Howe

problem. In 1877 te received the degree of A.M.
from the University of Cincinnati. Close appli-
cation to his work with long hours of study and
observation broke his health. Two severe hemor-
rhages of the lungs, early in 1880, warned him
that a change in climate was necessary. Accord-
ingly, he accepted a position as teacher of mathe-
matics in the University of Denver, although the
condition of his health did not permit him to
carry a very arduous schedule at first. His physi-
cal condition improved, however, and in 1881 he
was assigned to the chair of mathematics and
astronomy. In 1884 he received from Boston
University the first degree of doctor of science
ever granted by that institution. He presented
two theses: "A Short Method for Kepler's Prob-
lem," published in Astronomische Nachrichten,
May 13, 1884; and "The Great Comet of Sep-
tember 1882," published in The Sidereal Mes-
senger, May 1884.

During the early years of his residence in Den-
ver he was greatly hampered by lack of telescopic
equipment until he secured from Humphrey B.
Chamberlin the gift of an excellently equipped
observatory, the principal instrument of which
was a twenty-inch refractor with Clark lens and
Saegmuller mounting, erected in 1894. Unfor-
tunately, financial reverses during the panic of
1893 prevented the donor from fulfilling his de-
sire of endowing the observatory, and the Uni-
versity of Denver could scarcely afford the lux-
ury of a research professor. Consequently, Howe,
already overburdened with teaching and admin-
istrative work, had to carry out his observational
programs on his own time. It is surprising how
much research he was able to accomplish in the
face of such odds. In 1899 he wrote, "Found out
that during the twelve months ending Aug. 31,1
had used up 1,765 pages of my observing books.
For this record I was glad." He discovered
double stars and nebulae, carried out an am-
bitious program of remeasuring the positions of
faint and inadequately catalogued nebulae, and
made extended observations of the famous as-
teroid, Eros, and Halley's Comet He designed
a traveling-wire micrometer, which facilitated
certain types of astronomical measurement. His
researches on Kepler's problem are well known.
The results of his work appear in Publications of
the Cincinnati Observatory, Astronomische
Nachrichten, Astronomical Journal, and other
contemporary scientific periodicals. In 1891 he
became dean of the College of Liberal Arts and
director of Chamberlin Observatory, continuing
to carry a full teaching schedule. He acted as
chancellor of the university for a few months in
the fall of 1899 and again, during 1907-08, while

Howe

Chancellor Buchtel was governor of Colorado, he
carried a heavy share of the administrative duties
related to the chancellorship. He was the author
of a popular work entitled A Study of the Sky
(1896) and a textbook, Elements of Descriptive
Astronomy (1897, revised 1909).

On Dec. 23,1884, he married Fannie McClurg
Shattuck, daughter of Joseph C. Shattuck of
Denver. They had four children. He was deeply
and sincerely religious, and exerted a wholesome
influence upon all his associates—colleagues,
friends, and students. As dean of the university
he handled difficult problems most efficiently,
with rare sympathy and patient understanding.

[Howe Genealogies . . . Edward of Lynn (1929);
Pubs, of the Astronomical Soc. of the Pacific, Dec.
1926; Popular Astronomy t Apr. 1927; Who's Who in
America, ig26-27 ; Rocky Mountain News (Denver),
Nov. 3, 4, 1926; bibliogr. of papers, Royal Society of
London, Cat. of Sci. Papers, Fourth Series, 1881-1900,
vol. XV (1916); Howe's personal diaries, and infor-
mation regarding certain facts from Mrs. Howe.]

D.H.M.

HOWE, JOHN IRELAND (July 20, 1793-
Sept to, 1876), inventor, manufacturer, de-
scended from Edward Howe, who, emigrating" to
New England in 1635, settled at Lynn, Mass.,
was born in Ridgefield, Conn. He was the son of
William and Polly (Ireland) Howe. After at-
tending the district schools he began studying
medicine with a physician of Ridgefield, Dr. Ne-
hemiah Perry, and later completed a course at the
College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York
City, from which he was graduated with honors
in 1815. For the next fourteen years he prac-
tised medicine in New York City, and in addition
to his private practice, served by appointment as
resident physician of the New York Alms House.
About 1826 he became interested in India rubber,
and utilizing his knowledge of chemistry, con-
ducted numerous experiments in an endeavor to
produce a practical rubber compound. He was
granted a patent on Jan. 31, 1829; gave up his
practice, and moved with his family to North
Salem, N. Y. There, using all his savings, he
erected factory buildings and installed machinery
made after his own design, intending to manu-
facture rubber goods. Within a short time, how-
ever, he abandoned the whole project. Concern-
ing this venture, he said, years later, "So far as
I know, I was the first person who attempted to
utilize rubber by combining other substances
with it, but I did not happen to stumble upon the
right substance" (Bishop, post, II, 563).

While in attendance at the Alms House, Howe
had become acquainted with the slow and tedious
process of making pins by hand, the occupation
of many of the inmates, and he was aware that a
machine to make pins had been invented in Eng-

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