Abraham Gesner

Book excerpt: Debt and bad management drove Abraham Gesner off his farm in Nova Scotia's bucolic Annapolis Valley in 1825. It turned out to be a stroke of luck. While doing medical courses in London hospitals, he encountered the industrial revolution. Attending sundry lectures and demonstrations, he got his first whiff of the rapidly developing new sciences of chemistry, geology and natural history. He was hooked! Back home, traveling about the country visiting patients, he honed his observational skills, finally producing pioneering geological surveys of all three Maritime provinces. Imitating procedures which he had first observed while abroad, he experimented with "cracking" coal to generate the tars, oils and gases which fueled the industrial revolution In the process, he produced "kerosene" - an illuminating gas and an oil - which revolutionized artificial lighting and generated much industry. Because he explored with native guides and advocated on their behalf, he served for a time as Indian Commissioner. An engaging lecturer, he addressed audiences on many scientific subjects and developed the region's first natural history museum; he wrote articles and books describing the region and extolling its potential for development. His final publication was a textbook of hydrocarbon chemistry. Local lawsuits over mining rights and patent infringements caused him to move to New York. Still more lawsuits drove him back to his native land where he died, shortly after being appointed to a coveted lectureship in Dalhousie University.