1864.] CHEMISTRY OF MANURES, 217 



opposition to a law of nature (as above explained), — has set a noble 

 example. 



Homage to Justus Liebiq. — The correction of his error by 

 Way, Liebig frankly and unhesitatingly accepted. His genius 

 instantly appreciated the value of the English chemist's observa- 

 tion ; and shed upon it so bright a light as may be said to have 

 doubled its importance. Liebig, in fact, studied the new truth 

 in all its bearings, supplied its most generally-received interpreta- 

 tion, displayed its momentous consequences, elevated it to the 

 rank of a law of nature, and embodied this law as one of the 

 corner-stones of his great edilSce. 



Probably, in all Liebig's illustrious career, no incident bears 

 higher testimony than this to the vigor and fertility of his intel- 

 lect, to his undeviating candor, and to his disinterested solicitude, 

 on all occasions, for truth and truth alone. 



The writer would, indeed, be doubly untrue to his functions as 

 reporter on this occasion, and to his feelings as Liebig's country- 

 man and former pupil, if he failed to acknowledge here, in a few 

 words uttered from his heart, the debt of Europe — nay, of man- 

 kind at large — to the illustrious regenerator of agriculture. Con- 

 tinuing the work of his revered predecessors, Lavoisier and Sir 

 Humphrey Davy, Liebig has nobly trod the arduous path which 

 it was their glory to point out. And, side by side, as long as hus- 

 bandry shall last, will these three names shine in co-equal glory, — 

 Antoine Lavoisier, Humphrey Davy, Justus Liebig. To 

 Lavoisier belongs the noble initiation of the work ; to Davy, its 

 splendid prosecution ; to Liebig, its glorious consummation. Em- 

 bracing in his masterly induction the results of all foregone and 

 contemporary investigation, and supplying its large defects by his 

 own incomparable researches, Liebig has built up on imperishable 

 foundations, as a connected whole, the code of simple general 

 laws on which regenerated agric'ulture must henceforth for all 

 time repose. 



In speaking thus of his illustrious countryman and revered 

 master, the reporter does not fear to be misunderstood. No nar- 

 row spirit of patriotism animates his words. Genius, indeed, in 

 its highest manifestations, transcends mere national boundaries ; 

 kingdoms are too narrow to be its birthplace ; and in the homage 

 it receives, not this or that country, or continent, or hemisphere, 

 but humanity at large, is exalted. 



