JUSTUS VON LIEBIG. 655 



JUSTUS VON LIEBIG: 

 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH* 



MY father, who had a color warehouse, frequently occupied 

 himself in making some of the colors in which he dealt, 

 and for that purpose had fitted up for himself a small laboratory 

 to which I had access, and where I sometimes enjoyed the privi- 

 lege of helping him. He made his experiments as prescribed in 

 works upon chemistry, which were, with great liberality, lent to 

 the inhabitants of Darmstadt from the rich Court Library. 



The lively interest which I took in my father's labors naturally 

 led me to read the books which guided him in his experiments, 

 and such a passion for these books was gradually developed in 

 me that I became indifferent to every other thing that ordinarily 

 attracts children. Since I did not fail to fetch the books from the 

 Court Library myself, I became acquainted with the librarian 

 Hess, who occupied himself successfully with botany, and as he 

 took a fancy to the little fellow, I got, through him, all the books 

 I could desire for my own use. Of course, the reading of books 

 went on without any system. I read the books just as they stood 

 upon the shelves, whether from below upward or from right to 

 left was all the same to me ; my fourteen-year-old head was like 

 an ostrich stomach for their contents, and among them I found 

 side by side upon the shelves the thirty -two volumes of Macquer's 



* Read at a joint meeting of societies in the Chemical Laboratories, University College, 

 Liverpool, on Wednesday evening, March 18, 1891, by Prof. J. Campbell Brown, D. So. 



[At the recent celebration of the Jubilee of the Chemical Society, reference was made to 

 the wonderful energy and ability of Liebig, to the great work which he did in founding 

 organic chemistry, and to the immense stimulus which he gave, alike in his own country 

 and in England, to scientific investigation in pure chemistry and in its applications to agri- 

 culture, physiology, and pathology. 



Very opportunely a portion of an autobiographical sketch in Liebig's own handwriting 

 has just come to light, in which he gives a most Interesting account of the formation of 

 his habits of thought, and of the development of his scientific activity. He also gives an 

 amusing description of the lectures given in his student days by professors of the deductive 

 method. 



In his sixtieth year, we are told, Liebig wrote some biographical sketches which were 

 laid aside and could not be found when he wished to resume them. They were never 

 finished. A portion of the manuscript was found among some other papers in Liebig's 

 handwriting by his son Dr. Georg Baron von Liebig, and has been published by the latter 

 in the Deutsche Rundschau for January, 1891. Mr. E. K. Muspratt has been good enough 

 to lend me a copy which he received from his friend the present baron. 



I have endeavored to render it into English as literally as the difference in the idiom 

 and modes of expression in the two languages will permit ; and it is now made public in 

 England by the kind permission of the Deutsche Rundschau. 



His method of teaching and its remarkable success are worthy of attention at the pres- 

 ent time, when technical education is occupying so much of the public mind.] 



