^^S2 i\ I). HAD x. 



understanding of its function>, of more thoruug'h perceptioi 

 of the best methods oif turnin"- those functions to account. 



Hahn seldom wrote, he seldom spoke in public, liut he pos- 

 sessed the faculty of ini])ressing the men students wlio ])assed 

 under his hands — the}' nmsi have aggrcoated some thousands — 

 with an indelible sense cf the importance of chemical science for 

 a nation, and this sense has stimulated the scientitic s])ir!t in 

 adolescent South Africa as ito other agency could ha\e done, for 

 :o .all his former students Malin was the outstanding link be- 

 tween them and their alma iiiatcr, and their scattering over the 

 length and breadth of South Africa meant spreading far and 

 wide the infiuence of the College laboraton,-, an influence that 

 transcended the limits of chemistry, and even of science in its 

 widest connotation. For exam])le : one of the virtues tliat he 

 ever strove to inculcate, both b\- precept and example, was 

 punctualitv. " The sun lias ne\er once caught me in bed," he 

 often said, and duriiig \ery many years he never missed a >ingle 

 lecture. Two bells, with an interval of live minutes between 

 them, used to call the sttidents lo their respective classes; I iahn 

 invariably k)cked the door r.if his lecture theatre on the stn^ke of 

 the second bell and straightway connnenced Uy lecture. On 

 one occasion it happened that when the second bell was struck 

 only one boy — now one of the most distinguished metallurgists on 

 the Rand — had taken his seat on the l)enches, but. true to hi> 

 principles, Hahn at once locked the door and delivered the e'Utire 

 lecture which he had ])repared. inchisive of careftiUy thought-out 

 experiments, to this st)litary student, in exactly the >ame way as 

 he would have done had the whole of his large class been present. 



Reference has been made abo\c to llahn's great capacity 

 for taking pains with his students. At o'lie time his class for one 

 ■ )f the highest degrees then at the disposal of the University 

 consisted of a single student. This one student was regularly 

 lectured to on all brandies of chemistry — the lectures might more 

 properly be called chemical discourses — and often they were given 

 after college hours in the study at " York House " ; 1)Ook alfter 

 book on every branch of chemistr\-, in English, in French, in 

 German, was lent to this student, with the important jjassages 

 specially marked; and beyond all this, the student was required 

 to deliver a course of experimental lectures in inorganic chem- 

 istry, the audience consisting of the Professor alojne. Fvery 

 |)ossible helj) was given bv the latter va ijreparing the re(|uisite 

 experiments for each lecture, but when the time for delivery of 

 each lecture arrived the Professor was suddenl\- transformed 

 into an intelligent, questioning student, ostensibly ignorant of 

 the subject, and keenly athirst ifor information at e\erv point. 

 This brings out not only llahn's eftorts to lead his students to 

 independence of thought, but also his way of rousing entluisiasni 

 amongst them for act|uiring and propagating chemical know- 

 ledge. He could never divest himself of the consciousness, even 

 after the lapse of years, that they had once been his students; 

 ihis had a twofold out-working. It follows as a matter of 



