(1811-1882)
[Illustration: JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER]
The subject of this sketch was born at St. Helen's, near Liverpool,
England, on the 5th of May, 1811. His earliest education was obtained
at a Wesleyan Methodist school, but after a time he came under private
teachers, with whose help he made rapid progress in the physical
sciences, thus showing in his boyhood the natural bent of his mind and
the real strength of his intellect. He afterwards studied for a time
at the University of London, but in 1833 came to the United States,
and three years later graduated at the University of Pennsylvania with
the degree of M. D. In 1839 he was elected to the chair of chemistry
in the University of New York, a position which he held until his
death in 1882.
Draper's contributions to science were of a high order. He discovered
some of the facts that lie at the basis of spectrum analysis; he was
one of the first successful experimenters in the art of photography;
and he made researches in radiant energy and other scientific
phenomena. He published in 1858 a treatise on 'Human Physiology,'
which is a highly esteemed and widely used text-book. He died on the
4th of January, 1882.
Draper's chief contributions to literature are three works: 'History
of the Intellectual Development of Europe' (1863), a 'History of the
American Civil War' (1867-1870), and 'The History of the Conflict
between Religion and Science,' which appeared in the International
Scientific Series in 1873. Of these works, the one on the intellectual
development of Europe is the ablest, and takes a place beside the
works of Lecky and Buckle as a contribution to the history of
civilization. The history of the Civil War was written too soon after
the events described to have permanent historical value. 'The History
of the Conflict between Religion and Science' is a judicial
presentation of the perennial controversy from the standpoint of the
scientist.
Draper's claims to attention as a philosophic historian rest mainly on
his theory of the influence of climate on human character and
development. He maintains that "For every climate, and indeed for
every geographical locality, there is an answering type of humanity";
and in his history of the American Civil War, as well as in his work
on the intellectual development of Europe, he endeavored to prove that
doctrine. Another theory which is prominent in his principal work is,
that the intellectual development of every people passes through five
stages; namely, 1, the Age of Credulity; 2, the Age of Inquiry; 3, the
Age of Faith; 4, the Age of Reason; 5, the Age of Decrepitude. Ancient
Greece, he thinks, passed through all those stages, the age of reason
beginning with the advent of physical science. Europe as a whole has
now also entered the age of reason, which as before he identifies with
the age of physical science; so that everywhere in his historical
works, physical influences and the scientific knowledge of physical
phenomena are credited with most of the progress that mankind has
made. Draper has left a distinct mark upon the scientific thought of
his generation, and made a distinct and valuable contribution to the
literature of his adopted country.