TEE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



Ml 



ized with reference to the science of 

 agriculture itself, rather than be, as 

 heretofore, very largely a matter of 

 the sciences related to agriculture. 

 This will serve to stimulate greatly the 

 movement already begun for the reduc- 

 tion of the materials of agricultural 

 science to ' pedagogic form ' for use in 

 colleges and secondary schools, and for 

 the reorganization of agricultural in- 

 stitutions of research on the basis of 

 the divisions and subdivisions of agri- 

 culture, instead of physics, chemistry, 

 botany and other primary and sec- 

 ondary sciences. The day will thus be 

 hastened when the science of agricul- 

 ture will rank with such tertiary sci- 

 ences as geology, geography and medi- 

 cine as one of the great systems of 

 knowledge of direct benefit to man- 

 kind. 



We are without doubt in this country 

 just on the edge of a great popular 

 movement for the improvement of the 

 conditions of rural life through the im- 

 provement of the rural schools. As 

 one phase of this movement there will 

 come the broadening of the instruction 

 in the principles of agriculture so that 

 in addition to college courses we shall 

 have secondary courses in ordinary and 

 special high schools and even some ele- 

 mentary instruction in the common 

 schools. In establishing the lines and 

 methods of secondary and elementary 

 instruction in agriculture so that it 

 may be useful and attractive to the 

 masses of our rural youth, the lead- 

 ers in agricultural science gathered in 

 the Graduate School of Agriculture 

 this summer will play an important 

 part, and it is believed that they have 

 gone out from this school with much 

 inspiration to renewed efforts in this 

 direction. For both the thorough es- 

 tablishment of the science of agricul- 

 ture and the wide popularization of 

 this science the new school will, it is 

 believed, be an efficient agency. 



It is to be hoped therefore either 

 that some other university will open 

 its doors for a second session of the 



school another year, or that the Asso- 

 ciation of Agricultural Colleges and 

 Experiment Stations will assume this 

 burden, or that through the coopera- 

 tion of the association with universi- 

 ties and the Department of Agriculture 

 the Graduate School of Agriculture 

 may become a permanent institution. 



BIOGRAPHIES OF EMINENT 



CHEMISTS. 

 August Wilhelm von Hofmann is 

 the subject of a biography published 

 on the 8th of April, 1902, as an extra 

 number of the Reports of the German 

 Chemical Society, that date being the 

 84th anniversary of the birth of the 

 distinguished chemist. It was begun 

 by Dr. Tiemann, for many years Hof- 

 mann's assistant, but after his untime- 

 ly death it was completed by Emil 

 Fischer and Jacob Volhard, assisted 

 by others, all of whom had been pupils 

 of the energetic master. Of Hofmann's 

 career several sketches have already 

 been published, as 'Memorial Lectures 

 of the Chemical Society [of London],' 

 read May 5, 1893, the first anniversary 

 of his death; these were 'Personal 

 Reminiscences' by Lord Playfair, as 

 well as by Sir Frederick Abel, and the 

 'Origin of the Coal-Tar Industry,' by 

 Dr. Perkin, and 'The Scientific Work 

 of Hofmann' by Professor Armstrong. 

 Notwithstanding these valuable contri- 

 butions to the subject by English con- 

 temporaries and fellow-workers, the 

 biography issued by the German 

 Chemical Society will long be the 

 standard. It portrays more in detail 

 Hofmann's strong personality, his re- 

 lations to society especially during his 

 long residence in London, his pleasure 

 travel with agreeable souvenirs of the 

 visit to the United States in 1883, and 

 narrates anecdotes illustrating his 

 genial disposition and humor; at the 

 same time the volume does not neglect 

 summarizing his fruitful chemical re- 

 searches carried on through a period 

 of more than fifty years with never- 

 dying industry and enthusiasm. The 



