CHEMICAL ELEMENTS AND ATOMS ^ 



A LECTURE DELIVERED IN HONOR OF PROF. BOHUSLAV BRAtJNER 



By G. Urbain 



The Czech Nation, free and enthusiastic, after the long eclipse 

 which it suffered, has resumed again the temporarily broken thread 

 of its glorious past. It has regained its political, economical, and 

 intellectual liberty. Its traditional genius has broken its shackles. 

 But despite its temporary subjection, it has never ceased to be active. 

 The flame of its genius has constantly burned, despite the storm 

 which threatened to extinguish it. Honor will be forever due the 

 Czech University at Prague which has striven unfalteringly and 

 without weakness to transmit it to the present generation. 



Bohuslav Brauner must be cited among those who have devoted 

 their lives and energy to the sacred cause of greatness, of conserva- 

 tion of ideals, and of progress in the domain of physical chemistry. 

 Among the chemists of other lands, friends of the Czechs, his name 

 is symbolic of the scientific acumen of a race which can be unhappy 

 with nobility, and being insuppressible, can not be enslaved. 

 Surely the name of Bohuslav Brauner belongs to international 

 science; but to French ears it has a certain vigor, suggesting intel- 

 lectual independence, which is thoroughly Czech. 



For a quarter of a century, my dear Brauner, we have been related 

 in scientific and personal friendship. Thus I have been able to 

 appreciate the grandeur of your vision, the integrity of your charac- 

 ter, and the many other qualities that I could enumerate did I not 

 fear to hurt j^our modesty. I will at present speak solely of your 

 scientific attainments. 



An idealist, you have good taste to the highest degree, and your 

 disinterestedness is absolute. In an epoch when the spirit is at 

 times too practical you set a high standard. You love science for 

 itself, for what it reveals of the illimitable riches of the universe, 

 for what it contains of harmony and logic. The solution of the 

 problems which nature sets for us arouses in you true philosophic 

 thought. Most of us are concerned with what science can do to 



1 Translated by permisBion from Regueil des travaux chlmiqiies des Pays Has, 44, 

 pp. 281-304, 1925, 



199 



