SKETCH OF JAMES CURTIS BOOTH. 119 



other proofs of the incorrectness of their conclusions, it may be 

 shown that many valuable practical results have either originated 

 with or were improved by theorists, by those who have experi- 

 mented with a view to establishing, maintaining, or refuting. 

 Now in regard to agriculture, it may be observed that it had al- 

 ready made considerable advancement when it began to assume a 

 scientific form ; but from that period to the present, by deriving 

 assistance from other sciences, and particularly from chemistry, 

 its progress toward perfection has been constant and rapid." ^ 



Prof Booth's attention was drawn to the subject of refining 

 cobalt, concerning which little or nothing was known outside of 

 the commercial refineries, by the ill-success of an experiment m 

 mining the metal which was begun in 1845. It was at the Mine 

 La Mott, in Missouri, where he mined a large amount of cobalt, 

 which was sent to England. It was returned as impure ; where- 

 upon Prof. Booth at once set to work to discover the best method 

 of refining the metal— and succeeded. 



Of Prof Booth's qualities as an instructor Dr. Alexander 

 Muckle, a pupil of his, as also of Wohler and Bunsen, and after- 

 ward his assistant at the Mint, is quoted as saying : " With this 

 experience of teachers and means of comparison, I can say that 

 Mr Booth had few if any superiors as a teacher of practical 

 chemistry; that he kept abreast of the times by constantly secur- 

 ing the best and latest scientific books and periodicals. A high 

 value was placed upon a course in his laboratory, which soon be- 

 came widely known and in great repute as a place for learning 

 chemistry ; and his teachings are believed to have had a potent 

 influence in developing and disseminating the knowledge of the 

 science and its practical applications." 



Prof. Booth was appointed Melter and Refiner of the Mint by 

 President Taylor in 1849, and entered that service on December 

 10th of that year. The time corresponded closely with the discov- 

 ery of gold in California. The influx of gold from that source, 

 already heavy, increased rapidly, and added greatly to the work 

 of his office, while the quality of the metal increased considerably 

 the difficulty of dealing with it. The new gold was alloyed with 

 silver in excess of the amount admissible in the coinage, and this 

 had to be extracted. The provisions of the Mint, which had been 

 adapted for the treatment of the bullion which had been previously 

 sent there, were not suitable to the refinement of this gold.^ New 

 methods had to be adopted, and the whole plan of the parting ap- 

 paratus had to be reconstructed. It was Prof. Booth's duty to 

 make this adjustment. The process already known in the labora- 

 tories had to be expanded and used on a manufacturing scale. " To 

 this work, as well as to all the other labors of his department," says 

 Mr. Robert Patterson, Mr. Booth "brought the full knowledge of 



