KOTICE OF CHRISTIAN FREDERIC SCH0EOT5EIN, THE DISCOVERER OF 



OZONE. 



Translated for tlic Smithsonian Institution, from the " Aixhives des Sciences Physiques et 



naturelles," Geneva 



Tlio death of C. F. Schoenbein has sent a pang of regret not only through 

 Switzerland but through the scientific world. We cannot better fulfil the painful 

 duty of reviewing the life of this eminent man than by borrowing the following 

 pages from a notice published in the Basle Naclirichten, for which we are probably 

 indebted to the pen of Professor Hagenbach : 



The mortal remains of Christian Frederic Schoenbein have been carried to 

 their last resting place. He has been so suddenly arrested in a life full of activity, 

 so abruptly called away, that we can hardly realize he has ceased to be among 

 us. These pages which we now consecrate to his memory can only faintly express 

 the sentiments awakened in us by the loss of one so much beloved and so much 

 mounied. The complete appreciation of his scientific career cannot be given in 

 a few rapid sketches. 



Schoenbein was born the ISth of October, 1799, at Metzingen, Suabia. From 

 his parents he received a limited, though religious, education. He left the paternal 

 roof at the early age of 14, in order to enter an establishment for the manufactory 

 of chemicals ; but a mere practical career could not satisfy his aspirations; the 

 occupation only awakened in his youthful mind an ardent desire for the more 

 elevated science of chemistr}^ He commenced the study of Latin, and went to 

 the universities of Tubingen and Erlangen. After he had finished his studies at 

 the universities, he taught chemistry and physics in a school at Keihan, neai 

 Rudolstadt. Afterw^ards, he pursued his scientific education in England and in 

 France, and at length, in 1828, went to Basle, where he was installed as lecturei 

 on physics and chemistry. This office was formerly intrusted to Counselloj 

 Merian, who still continues his active career among us. An attack of illnesa 

 obliged him to discontinue this course of instruction, by which he had rekindled, 

 the love of those sciences which of old were so brilliantly represented at Baslo 

 by such men as James and Daniel Bernoulli. 



In 1835 Schoenl>ein was elected full professor of physics and chemistry in the 

 University of Basle, and discharged the duties of this position w'ithout inteiTuption 

 until 1852, when theprofessorsliip was divided into two distinct chairs, he retaining 

 that of chemistry and continuing in it until the time of his death. Thus, Schoen- 

 bein has been connected with our university nearly 40 years, and has never, except 

 temporarily, during that period quitted Basle; his two longest joui'nej'S, the one 

 to England the other to Germany, are well known from the accounts of them 

 which he has published, and to which the mingling of serious and humorous 

 observations with scientific reflections and sketches of personal adventures give 

 a peculiar charm. 



Schoenbein was married in the year 1835, but the tranquil happiness which 

 he found in domestic life was unfortunately disturbed by the sudden death of 

 his eldest daughter in 1859, an event which sadly afflicted his entire household. 

 His energies were unreservedly consecrated to science, and he always remained 

 faithful to the counsels of his master, the celebrated Schelliug, who taught him 

 to regard her as his bride. Thus all his faculties, all his eflbrts were continually 

 exerted to draw nearer each day to scientific truth, and to penetrate ever more 

 profoundly into the mysteries of the forces which govern the changes of tho 



