iv OBITUARY NOTICES. 



many diverse fields of chemistry ; for his interest was wide, and 

 only as the years advanced did he put most of his energy into the 

 swiftly growing branch of physical chemistry, which finally came 

 to claim most of his attention. 



His studies on picolin and quinine were partly ready for publica- 

 tion in 1876, and in 1879, while still at Glasgow, he published an 

 important investigation concerning molecular volumes of liquids at 

 their boiling points, a research for which he devised peculiarly in- 

 genious apparatus. His interesting preliminary study of the chem- 

 istry of the sense of smell dates from about the same time, and, 

 taken together with the others, shows the breadth and scope of his 

 interest. 



In the next year Ramsay was called to the professorship of 

 chemistry in the University of Bristol, where he remained seven 

 years, and where he found Sydney Young, an able collaborator, 

 with whom he published many papers between 1882 and 1889. 

 These papers especially concerned vapor pressure, and dealt not 

 only with the vapor pressure of solid and liquid substances, but 

 also with the dissociation of ammonia and nitrogen trioxide, as well 

 as with the critical point. During the last six of his years at the 

 University College, Bristol, Ramsay was principal as well as pro- 

 fessor of chemistry. 



In 1887 he resigned both positions in order to accept the chair 

 of chemistry in University College on Gower Street in London, this 

 chair having been left vacant by the death of Williamson. Ramsay 

 was one of the first to see the far-reaching importance of the new 

 theory of solutions brought forward by van't Hoff and Arrhenius, 

 as was shown by the fact that he published in the Philosophical 

 Magasine an English translation of van't Hoff's epoch-making 

 paper. Not only in this way, but also by his own researches 

 Ramsay advanced the new doctrines, and his investigations on the 

 diminution of the vapor pressure of mercury by the presence of dis- 

 solved metals, as well as his interesting and important work on 

 surface tension, bore witness to his faith in the new point of view. 



At University College, where he remained until 191 3, he carried 

 out also the series of brilliant researches which constitute his chief 

 title to fame, namely, those concerning the inert gases of the 



