at the age of twelve years and ten months; Thomas Thorn, a business man of SingSing, New York, married Harriet E. Young; David, a resident of Yorktown, married Ida Acker, and has one son, H. Leonard; William, a business man of Tarrytown, married Miss Lotta Palmer; and Mary, wife of Anson Lee.
Mr. Chadeayne was a man who throughout his life bore a character that was above reproach. He was broad and liberal in his religious views, and politically, was a stanch supporter of the principles advocated by the Republican party. He was a good citizen, a loving and dutiful husband and an indulgent father, and his death was mourned by many friends. Mr. Chadeayne was a successful financier, and frequently was chosen as executor and administrator m the settlement of estates, etc. He was a most worthy and estimable citizen, and his domestic life stood exemplary of all that belongs to a model husband and father.
BAEKELAND, LEO HENDRIK, D. Sc.
No pen, however facile or however skillful with thought that moves it, can compete in its portrayals with the sun ray. This swift and beautiful messenger, robed in the mysteries of sun and stars, silent in its ministry, in an instant gives the picture, and the picture is errorless. Through a small opening it will bring in the landscape and throw it upon the screen. It will touch the sensitive plate and leave there every lineament of the human face. It is fleeter than muscular movement, or steam, or even electricity. To the eye rapidity of motion veils the object; to light everything is still. It writes history on the wing. It vestures earth and sky, the infinitely small and the infinitely great, and tells the story of either with absolute exactness. Nothing more clearly establishes nature's willingness to divulge her secrets than this marvelous ministry of the sun's ray. "Know me, learn my ways and behavior, and I will teach you all," is the new "bow of promise" of light to science. A direct ray of light not only pictures but it analyzes. It breaks itself up, at the will of the scientists, into innumerable indices of refrangibility, detailing a separate messenger for each individual story it has to tell.
He whose name initiates this review has attained distinction in the scientific world, as the result of his well-directed study, investigation and careful experimental work, and in no one line have the practical results of his efforts been more pronounced and effective than in those closely allied to the art or science of photography. Revelations of the ultimate possibilities of photography have been made rapidly within the past decade, and Dr. Baekeland has contributed in no small measure toward the advance movement. As identified with one of the principal industrial enterprises of Westchester county, — an enterprise whose ramifications are of wide extent and whose basis may be properly said to be of semi-scientific character, — Dr. Baekeland merits distinct representation in this work, which has to do with those who have been and those who are identified with the specific progress of this favored county of the old Empire state.
Leo Hendrik Baekeland is a native of Belgium, having been born in the famed old city of Ghent, on the 14th of November, 1863, the son of Karel Lodewyk Baekeland and Rosalia Merchie. His preliminary educational discipline was received in the public schools of his native city, the capital of East Flanders. He next became a student in the Athenaeum in Ghent, in which institution he was prepared for the university. In the evenings he attended the free lectures of the Technical School of Ghent, taking the free yearly course in chemistry and graduating with honors in 1880. Soon after his graduation the young man was offered the position of assistant chemist at the State Agricultural Station, but as he wished to continue his studies and to attain the highest possible degree of proficiency, he declined to accept the offer, and within the same year matriculated in the University of Ghent, a government institution, being the youngest student in that institution. On entering the university Dr. Baekeland took up the course of study in the medical department, but it was a notable fact that chemistry and natural sciences bad a special attraction for him, and to these branches he devoted himself with marked interest and zeal. After having passed the two examinations for the degree of Bachelor of Sciences, summa cum laude, he attracted the attention of the professors of the faculty of sciences, and a position as laboratory assistant in chemistry was tendered to him and accepted, whereupon he indefinitely renounced the specific study of medicine for that of the natural sciences. His devotion to his work was earnest and unremitting, and in 1884 the degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences was conferred upon him. He also obtained a special diploma in chemistry, passing both examinations summa cum laude, which required ninety-five per cent, of the maximum points allowable.
Ambitious to learn and to accomplish something in a practical way, Dr. Baekeland prepared himself to accompany one of the scientific expeditions which were then being organized for the exploration of the upper Congo, but just as he was about to take his departure for the wilds of Africa he received the appointment of first assistant professor of chemistry in the University of Ghent, and that of professor of chemistry and physics at the government Normal School for Sciences, which was then located at Bruges. These noteworthy appointments naturally caused him to abandon his proposed trip to Africa. In the meanwhile he had given to the world the results of certain of his original researches in the field of pure chemistry, by the publication of works exploiting said researches, — notably, "A New and Analytical Method for the Separation of Copper and Cadmium," "Researches on the Oxydation of Hydrochloric Acid Under the Influence of Light," "Dissociation of Nitrate of Lead," etc. In 1887 he was proclaimed laureate in chemistry of the four Belgian universities, in a competition among all alumni who had obtained within the three preceding years the degree of Doctor of Sciences at any on& of the universities. The work which earned him this distinction was his original researches on the phenomena of chemical dissociation. The prize awarded consisted of a gold medal, two thousand francs' worth of books, and a two-yearly subsidy of two thousand francs, for traveling and visiting foreign universities. The Doctor visited the higher institutions of learning in Germany, England and Scotland, and subsequently the University of Ghent promoted him to the rank of associate professor of chemistry, after he had resigned his. position as professor in the normal school at Bruges.
From bis boyhood Dr. Baekeland had been an enthusiastic amateur photographer, and it is needless to say that his wide knowledge of chemistry enabled him to work out the best results in the production of negatives, while his appreciation of the artistic values in photography eventually led him to the series of experiments which brought about the establishing of the Nepera Chemical Company, with which he is now so conspicuously identified. When the dry plate was invented he was one of the first to try this process, which was revolutionizing photography. It so happened that in Ghent several large dry-plate manufactories were established, and that later on, when Dr. Baekeland had begun to gain some reputation as a chemist, he was frequently consulted by these manufacturers in regard to the technical difficulties encountered. About 1888 he took out a patent for an improved dry plate, which could be developed in a tray of plain water. At the time, this invention was a very important one, and created a sensation; but since then the methods of developing dry plates have been enormously simplified, thus diminishing the importance of his invention.
In 1889 Dr. Baekeland was united in marriage to Miss Celine Swarts, the daughter of Professor Theodore Swarts, dean of the faculty of sciences at the University of Ghent, and within the same year — during his summer vacation — he came to the United States for the first time. His expenses were paid by the Belgian government, the object of the trip being to visit some of the more important American universities and colleges and make a report on same. While here he was consulted by certain chemical-manufacturing firms, securing suitable recompense for his services. He asked for an extension of his leave of absence, and, this being granted, he remained here a few months longer, — " long enough," as the Doctor says, "to become thoroughly enthused with American ideas and American institutions." When he returned to Belgium he there remained for a time, but his experience in the United States prompted him to return hither and to try his fortunes in the New World, with whose spirit of progress and vitality he was thoroughly in sympathy. He accordingly resigned his position at the university, the special privilege being granted him by the Belgian government of retaining his rank and title of associate professor of the University of Ghent. He returned to the United States in the month of September, 1890, and established himself as a consulting chemist in New York city, where he
