4 ALEXANDER SMITH— NOYES 



From the time when he began his work at Wabash College Professor Smith gave very 

 careful attention to the selection and proper presentation of those topics which should be used 

 in the instruction of students during their first year in the study of chemistry. After going 

 to Chicago he was especially responsible for the elementary courses in the university. His 

 experience led him to a very firm belief in a system of instruction by recitations in compara- 

 tively small classes and' the use of a textbook rather than instruction by means of lectures. 



On September 8, 1899, Dean Russell, of Teachers' College, asked him to write the portion 

 devoted to chemistry of a book on the Teaching of Chemistry and Physics. The portion on 

 the teaching of physics was written by Prof. E. H. Hall, of Harvard. The book was published 

 by Longman, Green & Co. in 1902, and still holds a unique place in our scientific literature. 



The first edition of his Laboratory Outline of General Chemistry was published in 1899. 

 The sixth edition (sixty-sixth thousand) appeared in January, 1917, under the title "Experi- 

 mental Inorganic Chemistry." The book was translated into German by Prof. F. Haber 

 and Doctor Stoecker, in 1904; into Russian by N. B. Schmoelling, in 1908; into Italian by 

 Dr. F. C. Palazzo and Prof. A. Peratoner, in 1910. 



The Introduction to Inorganic Chemistry was begun at the Yerkes Observatory, Williams 

 Bay, September 18, 1903. It was completed to chapter 34 on January 3, 1904. June 13 to 

 August 8, 1904, were spent at Williams Bay in completing the first writing of the book. June 

 10 to July 10, 1905, were devoted to correcting, adding to, and adjusting the manuscript. The 

 book was issued by the Century Co. on February 15, 1906, and the demands surprised both 

 Professor Smith and the publishers. More than 6,000 copies were sold before October 1, 1906. 

 A second revised edition was published in 1908 and a third edition, largely rewritten, in 1917. 

 The success of the book was partly due to the clear, lucid style in which it is written, but it 

 was due fully as. niuch^to^J&e adequate presentation of modern theories of solution and of 

 equilibria for the first time in an introductory English textbook. 



The book was translated into German, Russian, Italian, and Portuguese. 



He also wrote a General Chemistry for Colleges, published in 1908, and a Textbook of 

 Elementary Chemistry, which appeared in 1914. 



Professor Smith was president of the American Chemical Society for the year 1911. His 

 presidential address on " Lomonossoff , an early physical chemist," was a notable contribution 

 to a little-known historical subject. 



He was elected to membership in the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1891; as an honorary 

 foreign member of the Societdad Espagflola de Fisica y Quimica of Madrid in 1911 ; as a member 

 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1914; as a member of the National Academy 

 of Sciences in 1915. 



In 1919 his alma mater, the University of Edinburgh, awarded him the degree of LL. D. 

 He was introduced at the graduation ceremonies as follows: 



A most distinguished graduate of our own university, Professor Smith, has risen to the rank of a super- 

 chemist in the United States, head of a department embracing many specialized professorships, and director 

 of one of the most important laboratories in the New World. We congratulate Columbia University on the 

 possession of a teacher and investigator of such rare ability, and we congratulate ourselves on the opportunity 

 of laureating an alumnus whose success reflects no little luster on the institution where he received his early 

 training. 



To those who knew him best Professor Smith was a valued and loyal friend, a kind and 

 considerate husband and father, with the highest ideals in his personal life and with a broad 

 human interest in art and literature and in many fields of science other than chemistry. His 

 knowledge was broad and profound, and his keen wit, quickness of repartee, and the epigram- 

 matic quality of his remarks made conversation with him stimulating in a high degree. He 

 has left a deep impression on many students who worked with him, and the science of chemistry 

 in America and in the world has been enriched by his labors as a teacher and as an investigator. 



