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BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN (1810–1883)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 19 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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BLACK
BLACK, ADAM (1784-1874)
BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN (1810–1883)
BLACK, WILLIAM (1841-1898)

BLACK, See also:
JEREMIAH
JEREMIAH See also:
SULLIVAN, JOHN (1740–1795)
SULLIVAN, SIR ARTHUR SEYMOUR (1842—1900)
SULLIVAN, THOMAS BARRY (1824-1891)
SULLIVAN (1810–1883) , See also:

AMERICAN

American lawyer and statesman, was See also:

BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born in Stony See also:

Creek township, See also:

Somerset See also:

COUNTY (through Norm. Fr. comae, cf. O. Fr. cunte, conk', Mod. Fr. comae, from Lat. comitatus, cf. Ital. comitato, Prov. comtat; see COUNT)

county, See also:

Pennsylvania, on the loth of See also:

JANUARY

January 181o. He was largely self-educated, and before he was of See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age was admitted to the Pennsylvania See also:

bar. He gradually became one of the leading American lawyers, and in 1851–1857 was a member of the supreme See also:

court of Pennsylvania (See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief-See also:

JUSTICE (Lat. justitia)

justice 1851-1854). In 18s7 he entered See also:

PRESIDENT (Fr. president, from Lat. praesidens, post-Augustan Lat. for praeses, director, ruler, from praesidere, to sit in front of, preside)

President See also:

Buchanan's See also:

CABINET

cabinet as See also:

ATTORNEY (from O. Fr. atorne, a person appointed to act for another, from atourner, legal Lat. attornare, attorn, literally to turn over to another or commit business to another)

attorney See also:

general of the See also:

UNITED

United States. In this capacity he successfully contested the validity of the " See also:

California See also:

LAND

land claims "—claims to about 19,000 sq. m. of land, fraudulently alleged to have been granted to land-grabbers and others by the Mexican See also:

government See also:

prior to the See also:

close of the Mexican See also:

War. From the 17th of See also:

DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December 186o to the 4th of See also:

March 1861 he was secretary of See also:

state. Perhaps the most influential of President Buchanan's See also:

OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official advisers, he denied the constitutionality of See also:

SECESSION

secession, and urged that Fort See also:

Sumter be properly reinforced and defended. " For . . . the vigorous assertion at last in word and in See also:

DEED (in O. Eng. dead, from the stem of the verb " to do ")

deed that the United States is a nation," says See also:

James See also:

Ford See also:

Rhodes, " for pointing out the way in which the authority of the Federalof the .states, the gratitude of the American See also:

PEOPLE

people is due to Jeremiah S. Black." He became reporter to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1861, but after See also:

PUBLISHING

publishing the reports for the years 1861 and 1862 he resigned, and devoted himself almost exclusively to his private practice, appearing in such important cases before the Supreme Court as the one known as Ex-Parte See also:

MILLIGAN, WILLIAM (1821-1892)

Milligan, in which he ably defended the right of 'trial by See also:

JURY

jury, the McCardle See also:

case and the United States v. Blyew et al. After the See also:

CIVIL

Civil War he vigorously opposed the Congressional See also:

plan of reconstructing the See also:

LATE

late Confederate states, and himself drafted the See also:

MESSAGE (a word occurring in slightly different forms in several languages, e.g. Fr. message, Span. mensaje, Ital. messagio; adapted from the Low Lat. missaticum, from mittere)

message 9f President See also:

Johnson, vetoing the Reconstruction See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

Act of the 2nd of March 1867.

Black was also for a See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short See also:

time counsel for President See also:

Andrew Johnson, in his trial on the See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article of See also:

IMPEACHMENT (O. Fr. empeahement, empeschement, from em pecher or empescher, to hinder, Late Lat. impedicare, to entangle, pedica, fetter, pes, foot)

impeachment, before the United States See also:

SENATE (Lat. senatus, from root sen-, as in senex, old; the root is the Sanskrit sana, cf. Gr. 'vos; the same element appears in senor, seigneur, seneschal)

Senate, and for See also:

William W. See also:

Belknap (1829–189o), secretary of war from 1869 to 1876, who in 1876 was impeached on a See also:

charge of corruption; and with others he represented See also:

SAMUEL

Samuel J. See also:

TILDEN, SAMUEL JONES (1814-1886)

Tilden during the contest for the See also:

PRESIDENCY

presidency between Tilden and See also:

HAYES, RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD (1822–1893)

Hayes (see ELECTORAL See also:

