The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-05-13

and ridfculed the utility Of the inven-
ton to such an extent that he was
unable to get financial backing and
there was never a Gorrie ice-making
machine built for commercial purposes,
nor did the inventor receive a penny
for his work. The Frenchman who
induced the public demonstration soon
returned to Paris and Florida visitors
to that city later reported that he was
friend and associate of NJ. Care,
whose process was perfected several
years afterward. There is every evil
dence that NJ. Care profited by the
reports brought him of DR.. Gorrie's
successful experiments.
DR.. Gorrie's claim to fame does not
rest on his production of ice by me-
chanical means. However, his ma
chine was commercially practicable
and his process Of refrigeration under
lies the entire fabric Of the great cold
storage industry Of today. No man
who examines the claims made in his
application for letters patent Will dis
pute his right to the title Of Faith
prophesied the application of refrigera-
ton to the preservation of foodstuffs
and to many other uses now commonly
known. His claims for air cooling in
hospitals, dwellings and warehouses
put him in the front rank of American
inventors, and no invention held
greater possibilities for human comfort
than his.
DR.. John Gorrie was born in Charles
ton, 8. c., in 1903, and received a
thorough literary and medical educa-
ton IN the best schools Of the day.
His successful career as a physician
in Apalachicola made him known ais
one of the foremost medical practi-
TONERS in the south, and his contribu
a. - a.
fame abroad. 1t Is recorded that he
was far in advance of his time in
many other lines besides refrigeration.
He died at Apalachicola June Is, 1856,
after a short illness.
The disappointments that had at
tended his efforts to interest capital
and develop his invention along COM
mercial lines keenly affected him and
contributed materially to weaken his
constitution.
The Boston newspaper that said that
he was crank for trying to make ice,
shot a poisoned dart into man who
knew he was working for the health
and comfort of millions who had not
the ice facilities that Boston possessed.
DR.. Gorrie's body was buried in the
beach cemetery. Many years later it
was disinterred and reburied in the
present municipal cemetery, where it
rests today.
The wonderful contribution made to
Industrial science by the great F1orid-
ian was almost overlooked by the
south for a long time. In a few tech
meal works due credit was given him
for his invention, but so far as the
public was concerned he was forgotten
until Captain George H. Whiteside, of
Apalachicola, launched a movement to
erect a monument to his memory
BY personal solicitation Captain
Whiteside induced the ice manufac-
turers of the south to donate the pro-
ceeds of one ton of ice from each plant
to the fund, and this, together with
small contributions from other sources,
was used to purchase an unpretentious
bronze. This stands today in a prom
branze. This stands today in a prom
inent position in the little Florida sea-
port where the great refrigerating in
dustry had its birth.
1t is a wonderful industry that has
sprung from the discoveries Of the OBJ
scure southern physician.
Refrigeration plays an all-important
part in many manufacturing industries
far removed from ice making. 1t en-
tiers into the making of dynamite and
the refining of oil and the brewing of
beer among other unique and little
known applications. Likewise nearly
everything perishable is carried in cold
storage under refrigeration at some
time or place, ranging from furs to
fruit trees and from chicken to choco-
late.
There is under way in Florida now a
movement to place statue of DIR.
Gorrie in one of the inches in the
National Hall of Fame allotted to that
state. It should succeed without op-
position, for neither Florida nor the
south has produced a son more worthy
of the honor than the gentle physician
who in his efforts to alleviate human
suffering laid the foundation for a
world wide industry and made exist
ence in summer more tolerable for all
jewellers in lands where no ice crop is
gathered and stored for use in the
heated term. DR.. Gorrie did a real
service for mankind.