Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Luz-Caballero, José de la

LUZ-CABALLERO, José de la (looth), Cuban educator, b. in Havana, Cuba, 11 July, 1800; d. there, 22 June, 1862. He studied in his native city, began in 1827 a tour through the United States and Europe, and in his travels came in contact with the chief scientific and literary celebrities of the time, including the German philosopher Krause, who paid a public tribute to Luz's scientific and philosophical views. With Humboldt he arranged to establish in Cuba a magnetic observatory in correspondence with like institutions in Germany. In 1831 he returned to Cuba, and devoted all his time and energies to the cause of education, assuming the direction of a college from 1834 till 1839. In 1848 he founded the College el Salvador, where many that have attained reputation in Cuba in literature, science, or politics have been educated. La Luz is by general consent the man who has done most for public education in Cuba. There is a movement to erect a monument to his memory in Havana. Among his works are a translation of Volney's “Travels in Egypt and Syria,” with notes and additions (Paris, 1829); Siegling's “Public Prisons and their Reforms,” from the German (1837); and numerous memoirs and pamphlets on educational, scientific, and philosophical subjects. There are several biographies of La Luz, the best being that in Spanish by José Ignacio Rodriguez (New York, 1874).