Emil Alexander de Schweinitz, PhD

Emil Alexander de Schweinitz, PhD

• Find A Grave Memorial ID # 46932715
• Dean Emil Alexander de Schweinitz, PhD

IN the medical department of George Washington University (formerly Columbian) there has been erected a memorial tablet in honor of Emil Alexander de Schweinitz, professor of chemistry and toxicology, 1892-1904; dean of the department of medicine, 1897-1904, "in recognition of his services to medicine and to the cause of medical education."

Emil Alexander de Schweinitz, scientist, author and teacher, was born in the old Moravian town of Salem, North Carolina on January 18, 1864. His ancestry was an ancient German family belonging to the Silesian nobility, the genealogical records of which reach back without a break to 1350, and of which it's said isolated traces may be found as far back as 1200. Its members have been prominent in Germany from a very remote period in the service of the state and church.

In the great religious struggle of the sixteenth century the von Schweinitz family espoused the cause of the Protestant faith. In about 1735 the branch from which the subject of this sketch sprang became connected with the Moravian Church. This was shortly after the resuscitation of that church under the fostering care of Count Zinzendorf, it is having previously been almost annihilated in the struggle incident to and after the Thirty Years' War. It was this ancient connection with the Moravian Church which was directly responsible for the presence of representatives of the family in America.

The first of the name to come to America was Hans Christian Alexander von Schweinitz. He came to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1770, charged with the administration of the affairs of the Moravian Church in this country. On April 27, 1779, he was married to Dorothea von Wattewille, a granddaughter of Count Zinzendorf.

Their oldest son was Lewis David von Schweinitz, born at Bethlehem, February 13, 1780. This son of the founder of the American branch was a man of great erudition. He was a devout churchman and prominent in ecclesiastical work, but during his labors on behalf of the church he found much time to devote to abstruse scientific research and became one of the most distinguished American botanists of his time. His attention was devoted to cryptogamic botany, and he added the enormous number of nearly 1,400 new species to the botanical science of his period.

His scientific treatises were written in Latin, and his translations into that tongue included his own name, which appeared as Ludovicus de Schweinitz. His descendants have for the most part signed themselves de Schweinitz instead of von Schweinitz, evidently preferring their name in its Latinized form. It is probable that the love of science of our dear dead friend was a heritage from this illustrious ancestor.

On May 24, 1812, he married Amalie le Doux of Huguenot descent, and their second son was Emil Adolphus de Schweinitz, who served the Moravian Church in various capacities, the last of which was that of bishop. Emil Adolphus de Schweinitz married Sophia Hermann, daughter of Bishop J. G. Hermann, in 1842, and their sixth child and only son was Emil Alexander de Schweinitz, our beloved friend, whose life we are commemorating.

Descended from a cultured ancestry, Dr. de Schweinitz was by nature studious and thoughtful. His education was begun early and extended over a long period, during which he worked patiently and systematically, recognizing the value of liberal and thorough education, and earnestly striving to secure the best possible equipment for the busy life which was to follow. He began school at an early age, first attending a Moravian school in his native town of Salem.

In 1877 he was sent to Nazareth Hall Military Academy, a boarding school for boys at Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where he remained for one year, graduating at the head of his class, and receiving the first prize, a gold medal, in June, 1878. From 1878 to 1881 he pursued a classical course in the Moravian College at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He did not remain at that college sufficiently long to complete the course. Evidently, he had a desire to receive his degree from the University of his native State.

In August, 1881, he matriculated at the University of North Carolina, and so diligently had he applied himself during the preceding years that he was admitted to the senior class. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in June, 1882, at the youthful age of eighteen years. During the summer following his graduation he pursued a course in chemistry and mineralogy at the University of Virginia.

In September, 1882, he returned to the University of North Carolina, where he remained until 1885, receiving in the latter year the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. It was during this period that the friendship between Dr. de Schweinitz and the writer began. At that time Dr. de Schweinitz possessed the same quiet, reserved disposition which is familiar to those who knew him during recent years. There was only a casual acquaintance between him and the bulk of his fellow-students, among many of whom there was, because of his reserve and a degree of diffidence, an impression that he was indifferent and lacking in warmth of heart. This impression was erroneous, for his heart, if reached in the proper way, was exceedingly warm, and no man could be more loyal. His intimate friends were few, but those who came into close association with him found in him qualities which could not fail to command their respect and admiration.

My personal recollection of de Schweinitz, the college student, is that he was by nature industrious, and was very intent upon his work; that he always stood well in his classes, more because of his industry and systematic effort than because of brilliancy: and that beneath an exterior of seeming indifference, if not of coldness, there beat a heart of great warmth and of absolute loyalty.

He must have inspired the confidence of the faculty, for while pursuing the course of study which led to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, he was, during a portion of the time, serving the University in the capacity of assistant professor of natural history.

An historical sketch of the University published in 1889 shows that he held this assistant professorship in the year 1884-85. During his entire college life, he gave special attention to the study of chemistry, and my recollection is that he had previously determined to devote his life to chemical work.

In May, 1885, Dr. de Schweinitz went abroad for the purpose of further pursuing his studies in chemistry and mineralogy. He studied at the Universities of Berlin and Gottingen, and in 1886 received from the latter the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The obtaining of this degree was a source of great satisfaction to him, for his diploma was a guarantee of the thoroughness of his training and of the possession of skill and knowledge fitting him for any undertaking within the bounds of his specialty.

