r. I). II Aiix. .V*^!^ 



Flail lias just been iMiuippcd as an additional lal)i »ratnr\-. hiil the 

 old jirofessor's chair knows him 'iin more. 



( )utstandin|U" alike in i)hysi(|ue, in personality, and in energy, 

 and never failing;- in cheerv o])tiniisni. Hahn sustained the burden 

 of teaching;- a coTistanth' increasiuij number of students unaided 

 for 2X \ears. ( )nl\- tjion did he admit the neei\ i;if assistance, 

 and Dr. 11. Tietz. another of his former ])upils. was ai)])ointed 

 as an additional lecturer. This appointment, coincident with 

 the eiilargiuii- of the laboratorv, enabled llalvn thenceforth to 

 confine his lectures to inorii^anic, applied, and agricultural chem 

 istry. This change, too, enabled Hahn to revisit b>uroi)e, after 

 a lapse of exactly tliirt>- years, and he took the op])ortunity at th(> 

 >ame lime to attend the International Congress (»f Applied 

 Chemistry in Rome in 1906. fie had previously, in recognition 

 of his l<»ng and devoted services in the cause of education, and 

 more p^articularly in aiding the progress of science, bet'U awarded 

 the title of "Royal Prussian IVofessor " 1)\- the < lerman Minis- 

 ter of Ivlucation. 



One of the latest achievements of Prof. Hahn's energy i- 

 associated with the comixu-atively recent inaugtu-ation of a 

 .Medical School in connection with the South .\frican College. 



-Vmongst the other extra-colle^iate movemeiUs for ])raclical 

 editcation in which he co-o])erated may be mentioned the Sotttli 

 African School df Forestry established by the Cape (Govern- 

 ment. He took a ]>r()minent ])art in drafting its syllabuses, and 

 in this connection instituted special chemistr\ courses at the 

 .^■'iith A I rican College. 



Hahn »vas a passionate lover of music, both vocal and. i?'- 

 stntmental, and was an enthusiastic and active supi)orter of the 

 classical chamber concerts that used to be held in Caixjtown ,1 

 few years ago. He was also for some years a member of the 

 Music Committee of tb.e Cape of Good Hope University, and 

 founded a nmsical s<^ciety amongst the South African College 

 student-. 



The generation ih.at knew Prof. Hahn in the zenitli of his 

 activity has long ago passed beyond the years of studenlliood. 

 for it had been his boast that he had taught fathers and son'-. 

 but hoped to retai'i his chair until he had taught the grand-ons 

 To that generation his versatility had been a matter of connnon 

 knowledge. In the earlier years of his tenure of office he user! 

 to lecture not onlv on chemistry, organic, inorganic, agrictil 

 tural and analytical, but likewise (Mi mineralogy, metallurgx . 

 and physics. The wide range of his scientific knowledge i- 

 shown by the immense diversity of subjects on which he wa> 

 often asked to advise or report. Before his assimiption of office 

 chemistry had been practically unknown in South Africa, and it 

 is not too much to say that with his advent there dawned for the 

 whole country an era of fuller realization of the value, not 

 alcne of chemistry, but also of science in general — an era of 

 more intimate acc|uaintance with the nature of science, of fuller 