COMMISSION (from Lat. commissio, committere)

COMMISSION). He died at Brockie, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of See also:

AUGUST (originally Sextilis)

August 1883. See Essays and Speeches of Jeremiah S. Black, with a See also:

BIOGRAPHICAL

Biographical See also:

SKETCH (directly adapted from Dutch schets, which was taken from Ital. schizzo, a rough draft, Lat. schedium, something hastily made, Gr. oxE&os, sudden, off-hand, axeb6v, near by; Ger. Skizze and Fr. esquisse are from the same source)

Sketch (New See also:

York, 1885), by his son, C. F. Black. BLACK; See also:

JOSEPH (1728-1799), Scottish chemist and physicist, was born in 1728 at See also:

BORDEAUX

Bordeaux, where his father—a native of See also:

BELFAST

Belfast but of Scottish descent—was engaged in the See also:

WINE (Lat. vinum, Gr. oivos)

wine See also:

trade. At the age of twelve he was sent to a See also:

GRAMMAR (from Lat. grammatica, sc. ars; Gr. ypaµ)

grammar school in Belfast, whence he removed in 1746 to study See also:

MEDICINE

medicine in See also:

GLASGOW

Glasgow. There he had William See also:

Cullen for his instructor in See also:

chemistry, and the relation between the two soon became that of See also:

PROFESSOR (the Latin noun formed from the verb profiteri, to declare publicly, to acknowledge, profess)

professor and assistant rather than of See also:

MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master and See also:

PUPIL (Lat. pupillus, orphan, minor, dim. of pupus, boy, allied to puer, from root pm- or peu-, to beget, cf. "pupa," Lat. for " doll," the name given to the stage intervening between the larval and imaginal stages in certain insects)

pupil. The See also:

ACTION

action of lithontriptic medicines, especially See also:

lime-See also:

WATER

water, was one of the questions of the See also:

day, and through his investigations of this subject Black was led to the chemical discoveries associated with his name.

The causticity of alkaline bodies was explained at that time as depending on the presence in them of the principle of See also:

FIRE (in O. Eng. f j'r; the word is common to West German languages, cf. Dutch vuur, Ger. Feuer; the pre-Teutonic form is seen in Sanskrit pu, pavaka, and Gr. irup; the ultimate origin is usually taken to be a root meaning to purify, cf. Lat. purus)

fire, " phlogiston "; quicklime, for instance, was See also:

CHALK

chalk which had taken up phlogiston, and when mild alkalis such as See also:

SODIUM [symbol Na, from Lat. natrium; atomic weight 23.00 (0=16)]

sodium or See also:

POTASSIUM [symbol K (from kalium), atomic weight 39.114 0=16)]

potassium carbonate were causticized by its aid, the phlogiston was supposed to pass from it to them. Black showed that on the contrary causticization meant the loss of something, as proved by loss of See also:

WEIGHT

weight; and this something he found to be an " See also:

air," which, because it was fixed in the substance before it was causticized, he spoke of as " fixed air." Taking See also:

MAGNESIA

magnesia See also:

ALBA

alba, which he distinguished from See also:

LIMESTONE

limestone with which it had previously been confused, he showed that on being heated it lost weight owing to the See also:

ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

escape of this fixed air (named carbonic See also:

ACID (from the Lat. root ac-, sharp; acere, to be sour)

acid by See also:

LAVOISIER, ANTOINE LAURENT (1743-1794)

Lavoisier in 1781), and that the weight was regained when the calcined product was made to reabsorb the fixed air with which it had parted. These investigations, by which Black not only gave a See also:

GREAT

great impetus to the chemistry of gases by clearly indicating the existence of a See also:

gas distinct from See also:

COMMON

common air, but also anticipated Lavoisier and See also:

MODERN

modern chemistry by his See also:

APPEAL

appeal to the See also:

BALANCE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. bilantia, an apparatus for weighing, from bi, two, and lanx, a dish or scale)

balance, were described in the thesis De humore acido a cibis orto, et magnesia alba, which he presented for his See also:

DOCTOR (Lat. for " teacher ")

doctor's degree in 1754; and a See also:

fuller See also:

account of them was read before the Medical Society of See also:

EDINBURGH

Edinburgh in See also:

JUNE

June 1755, and published in the following See also:

YEAR

year as Experiments upon magnesia, quicklime and some other alkaline substances. It is curious that Black See also:

LEFT

left to others the detailed study of this " fixed air " he had discovered. Probably the explanation is pressure of other See also:

