The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-28

the times that he thought they would not
be accepted so wrote his articles on Ma
laria'' under the nom de plume of Jen-
ner These eleven articles are in the Apa-
lachicola Commercial Advertiser in 1884
From this time he virtually abandoned
his practice and devoted his whole time
and study to this subject, which, in very
few years, he accomplished. Having sue
ceeded in cooling air he conceived the idea
Of making ice, and to this end devoted his
life and in 1850 succeeded in producing
a small model working ice machine and
made ice. He took out letters OF patent
Chambers encyclopedia gives no account
of an ice machine before the one perfected
by Mr.. Leebe of Lambert, and the one
shown at the London exhibition in 1862
by Cane & Co. French firm, when, in
fact, the first machine for the manufac-
ture of ice was publicly exhibited by Dr..
Gorrie in 1850 Physics" speaks of Cor
rie's machine If the encyclopedias do not.
At that time Apalachicola was accustom-
ed to use lake ice, which was brought out
by sailing vessels from the north. In 1850
summer opened prematurely and found the
town without ice to the great incOnveni-
ence of the guests of the Mansion house,
the largest hotel in Florida, in ante-bel-
Ium days One of the guests expressing
wish for ice to use in his wine at din
ner, Monsieur Roson a native of Paris,
a highly cultivated gentleman and a res
ident cotton buyer, offered a wager of
basket of champagne that he would not
only furnish ice the next day, but that the
ice would be made in the dining hall. The
bet was promptly taken and to the utter
establishment of the guests, whose curios-
ity were excited to the highest pitch, the
bet was won and the "Gorrie ice ma
chine was first introduced to the public.
Among those present at the exhibition
of the machine were DR..
Gorrie, the inventor; Mr.. Rosan,
who assisted DR.. Gorrie in perfect
ing his machine, Isaac Wright Will
lam Kane, Nugent Cummings, D. K.
Dodge, cotton buyer of New York; Charles
Pratt, cotton buyer of Connecticut; w. L.
Wood, cotton buyer of Providence, r. l.;
Joseph Hanserd, cotton buyer of Column
bus, Ca; Il. II. Austin, Evan Jones, mer-
chants of Apalachicola, Fla, and John
Sharon, proprietor of Mansion house.
All of these gentlemen are dead, except Mr..
Sharon, who is now in his 18th year, liv-
ing with his son, Judge Frank Sharon of
Quincy, Fla, and from whom these facts
were obtained.
At this time DR.. Gorrie having exhausted
all his means went to New Orleans to get
capital to build a large machine; to
gentleman from Boston, Mass, he sold
a half interest and was preparing to build
a large machine when the party died DR..
Gorrie could not so on with the machine
as he had no capital. He returned to his
home at Apalachicola and continued to
brood over his failure TO carry out the
building of this large machine, which had
been the ambition of his life. He remain
ed almost entirely secluded at his home,
holding aloof from every one. At this time
he was taken sick and never
recovered. A few days before his
death he said to his wife: when 1 am
frfr lie rln.,
have so kindly inquired about me to come
in and see my body" For two days there
was a throng reviewing the remains at his
home. The funeral cortege was the larg-
est ever seen in Apalachicola. lie was
buried in a brick vault, in the old cemetery
on the beach. In 1898 the body was disin-
TERED and buried in the central plot OF
the new Magnolia cemetery The only
memento at present to DR. Gorrie Is the
Gorrie Ice Company OF Savannah, which
Is named in honor Of him.
In the eleven articles on the prevention
of malaria diseases, DR.. Gorrie clearly de-
fines the process Of cooling air, making
ice and refrigeration which we to-day have
just reached.
After Dr. Gorrie made ice with his
machine some New York papers, COM
menting on II, said: '"There is a DIR. Cor
rie. a crank, in Apalachlcola, Fla. who
says he can make ice" DR. Gorrie felt
this keenly, as he was an extremely SEN
stive man. In his specifications describe
ing the working Of his machine, he says
that the cans for ice should be made
smaller at the bottom, and before putting
them in the freezing tank to grease them
with "A sponge, as the ice can slip out
more easily. This being the simplest part
Of the machine, puzzled him most. as il
never occurred TO him to dip the cans
into warm water TO thaw the ice out. We
sec from this that master minds some
times fail IN small matters. Or. Gorrie
was a genius, and should rank as one
Of the greatest inventors Of the century.
l hope to see a monument erected by the
ice men Of this generation to Dr. Gorrie.
the original inventor Of the artificial pro-
duction of ice.