The period from 1886 to 1888 was spent in teaching chemistry, a portion of the time at Tuft's College, near Boston, and a portion at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky.

On August 23, 1888, he was appointed assistant in the chemical laboratory of the United States Department of Agriculture, an event which gave him much gratification, for it meant to him the opening of the coveted way to scientific accomplishment in the field for which he had been so splendidly trained. He retained his connection with the Department of Agriculture to the end of his life, and the records of the department show that in recognition of his scientific attainments and of the value of his services he was promoted step by step to his final responsible position.

April 1, 1889, he was appointed chemist in the Division of Chemistry; January 1, 1890, he was made assistant in the Bureau of Animal Industry; and July 1, 1896, upon the organization in that bureau of the Biochemic Division, he was made its chief, which position he held at the time of his death.

The quality of his work during the period of his governmental service and the value of his contributions to science will be spoken of by one whose daily life brought them into close association and who is well qualified to speak with authority. Suffice it for me to say that his work was well known to and approved by the scientific men of two continents, and that his reputation as a scientist rests upon a substantial foundation.

He was a member of many scientific societies, a list of which is as follows: A men-can—Washington Biological; Washington Entomological; Washington Section, American Chemical (president, 1897) American Bacteriological; Medical Society, District of Columbia; American Medical Association; American Public Health Association; Washington Academy of Sciences, etc. Foreign—German Chemical Society; International Applied Chemical and Biological Society; French Society of Pure Chemistry. He also received the following named scientific commissions: United States delegate to Tuberculosis Congress, Paris, 1898 (vice-president); to Tuberculosis Congress, Berlin, 1899 (vice-president; to International Medical Congress, 1900 (vice-president); to International Congress of Hygiene, Paris, 1900.

In 1892 Dr. de Schweinitz was elected by the faculty of the Medical Department of Columbian University to the chair of Chemistry and Toxicology, to succeed the late Professor E. T. Fristoe. From the moment of his entrance into the faculty he worked with all the zeal of which he was capable on behalf of the cause of medical education and for the upbuilding of the Medical School and the University.

In 1897 he was unanimously elected by the faculty to the office of dean, which position he held with honor and credit until the termination of his life. No one within my knowledge has related to the Columbian University to whom the University owes a greater debt of gratitude than Dr. de Schweinitz, and it is particularly fitting that this meeting should do honor to his memory in this hall and under the auspices of the University whose welfare was so near to his heart. He quickly saw the needs of the Medical School and worked with all his strength to secure the advancement of this department of the University. The school's growth under his administration of its affairs bears witness to his industry and zeal, and abundantly demonstrates the wisdom of his judgment.

During his tenure of the office of dean there occurred many of the most important events in the life of the school. The University Hospital came into existence (1898), the old Medical School building was outgrown and replaced by the present commodious and well-planned structure (1902), and the new hospital building adjoining the old hospital was erected (1902). In the accomplishment of these great ends Dr. de Schweinitz played an important part. He took the keenest delight in the planning of the new buildings, and especially in the arrangement of the large lecture halls and laboratories, and the satisfactory results attained are to a large measure in a monument to his industry and executive ability. In the life history of the Medical Department the period of greatest progress corresponds to the period during which Dr. de Schweinitz was its dean.

As professor of Chemistry and Toxicology, Dr. de Schweinitz won and retained the respect and confidence of his colleagues and the admiration and gratitude of his pupils. It is left to one of his pupils to speak of him as a teacher.

In 1898 the Columbian University, in consideration of the high order of his original scientific work and of the value of his services to medicine, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine. He never practiced the profession of medicine but devoted his entire energies to scientific investigation and teaching.

To those who knew him well Dr. de Schweinitz possessed a most agreeable personality. In his intercourse with his fellowmen, he was courteous and considerate, regardless of their station in life; and he easily won the confidence and esteem of those with whom he had any considerable association. The regard with which he was held by his students was little short of affectionate. Prominent among his personal characteristics were loyalty to his friends, directness and fairness, a love of directness and fairness in others and a contempt for deception and equivocation.

In the summer of 1903, he contracted typhoid fever. The fever, though not of a severe type, ran a course of great tediousness, and left him in a condition of prostration, from which he never fully recovered. His fatal illness began Sunday morning, February 14, 1904. In the afternoon of that day, he walked from his residence to the Columbian University Hospital. It was evident almost from the beginning that he was hopelessly stricken, and of such overwhelming intensity was his illness that shortly before noon on February 15 he yielded his grasp on life. After a short funeral service in the city on the evening of the following day, his remains were carried to his native town of Salem. Tenderly borne by loving hands to the Moravian graveyard, they were laid to rest February 17 by the side of loved ones gone before.

"His life was gentle, and the elements.
So mixed in him that
Nature might stand up.
And say to all the world,
'This was a man!' "

Sterling Ruflin

Source: Biographical History of North Carolina from Colonial Times to Present, By Samuel A. Ashe, Vol. III, published 1906

• Updated from FamilySearch Family Tree via sister Eleonora Elisabeth Siewers (born de Schweinitz) by SmartCopy: Aug 3 2015, 23:22:22 UTC

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• Updated from FamilySearch Family Tree via sister Eleonora Elisabeth Siewers (born de Schweinitz) by SmartCopy: Aug 3 2015, 23:22:22 UTC