WORK

work. In 1756 he succeeded Cullen as lecturer in chemistry at Glasgow, and was also appointed professor of See also:

anatomy, though that See also:

POST

post he was glad to See also:

EXCHANGE

exchange for the See also:

CHAIR (in. Mid. Eng. chcere, through O. Fr. chaire or chaiere, from Lat. cathedra, later caledra, Gr. xaOi3pa, seat, cf. "cathedral"; the modern Fr. form chaise, a chair, has been adopted in English with a particular meaning as a form of carriage; chaire

chair of medicine. The preparation of lectures thus took up much of his time, and he was also gaining an extensive practice as a physician. Moreover, his See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention was engaged on studies which ultimately led to his See also:

DOCTRINE

doctrine of latent See also:

HEAT (0. E. haktu, which like " hot," Old Eng. hat, is from the Teutonic type haita, hit, to be hot; cf. Ger. hitze, heiss; Dutch, hitte, heet, &c.)

heat. He noticed that when See also:

ICE (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Eis)

ice melts it takes up a quantity of heat without undergoing any See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change of temperature, and he argued that this heat, which as was usual in his time- he looked upon as a subtle fluid, must have combined with the particles of ice and thus become latent government might be exercised without infringing on the rights_ in its substance. This See also:

HYPOTHESIS (from Gr. inrorcOivat, to put under; cf. Lat. suppositio, from sub-ponere)

hypothesis he verified quantitatively by experiments, performed at the end of 1761. In 1764, with the aid of his assistant, William See also:

IRVINE

Irvine (1743-1787), he further measured the latent heat of See also:

steam, though not very accurately. This doctrine of latent heat he taught in his lectures from 1761 onwards, and in See also:

APRIL

April 1762 he described his work to a See also:

LITERARY

literary society in Glasgow.

But he never published any detailed account of it, so that others, such as J. A. See also:

DELUC, JEAN ANDRE (1727–1817)

Deluc, were able to claim the See also:

CREDIT (Lat. credere, to believe)

credit of his results. In the course.of his inquiries he also noticed that different bodies in equal masses require different amounts of heat to raise them to the same temperature, and so founded the doctrine of specific heats; he also showed that equal additions or abstractions of heat produced equal See also:

variations of bulk in the liquid of his thermometers. In 1766 he succeeded Cullen in the chair of chemistry in Edinburgh, where he devoted practically all his time to the preparation of his lectures. Never very robust, his See also:

HEALTH

health gradually became weaker and ultimately he was reduced to the See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of a valetudinarian. In 1795 he received the aid of a coadjutor in his professorship, and two years later he lectured for the last time. He died in Edinburgh on the 6th of December 1799 (not on the 26th of See also:

NOVEMBER (Lat. novem, nine)

November as stated in Robison's See also:

LIFE

life). As a scientific investigator, Black was conspicuous for the carefulness of his work and his caution in See also:

DRAWING

drawing conclusions. Holding that chemistry had not attained the See also:

RANK (O.Fr. rant or rent, mod. rang, generally connected with the O.E. and O.H.G. bring, a ring)

rank of a science—his lectures dealt with the "effects of heat and mixture"—he had an almost morbid horror of hasty generalization or of anything that had the pretensions of a fully fledged See also:

SYSTEM

system. This See also:

MENTAL

mental attitude, combined with a certain lack of initiative and the weakness of his health, probably prevented him from doing full justice to his splendid See also:

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

powers of experimental See also:

RESEARCH (O. Fr. recerche, from recercher, re- and cercer, mod. chercher, to search; Late Lat. circare, to go round in a circle, to explore)

research. Apart from the work already mentioned he published only two papers during his life-time—" The supposed effect of boiling on water, in disposing it to freeze more readily " (Phil.

Trans., 1775), and " An See also:

ANALYSIS (Gr. avci and Meta, to break up into parts)

analysis of the See also:

WATERS, TERRITORIAL

waters of the hot springs in See also:

ICELAND (Dan. Island)

Iceland " (Trans. See also:

ROY, WILLIAM (1726-1790)

Roy. See also:

Soc. Ed., 1794). After his See also:

DEATH

death his lectures were written out from his own notes, supplemented by those of some of his pupils, and published with a biographical See also:

PREFACE (Med. Lat. prefatia, for classical praefatio, praefari, to speak beforehand)

preface by his friend and colleague, Professor See also:

John Robison (1739-1805), in 1803, as Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, delivered in the University of Edinburgh.

End of Article: BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN (1810–1883)

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