X OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED. 



exceptions that Arrhenius proposed the Theory of Electrolytic Dis- 

 sociation. 



We must not gather the impression that these three epoch-making 

 contributions of Van't Hoff to science were the whole of his life- 

 work. Quite the opposite is true. They were only his greatest 

 work. 



He made a number of other discoveries which would have ren- 

 dered any less distinguished man famous. Take his paper on " Solid 

 Solutions" published in volume five of the Zcitschrift filr physika- 

 lische Chcviie. Before this paper appeared we hardly ever thought 

 of certain mixtures of solids having the properties of liquid solu- 

 tions. Van't Hoff showed that such was the case, and thus opened 

 up a new field of research. 



After accepting the call to Berlin Van't Hoff took up an elabo- 

 rate experimental problem — the study of the formation of the salt 

 deposits from desiccated inland seas, such as at Stassfurth. He had 

 previously studied the conditions of formation and decomposition of 

 double salts, especially the conditions of temperature and concentra- 

 tion, and published the results in his " Vorlesungen iiber Bildung und 

 Spaltung von Doppelsalzen " in 1897. The methods which were 

 developed in this eailier work were applied to this complex geological 

 problem with great success. The results of this investigation carried 

 out from 1896 to 1909, partly with Meyerhoffer and partly with 

 assistants, were published in two volumes, one in 1905 and the other 

 in 1909, under the title " Zur Bildung der ozeanischen Salzabla- 

 gerungen." 



The writer, only a year and a half ago. heard Van't Hoff express 

 the wish that this work might all be published in collected form, but 

 he added that the means were lacking and he never lived to see this 

 desire gratified. 



The total number of papers published by Van't Hoff' was very 

 small. In addition to the books mentioned above should be added 

 his " Vorlesungen iiber theoretische und physikalische Chemie," his 

 "Theory of Solutions" and " Acht Vortriige iiber physikalische 

 Chemie " being the lectures delivered at the University of Chicago 

 in 1901. 



