About 1826, he established a laboratory in Waltham for the manufacture of sulphuric acid and bleaching-salts, which afterward was merged in the Newton Chemical Company, and he was its chemist until 1834.

[1] Many other important improvements in the printing of cottons and the chemical processes involved in that work were made by him, and gave to the goods produced in Lowell a high reputation in the United States.

His researches on the action of cow manure as a mordant, showing that its fixing properties are due to the sodium phosphate that it contains, with the subsequent introduction of "substitutes", was a decided advance in the art of calico printing.

[1] Prof. Benjamin Silliman Jr., wrote of him: "In point of time, originality, and ability, Dr. Dana stood deservedly first among scientific writers on agriculture in the United States.

"[2] Dana prepared for the City of Lowell a valuable report on the injurious influence of lead pipes for water used for drinking and culinary purposes.