412 AUGUST WILHELM VON HOFMANN. 



handled his pen in later years. He stayed in Giessen until the 

 spring of 1845, and all this time his intimacy with Liebig -was 

 growing closer and closer; he worked with him in the labora- 

 tory during the week, and frequently accompanied him on 

 Sunday excursions or vacation journeys. To the end of his life 

 he could not speak with too much affection and gratitude of his 

 great teacher. 



From Giessen he went to Bonn to lecture on agricultural 

 chemistry, but before the year was out accepted a call to the 

 directorship of the Royal College of Chemistry, which was to 

 be founded in London after the plan of Liebig's laboratory at 

 Giessen; and in October, 1815, he opened the laboratory of this 

 institution, where he remained for twenty years. 



There could be no better proof of Hofmann's ability and force 

 of character than his success in this position, the difficulties of 

 which were enormous. It was necessary to establish a labora- 

 tory, and organize a course of chemical instruction, at a time 

 when the details of experimental teaching of chemistry had been 

 only partially worked out, and this was to be done by a German 

 suddenly plunged among Englishmen, with whose national feel- 

 ings he must bring himself into harmony so as to adapt his plans 

 to the environment ; and, what was harder still, it was necessary 

 that these plans should satisfy the subscribers on whom the 

 venture rested for support. After the successful launching of 

 the enterprise, during which he invented many of the methods 

 of laboratory teaching since in common use, he was further 

 embarrassed by a loss of interest on the part of these subscribers, 

 whom it was necessary to arouse and recruit by a series of popu- 

 lar lectures, and to conciliate by doing technical work for many 

 of them without charge. At the same time his own means were 

 very slender. I well remember the humor with which he told a 

 story of lighting the gas accidentally with a five-pound note at 

 this period, and feeling an ache in his bones from it for a week. 

 Later, however, thanks principally to his discoveries among 

 the aniline dyes, this evil was remedied, so that he was never 

 again in want of money, and the Royal College of Chemistry, 

 after he had steered it successfully through these troubled waters, 

 was put on a solid basis as a state institution under another 

 name. 



In addition to the duties already mentioned, he was frequently 

 required to give scientific advice to the government, and served 



