SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



379 



rapines by Hofraann include Graham, 

 Liebig, Buff, von Fehling, Wohler, 

 Dumas, Quintino Sella, Kirchoff and 

 Wurtz, as well as some of his own 

 pupils; besides portraits of these chem- 

 ists the volumes contain facsimiles 

 and other illustrations. 



Of English scientists living at the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century 

 there exists a very large, handsomely 

 engraved print, which represents the 

 men assembled in the Royal Institu- 

 tion; this was designed by Gilbert and 

 drawn by Skill and W. Walker, the 

 latter of whom being also the engraver ; 

 it was published in June, 1862. It 

 contains fifty portraits, including 

 twelve distinguished chemists, Caven- 

 dish, Dalton, Davy, Runiford, Watt, 

 Wollaston, Rutherford and others; and 

 is accompanied by a key and a volume 

 giving biographies of all the scientists 

 whose portraits are given. The book 

 is edited by William Walker, junior, 

 and with the print forms a most valu- 

 able publication of artistic merit. 



Of American scientists the chief 

 treasury for portraits and biographies 

 are the volumes of The Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly as is well known to our 

 readers. From the pages of this jour- 

 nal the late editor compiled a hand- 

 some book of over five hundred pages, 

 entitled ' Pioneers of Science in Ameri- 

 ca ' (New York, 1896), and embracing 

 sketches of forty-nine eminent men; 

 the excellent portraits in this work 

 were in large measure drawn and en- 

 graved expressly for it, and some of 

 them can scarcely be found elsewhere. 



In concluding these desultory com- 



ments on biographies of eminent chem- 

 ists, begun in the April number, men- 

 tion, must be made of two more volumes 

 of interest; 'Essays in Historical 

 Chemistry,' by T. E. Thorpe (London, 

 1894), might be more accurately en- 

 titled essays in chemical biography, for 

 the volume consists of addresses and 

 lectures dealing with the lives and sci- 

 entific labors of twelve distinguished 

 chemists, from Hon. Robert Boyle, the 

 ' Father of Chemistry and Brother to 

 the Earl of Cork,' to Dimitri Ivano- 

 witsh Mendeleeff, the Russian whose 

 name is memorably linked to the peri- 

 odic law. Dr. Thorpe's essays are 

 gracefully written and read well, but 

 he has not always taken pains to veri- 

 fy his statements. The assertion, for 

 example, that Claudio Bereguardi made 

 experiments with the barometer on the 

 leaning tower of Pisa (prior to Torri- 

 celli's invention) is a myth. 



The second work to be named in con- 

 clusion is entitled ' Memorial Lectures 

 delivered before the Chemical Society 

 [of London] ' (London, 1901), to which 

 allusion has already been made; it 

 contains masterly sketches of the lives 

 and labors of twelve of the most emi- 

 nent chemists who have died within 

 the last decade, each written by a 

 sympathetic friend or by one whose 

 investigations were analogous. This 

 work can be cordially commended as 

 the most recent, authoritative and com- 

 prehensive volume published on the 

 subject. Fine portraits embellish the 

 valuable contribution to chemical biog- 

 raphy. 



