DR. CHARLES A. GOESSMANN. 67 



director of the Minnesota College of Agriculture and station in 1907, 

 died xVugiist 29, 1909 ; Prof. J. S. Newman, prominently connected 

 with the Alabama and South Carolina stations, having served as di- 

 rector of the latter station at two periods, died May 11, 1910 ; and Prof. 

 John A. Craig, lately director of the Oklahoma station and formerly 

 connected with the departments of animal husbandry in Wisconsin, 

 Iowa, and Texas, died August 9, 1910. Other deaths included Prof. 

 A. J. Bondurant, formerly agriculturist at the Alabama station and 

 professor of agriculture in the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, on 

 March G, 1910; Prof. C. F. '\Mieeler, formerly assistant botanist of 

 the Michigan Agricultural College and Experiment Station, on 

 March 5, 1910; Prof. S. B. Green, for many years at the head of the 

 horticultural and forestry work of the Minnesota University and sta- 

 tion, on July 11, 1910; and Dr. W. M. Munson, horticulturist of the 

 West Virginia University and station, on September 9, 1910. 



DR. CHARLES A. GOESSMANN. 



Dr. Charles A. Goessmann, of Massachusetts, who died September 

 1, 1910, in his eighty-fourth year, had long been one of the most con- 

 spicuous figures in agricultural chemistry in this country. For 

 nearly 40 years he had been an active member of the faculty of the 

 Massachusetts Agi-icultural College, his service covering almost the 

 entire period since the college was established. One of the earliest 

 pioneers in agricultural investigation, his work had been not only a 

 contribution to knowledge but an inspiration to others and a potent 

 influence for the development of agricultural experimentation. It 

 exhibited unusual activity and breadth of knowledge, and was 

 characterized by a thoroughness and conservatism wdiich gave great 

 reliability to his conclusions. 



Almost immediately after going to the college Dr. Goessmann took 

 hold of the agricultural problems of the State, both practical and 

 scientific, and made them the subject of investigation. He was a 

 pioneer in every sense of the word, and he brought to his studies a 

 broad training in science, full confidence in its ability to reveal the 

 laws upon which agriculture depends, and the true scientific spirit, 

 which seeks only the truth. 



In 1873 he was appointed chemist to the State board of agricul- 

 ture, and then began a series of reports and lectures which continued 

 almost to the time of his retirement. In the early seventies he made 

 extensive investigations of the beet as a source of sugar, and demon- 

 strated the feasibility of growing beets for sugar in certain sections 

 of the State and the practicability of developing it into a profitable 

 industry. His work upon the sugar beet was epoch making, and 

 furnished a starting point for the more recent studies and propa- 



