394 CYRUS MOORS WARREN. 



he profited not a little from the advice which was then given him and 

 from the encouragement he received. Agassiz quickly recognized the 

 native force of the man, and sympathized with his thirst for knowledge. 

 He was so well pleased with his efficiency that he urged him to devote 

 his life to the study of natural history, and for a time Warren 

 seriously thought of doiug so ; but chemistry proved to have a yet 

 stronger claim upon him, and he thenceforth devoted himself to this 

 branch of science. After working two years longer at Cambridge in 

 the Chemical Laboratory, he took the degree of S. B., with high dis- 

 tinction, in 1855, having presented as a thesis the results of a study 

 which he had made of the chemical composition of brain, with esti- 

 mations of the amounts of sulphur, chlorine, and phosphorus therein 

 contained. He commended himself to his teachers and examiners so 

 heartily that immediately after graduation he was elected an honorary 

 member of the Phi Beta Kappa, on nomination of Benjamin Peirce, 

 seconded by Louis Agassiz, — being the first graduate of the Law- 

 rence Scientific School to whom this honor was accorded. 



Soon after graduating from the Scientific School, Warren took his 

 family to Europe, and studied there during several years, first at Paris, 

 then at Heidelberg under Bunsen, at Freiberg in Saxony, at Munich 

 under Liebig, at Berlin under Heinrich Rose, and subsequently in 

 London, — all this in a purely scientific spirit, and with thorough enjoy- 

 ment of scientific research. It is noticeable that his work in Rose's 

 laboratory on compounds of Zirconium and Titanium is far enough 

 removed from any suggestion of utilitarianism. But though living in 

 an atmosphere of pure science, and devoting himself earnestly to 

 scientific study, he could not help noticing matters which might be of 

 advantage to his brothers and himself in their business, and in this way 

 he was led to the most important work of his life, — the separation and 

 the study of volatile hydrocarbons. 



The Brothers Warren had used originally for their roofing purposes 

 the pitch of pine-tar ; but the great business success of the firm seems 

 to have depended largely upon their having turned their attention to 

 the coal-tar of gas-works at a time when this material was absolutely 

 without commercial value, and the makers of it were glad to give it 

 away to any one who would remove it from their premises. They 

 were the first in this country successfully to utilize on a large scale 

 what had previously been regarded as a waste product. Thus it 

 happened, long before any one had suspected that various substances 

 obtainable from coal-tar would ultimately be put to highly important, 

 uses in the arts, that the Warrens got control of all the tar produced 



