Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Steiner, Lewis Henry

STEINER, Lewis Henry, physician, b. in Frederick city, Md., 4 May, 1827; d. in Baltimore, 18 Feb., 1892. He was educated at Marshall college, Pa., where he received the degree of A. M. in 1849, and was graduated the same year at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He began to practise in Frederick, but in 1852 removed to Baltimore, where for three years he was associated with Dr. John R. W. Dunbar in the conduct of the Baltimore medical institute, at the end of which time he returned to Frederick. Soon after he began to practise his attention was especially directed to chemistry and the allied sciences, and during his residence in Baltimore his time was largely occupied in teaching. He was professor of chemistry and natural history in Columbian college, Washington, D. C., and also of chemistry and pharmacy in the National medical college, Washington, in 1853; lecturer on chemistry and physics in St. James college, Md., in 1854; lecturer on applied chemistry in the Maryland institute in 1855, and professor of chemistry in the Maryland college of pharmacy in 1856. During the civil war he was actively employed as an inspector by the U. S. sanitary commission, and for a period was in charge of its operations in the Army of the Potomac as chief inspector. In 1871 he was elected by the Republicans to the state senate for four years. He was re-elected for a like term in 1875, and again in 1879. From 1855 till 1858 he was a contributor to, and afterward assistant editor of, “The American Medical Monthly.” In 1884 he was appointed librarian of the Enoch Pratt free library, remaining there till his death. He had published “H. Wills's Outlines of Chemical Analysis,” translated from the 3d German edition, with Dr. Daniel Brud (Cambridge, 1855); “Cantate Domino: a Collection of Chants, Hymns, etc., for Church Service,” with Henry Schwing (Boston, 1859); “Report containing a Diary kept during the Rebel Occupation of Frederick, Md., etc.” (New York, 1862); and also translations from the German, with monographs, reports, lectures, and speeches.