Ohio History Journal

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DR

DR. JOHN LOCKE, EARLY OHIO SCIENTIST (1792-1856)

 

by ADOLPH E. WALLER

Associate Professor and Curator of the Botanic Garden.

Ohio State University

 

The nineteenth century in the United States suddenly swung

into its expanding programs of research and education. No one

was prepared for the impact of the increasing realization of the

power over nature which man now possessed. The illusion of

the perfectibility of all men through knowledge stretched un-

dimmed. The inherent weaknesses of man and the snail's pace

of education were not yet perceived. Gigantic discovery was so

close at hand that no one troubled to consider disappointments as

more than temporary obstacles. A little proficiency in mathe-

matics, languages, and the law marked the educated man. Scien-

tific training was unknown. Science laboratories were just start-

ing and the skills and techniques they were to impart were born

on the spot.

The thesis that the medical colleges of the time were the

sources of our trained scholars in the natural sciences has been

stated in previous papers in this series. Three months at "Cam-

bridge College" prepared Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth for his degree

in medicine, after an apprenticeship with practicing physicians.

Many others were likewise briefly exposed to formalized study.

Dr. John Locke was more fortunate. His formal training lasted

about three years.

Philadelphia and Cincinnati were early in asserting leader-

ship in the quality of medical training offered. Many of the

students trained in medicine were not as interested in its practice

as in following the leads offered by their training in sciences. Our

outstanding botanists and geologists of the 1830's were thus

educated. Dr. Locke's story follows a similar pattern with the

difference that he added physics to his earlier inclinations toward

botany and geology. Perhaps it was from his keen observation of

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