LOOMIS
LOOMIS
explorations through Bolivia, Peru, and Chile in
1^53; was professor of natural science in the
University at Lewisburg (Bucknell university),
1854-58, and president of the university, with the
professorship of philosophy and ethics, 1858-79.
In 1864-65 he raised
Cf (7?, ^(rvio^^,^£^
>,000 for addition-
al endowment of that
university, and in
1878 accomplislied at
his own expense the
grading of the col-
lege campus. He
joined the 28th Penn-
sylvania volunteer
militia as a private
and served as chap-
lain of the regiment
during the emergency
of Lee's invasion of
1862. The next year
he served as nurse
and surgeon on the Gettysburg battlefield. In
April, 1870, he was a delegate to the National
Baptist Educational convention in Brooklyn,
N.Y. Before this body he read a paper on an
assigned topic, which paper was published in
full in the Pi'oceedings of that year. Besides
drawing the working plans of the Baptist church
edifice at Lewisburg, Pa. (dedicated in June,
1870), and superintending, free of all charge, the
•erection of the same, he was the largest single
contributor to its building fund. He was ap-
pointed by President Grant in 1870 a member of
the board of examiners to the U.S. Military aca-
demy for 1871, but absence in Europe and Asia,
1871-72, prevented him from serving. In 1879 he
made an extended stay in Paris, and in 1889
again traveled in England and on the continent.
He received the honorary degree of A.M. from
Waterville college in 1838; that of Ph.D. from
Lewisburg university in 1854, and that of LL.D.
from Rochester university in 1858. He was mar-
ried Jan. 16, 1838, to Sarah Anne, daughter of
Moses Freeman. She died March 3, 1852. He was
married secondlj'^, Jan. 17, 1854, to Mary, daughter
of Deacon Edward Gilbert. She died July 16,
1872. He was married thirdly, Aug. 20, 1873, to
Augusta, daughter of the Rev. Charles Tucker.
His eldest son. Freeman, A.B., 1866, A.M., 1868,
D.B., 1868, Ph.D., 1889, became a professor of
modern languages and litei'ature in Lewisburg
university in 1871. President Loomis was the
author of various essays, lectures, pamphlets, ser-
mons and scientific articles on current political,
literary, and educational topics published m
newspapers; and of Elements of Geology (1852)
and Elements of Anatomy and Physiology (1853).
He died at Lewisburg, Pa., June 22, 1898.
LOOMIS, Lafayette Charles, educator, was
born in Coventry, Conn., July 7, 1824; son of
Silas and Esther (Case) Loomis, and a descendant
of Israel Loomis, three of whose sons served in
the Continental army, 1776-84; of Sergeant Ben-
jamin Case, minute-man and neighbor of Capt.
Nathan Hale, and of Joseph Loomis. the immi-
grant. He was graduated from Wesley an uni-
versity, A.B., 1844, A.M., 1847, and was the co-
founder and associate principal with his brother
Silas L. Loomis of the Adelpliian academy at Broc-
ton, Mass., 1844-50, one of the first academies in
New England to be conducted independent of ec-
clesiastical supervision and control. He was a
teacher in Mount Hollis seminary, Holliston,
Mass., in 1851; vice-principal of the Irving insti-
tute at Tarrytown, N.Y., in U52, and principal
in 1853. He was professor of natural science and
belles-lettres in Wesleyan Female college, Wil-
mington, Del., 1854-57; president of the college,
1857-58, and principal of Lafayette institute,
Washington, D.C., 1859-63. He was graduated
from Georgetown college, D.C., M.D., 1863; and
was acting assistant surgeon of the Army of the
Potoniac in 1864. He was president of Wheeling
Female college. West Virginia, 1865-68; and pro-
fessor of physiology at Howard university, Wash-
ington, D.C., in 1868. He studied and traveled in
Europe, 1875-95, and occasionally lectured on art.
He was married Oct. 1, 1847, to Esther Lucretia,
daughter of Calvin Lincoln of Holliston, Mass.,
and secondly Oct. 20, 1870, to Mary, daughter of
Dr. Thomas Williams of Canandaigua, N.Y. He
is the author of: Mizpah, Prayer and Friendship
(1858); Mental and Social Culture (1867), which
was subsequently printed for the blind; Index
Guide to Travel and Art in Europe (1882); My-
self: the Great Teachers of Mankind on the Na-
ture of Mind and the Laws of Life; The Founders,
Defenders and Benefactors of the Great Republic
(MS. 1901), and contributions to magazines.
Looms, Mahfon, inventor, was born in Op- penheim, N.Y., July 21, 1826; son of Nathan and Waitie J. (Barber) Loomis; grandson of the Rev. Josiah and Susannah (Howes) Loomis, and a des- cendant through Dyer and Nathaniel from Jona- than Loomis. He was graduated from the Penn Medical Institute, Philadelphia, Pa., M.D. and D.D.S. after studying under Dr. Joseph Pan- coast (q. v.). He invented a combination of teeth and plate in one solid piece and all of the same material, which he patented in the United States and Europe. He practised dentistry first in western New York and then in Proc- tor county, Va. In 1865 he perfected plans for telegraphing without wires between distant points, and called his discovery or invention the Aerial Telegraph. In 1868 he succe.ssfully de- pionstrated the practicability of wireless tele-