Henry Erni

1822–1885

Henry Erni came to the university (then East Tennessee University) in 1850 from Yale University, where he had been instructor of botany and laboratory assistant in chemistry at Yale’s Sheffield Scientific School. At UT, he taught chemistry, mineralogy, geology, botany, French, and German. He left the university for a position in Massachusetts and then one in Vermont. The University of Vermont awarded him an honorary AM degree, and his earned MD was conferred in 1857. He returned to UT in 1857–59.

He became Tennessee’s first consulting chemist when Shelby Medical College in Nashville, to which he went when he left the university, allowed him to use the college’s laboratories to establish a private chemical practice with his specialty—chemical analysis of urine. In 1863 he moved to Washington, DC, where he had a distinguished career as a chemist and author. He was chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture and an examiner in the Patent Office. He was confirmed after nomination by President Ulysses S. Grant as consul in Switzerland (country of his birth) in 1869.

Erni’s work in Tennessee included the publication of 22 papers in academic journals, seven of which were chemical papers published in foreign journals.

Citation Information

The following information is provided for citations.

  • Title Henry Erni
  • Coverage 1822–1885
  • Author
  • Keywords Henry Erni
  • Website Name Volopedia
  • Publisher University of Tennessee Libraries
  • URL
  • Access Date July 16, 2025
  • Original Published Date
  • Date of Last Update October 7, 2018