28 JOURNAL OF THE 



man chemist Wohler. He told me that when he first 

 entered Wohler's laboratory, the drled-up looking- but 

 brilliant German set him to g-rindino- some hard sub- 

 stance in a mortar, and kept him at that and nothing- 

 else for three solid weeks. Perhaps it was the mem- 

 ory of this that made him set me, first, at a task of dis- 

 tilling' water and keep me watchino- its drip, drip, for 

 one long- and weary week. 



How such training- can be of use, is told us in the 

 charming' and all too short autobiog'raphy of Justus v. 

 Liebig-, published by the (merman Chemical Society. 

 His father was a dealer in colors. The boy, driven by 

 the working-s of the chemist spirit within him, experi- 

 mented with his father's slender store of chemicals, 

 and as the possible mixing-s and chang-es were necessa- 

 rily limited, never w^earied of repeating- them, learning- 

 thus exactly the appearance and the chang-es they un- 

 derwent, and acquiring- perfected powers of observa- 

 tion to which he larg-ely owed his after successes. He 

 says, that it taug-ht him especially to detect without 

 fail similarities between bodies. Wohler's training- led 

 him to take the contrar}^ view and alwaj^s to see the 

 differences between the different kinds of matter before 

 him. As much of their work was done in common, 

 these two great men supplemented one another in their 

 trained faculties, and from the farmer to the manufac- 

 turer, from the poor man who enjoys cheap clothing- 

 and better food to the suffering' patient who is restored 

 to health, mankind arises and calls them blessed. 



Please note that this toil and drudg-ery is something- 

 different from the hap-hazard work of the alchemists 

 and g-old-seekers of the middle ag-es, and yet all of you 

 have heard the tales that g-o to show how all-consum- 

 ing- was the pursuit of that fiig-hty, illog'ical work. 



