HARMON NORTHROP MORSE. 611 



perfect. But Morse went steadily on. He had in mind a practically 

 perfect cell that could be used for high pressures as well as low. He 

 tried all sorts and conditions of clay and after many, many discourage- 

 ments he succeeded in finding what he wanted and in making a satis- 

 factory glaze quite different from any available, and he achieved 

 success. , 



In 1902 he and J. C. W. Frazer described "The preparation of cells 

 for the measurement of high osmotic pressures." A careful reading 

 of this article will give some idea of the tremendous difficulties that 

 were met and overcome. The closing paragraph may be advanta- 

 geously quoted in this connection : 



The difficulties of construction are by no means completely over- 

 come, and we have in view a number of changes whieh we hope will 

 prove of advantage. That these difficulties are of great magnitude 

 will be realized if one considers that in our last experiment the pressure 

 which was measured and which was still below what we were called 

 upon to control would suffice to raise a column of water at 20° to a 

 point 15 meters higher than the top of the Eiffel tower, or which would 

 raise from its base a marble shaft whose height is 120 meters. These 

 comparisons will perhaps make it clear that the most painstaking 

 attention to every detail of construction is absolutely essential to 

 success when an apparatus like ours is to be made up of several parts, 

 consisting of different materials, and which must be united without 

 the usual mechanical means of securing strong joints. 



Soon after this the Carnegie Institution of Washington lent its 

 powerful aid to the large investigation thus begun. In 1914 the 

 institution published a memoir entitled "The Osmotic Pressure of 

 Aqueous Solutions: Report on Investigations made in the Chemical 

 Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University during the years 1899- 

 1913. By H. N. Morse." In it is given a detailed account of this 

 remarkable piece of experimental work. Any one who reads it under- 

 standingly will recognize that no one but a master of experiment could 

 have done this. The work required the highest degree of resource- 

 fulness and skill, of patience and persistence. Any one of ordinary 

 caliber would have stopped short of the accomplishment. Morse was 

 not satisfied with anything but perfection as nearly as this could be 

 reached, and as it never can be reached he worried about the residual 

 no matter how small it might be. In the concluding chapter of the 

 Carnegie Memoir occur these words : 



