Henry P. Armsby article reprints

Henry Prentiss Armsby was born 21 September 1853, in Northbridge, Massachusetts. In 1880, he authored 'The Manual of Cattle Feeding,' one of the first works in the English language to treat animal nutrition and digestion in a scientific manner. Armsby was a nationally known spokesperson for the concept of experiment stations as scientific rather than service units. He came to Pennsylvania State College in 1887 to direct its Experiment Station. He was appointed the first Dean of the School of Agriculture and served in this capacity from 1895 to 1902. In 1901 with the assistance of Professor Jons August Fries and I. Thornton Osmond, Dr. Armsby designed, constructed and installed a respiration calorimeter, the only one of its kind in the country. With the calorimeter he was able to measure the heat produced by farm animals and to explain the large amount of feed energy which this heat represented. Visitors traveled from all over the world to see the actual experiments of this amazing new equipment. His device made Penn State famous. He never liked the administrative responsibilities and, in 1902, when his calorimeter became operable, he asked to be relieved of the deanship. Dr. Armsby spent the remainder of his life researching and writing about animal nutrition and energy metabolism. Dr. Armsby died in 1921. One of the original agricultural buildings at Pennsylvania State University was named for him.