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Evans (THOMAS WILLIAMS an American)

THOMAS WILLIAMS, an American dentist; born in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 23, 1823; studied dentistry and practiced in Maryland and later in Lancaster, Pa.; made a specialty of saving teeth by filling. In seeking a substitute for gold foil he mixed rubber and sulphur, which make a black substance instead of a white one. Because of the unfavorable color he laid the substance aside and gave it no more thought, till his mixture was used by others for producing commercial gutta-percha, which he declared he had discovered. In 1848 he went by invitation to Paris as the most skillful American dentist, to attend to the teeth of President Louis Napoleon. During his career in Paris he accumulated a very large fortune. He also won an international reputation as an expert in military sanitation and was one of the founders of the Red Cross Society. His home was the refuge of the Empress Eugénie from the mob on the night of Sept. 4, 1870. Dressed in his wife's clothes, she was taken by him to the Normandy coast, where he secured her escape to England. He died in EVAPORATION Paris, Nov. 14, 1896. Dr. Evans bequeathed all of his fortune, estimated at from $8,000,000 to $12,000,000, excepting $250,000, to establish a museum and institute in Philadelphia.