814 PROCEEDINaS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



an impenetrable veil; and this it is which has led me to devote so 

 much labor and time to the subject." 



The discovery of a new element is apt to be attended with an eclat 

 which its scientific importance does not always warrant. The combina- 

 tions of the niobic and pelopic acids have little chemical interest, and 

 they are found in such small quantities that few chemists can have the 

 opportunity of investigating them. It was not until Rose had shown 

 that these supposed new bodies were two forms of one and the same 

 element, differing from each other as no two forms of the same matter 

 were known to differ, that the real importance of his discovery was 

 made evident, and that he was' rewarded for those years of persever- 

 ing and sagacious research. To the close of his life, and under the 

 trial of domestic affliction, Rose's interest in science remained unabated. 

 In his last years, and apparently conscious that his life was not to 

 be much prolonged, he published a series of papers under the title of 

 " Contributions to Analytical Chemistry." They contain the results 

 of his latest experiments, and his views upon several points of this 

 his favorite subject. His latest work appeared only a few months 

 before his decease. Not inappropriate to Rose himself are the words 

 with which he concludes his notice of the life of his master, Berze- 

 lius : " The labors of such men present to us the true model of the 

 man of science." 



Jacob Grimm, the venerable German philologist, was born at 

 Hanau, January 4, 1785. He was educated in the Lyceum at Cassel, 

 and afterwards in the University of Marburg, where he studied law 

 under Savigny. He did not, however, engage in professional life as a 

 jurist, but devoted himself with passionate ardor to the study of medi- 

 aeval literature and antiquities, especially those of his own country. For 

 a number of years his studies were more or less interrupted by public 

 employments. In 1814 he was appointed Hessian Secretary of Lega- 

 tion, and in that capacity attended the Congress of the Allied Powers 

 at Vienna. But from this time forward he renounced political life, 

 except that, more than thirty years later, in 1848 and 1849, he was a 

 member of the National Assembly in Frankfort and Gotha. Fi'om 

 1816 to 1829, he was Second Librarian at Cassel. From 1830 to 

 1837, he was Professor and Librarian in Gottingen. When the King 

 of Hanover set aside the Constitution which had been given to his sub- 

 jects, he was one of the seven Professors who protested against the 

 act, and in consequence was not only deprived of his office, but, with 



