DMITRI IVANOVITSCH MENDELEEFF. 849 



admitted to the Pedagogic Institute of the University and granted a 

 schohirship. In the autumn of this year the mother died, with the 

 injunction: — "Refrain from ilhisions, insist on work and not on 

 words. Patiently search diA"ine and scientific truth." 



At the University, in spite of a dangerous w^eakness of the hmgs, he 

 "found himself" from the mental standpoint, and astonished all his 

 instructors by his zeal and ability. His dissertation on isomorphism 

 was ready in 1855, and the brilliancy of his final examination was 

 recognized by the award of a gold medal. Although the condition of 

 his health necessitated his immediate departure for the Crimea, he was 

 soon able to go back to St. Petersburg. In 1859 he studied with 

 Regnault in Paris, and later with Bunsen in Heidelberg. Upon his 

 second return to St. Petersburg he attained the doctorate, and was 

 soon made Professor in the Technological Institute. In 1866 he 

 became Professor of General Chemistry in the University, a position 

 which he held till 1890, when he resigned in consequence of friction 

 with the authorities; in 1893 he was appointed Director of the Bureau 

 of Weights and Measures, a position which he held until his death on 

 January 20 (O. S.), 1907. 



Mendeleeff was twice married, first in 1863, to a lady named Lest- 

 shoff, by whom he had a son Vladimir and a daughter Olga. Divorced 

 from her, he married, in 1881, Anna U'anovna Popova, an artist of 

 ability, who bore him four other children, Lioubov, I\'an, and the 

 tw^ns Maria and Vassili. 



His interests were by no means confined to pure science. The 

 tremendous development of the petroleum industry in Russia is 

 closely associated with the name of Mendeleeff , as is also the exploita- 

 tion of some of her largest coal fields. He made an intimate study of 

 the tariff c^uestion and urged reasonable protection for Russian 

 industries, a policy which had far-reaching consequences. Agri- 

 culture, art, astronomy, education, and philosophy all received atten- 

 tion for him. In 1875 spiritualism gained many adherents in St. 

 Petersburg, and Mendeleeff suggested a commission to investigate it 

 by scientific methods. After a thorough study of famous mediums, 

 this body, of which he was a member, concluded that all such pheno- 

 mena resulted from unconscious movements or deliberate deception. 

 His last work (1906) "Information about Russia," which ran through 

 four editions in the six months following its initial pul)lication, dis- 

 cussed his country from racial, religious, economic, industrial and 

 educational • standpoints. 



Mendeleeff's travels were extensive. He had a first-hand acquaint- 



