122 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the Franklin Institute Committee on Science and the Arts were 

 of his writing. In co-operation with Campbell Morfit he pre- 

 pared a report on Recent Improvements in the Chemical Arts, 

 which was published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1852. The 

 conservative, ijractical spirit that presided over the composition 

 of this work is illustrated in the preface, where the authors say : 

 " We have freely exercised discrimination in the selection of sub- 

 jects, and have omitted much that we found in ap]3lied chemistry, 

 because novel views need, in many cases, further confirmation to 

 render them reliable in practice, and, if presented too earlj^ to the 

 artisan, may be productive of more evil than good. We have 

 kept in view the benefit of the practical man, the manufacturer or 

 worker, and, while we have not avoided scientific terms where 

 they were more convenient, we have generally used words of de- 

 scription intelligible to every one. We have confined ourselves 

 to such foreign improvements in the chemical arts, whether pat- 

 ented or not, as we believed the American artisan might avail him- 

 self of, frequently offering critical remarks on them, and some- 

 times pointing out where improvements were likely to be made." 



In the Journal of the American Chemical Society are papers 

 on some methods of toughening gold and silver (September, 1884) : 

 A General Method of toughening Gold and Silver in the Melt- 

 ing Crucible (June, 1884) ; and The Smelting Furnace of the U. S. 

 Mint (Juno, 1885), from which we have quoted. Other papers, 

 the media of publication of which are not given by Mr, Dubois, 

 are: On Beet-root Sugars (1842) ; Chrome Iron Analysis (1842); 

 Constitution of Glycerin and Oily Acids (1848) ; and a Report on 

 the Water-supply of Philadelphia (18G2). His most conspicuous 

 effort in literature was the Encyclopsedia of Chemistry published 

 in Philadelphia in 1850, which was written chiefly by him, but on 

 the last half of which Dr. Campbell Morfit assisted. 



Prof. Booth received the degree of LL. D. from the University 

 of Lewisburg in 1867, and that of Ph. D. from the Rensselaer 

 Polytechnic Institute in 1884. He was made a member of the 

 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in 1842 ; of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences in 1852 ; ci the Maryland Institute 

 for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts in 1853 ; of the Philadel- 

 phia Society for Promoting Agriculture about 1859 ; and of the 

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1884. He was President of 

 the American Chemical Society in 1883 and 1884, and declined re- 

 election for a third term ; and was interested in the diocesan 

 work of the Protestant Episcopal Church and in various philan- 

 thropies. He is described as having been personally a gentleman 

 of refined manners, pleasing address, and a cheerful disposition, 

 which was often obscured, however, by his nervous intensity. 



