year and for six months he was unable to go to his business office, but the end came sooner than his friends expected. The funeral will be strictly private, and the body will be taken for burial to Mt. Vernon, N. Y., where his parents still live. 

Professor Youmans was born in Coeymans, N. Y., on June 3, 1821, but while he was a child his parents removed to Saratoga. At the age of thirteen he suffered from ophthalmia, the effects of which rendered him blind for several years. His eyesight was defective even after his recovery from blindness, and frequently he had been unable to read. His sister, Miss Anne Eliza Youmans, proved to be an invaluable aid to him in after years in his researches into chemistry and physics. She read for him and co-operated with him in his experiments, and he did his writing on a machine of his own invention. His sister’s name is well known as a writer on botany and kindred subjects in a style suitable to children’s study.

Professor Youmans pursued a course of medical study and received a medical degree from the University of Vermont at Burlington. He never practised as a physician, however, and he achieved his tame as a writer on scientific subjects, bringing into popular favor to a larger extent than any other American the theories and teaching of Darwin, Spencer and the other exponents of the school of evolution. He acquired his title of Professor by accepting the chair of chemistry at Antioch College in 1866. He had previously (in 1851) issued a chart illustrating chemical composition by colored diagrams, a few years later a publication being made of it revised on an enlarged scale. The year after his well-known “Class Book of Chemistry” was printed, a revised edition appearing in 1863 and a translation of it into Spanish being made in 1866. The book was re-written in 1875 in the light of his subsequent studies and investigations. Among his other books which made him known to students were: “Alcohol and the Constitution of Man,” published in 1853; “The Chemical Atlas,” with text, 1855; “The Handbook of Household Science,” 1857; “The Correlation and the Conservation of Forces,” 1864; and “The Culture Demanded by Modern Life.” 1867. The last two books were compilations with original introductions, and the last-named volume contained an original lecture on “The Scientific Study of Human Nature.” His lectures on scientific subjects were extensive and contributed greatly to popularized the doctrines of the conservation of energies and the correlation of forces.

For nearly forty years Professor Youmans has held intimate relations with D. Appleton & Co., the publishing house. William H. Appleton was first attracted to him by his visit, in company with his sister, to the old store in lower Broadway, in search of scientific books for his own use. In 1872 he established “The Popular Science Monthly,” which proved a powerful agent in spreading evolutionary views. He was a warm personal friend of Herbert Spencer, and is credited with being far more instrumental than any other man in introducing and circulating Mr. Spencer’s works in the United States, carefully editing them. 

Professor Youmans’s reputation was well known in Europe, and he was influential in bringing to the attention of the British general public the writings of their great philosopher, who was popularized here before he was in his own country. In 1871 Professor Youmans projected “The International Scientific Series,” which included scientific works of note and interest published in New-York, London, Paris and Leipsic and subsequently in Milan and St. Petersburg. Under this system the authors receive payment from the sales in all the countries.

A faithful, conscientious and devoted worker, Professor Youmans’s love of science resulted in his giving the greatest assistance possible to the dissemination of scientific literature in this country and the extension of knowledge of the most advanced theories of scientific men among the general public. His personal help to those engaged in this branch of research was large but unostentatious. Singularly unselfish, he had marked individuality and character, and his conversation was intense and animated. He leaves a wife but no children. His sister, who has been a close associate with him in his studies and works, also survives him.
[[/newspaper clipping]]

Transcription Notes:
Handwritten portion transcribed on following page.