SAMUEL WILLIAM JOHNSON. 895 



SAMUEL WILLIAM JOHNSON (1830-1909). 



Fellow in Class I, Section 3, 1871. 



Samuel William Johnson was born in Kingsboro, New York, July 3, 

 1830, and died at his home in New Haven on July 21, 1909. He 

 entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University as an ad- 

 vanced student of chemistry in 1850; later studying abroad under 

 such masters as Erdmann, Liebig, Pettenkofer, and Von Kobel. In 

 1856 he began his career as Professor of Chemistry in the Sheffield 

 Scientific School, teaching Analytical, Agricultural and Theoretical 

 Chemistry, in all of which he displayed that clear and concise knowl- 

 edge which makes the great teacher. It was, however, in the field 

 of agricultural science that his greatest interest lay, and it was mainly 

 thi'ough his efforts that the State of Connecticut gained the honor of 

 inaugurating in this country the work of Agricultural Experiment 

 Stations, which are now in successful operation in every State of the 

 Union. The Connecticut Station, founded through his efforts, 

 served for many years under his management as a striking illustration 

 of the many ways in which chemical science can give aid to practical 

 agriculture. In 1868 he published a book, "How Crops Grow," 

 which attracted wide attention, and in 1870 this was followed by 

 another volume, "How Crops Feed." They were the first books 

 printed in this country bringing together in related form such knowl- 

 edge as then existed regarding the composition and physiology of 

 plants In reality they furnished a new basis for instruction in 

 agriculture, and that their worth was clearly recognized is shown by 

 the fact that they were translated into German, Russian, Swedish, 

 and Japanese, and the former book into French and Italian also. 



In analytical chemistry, between the years 1864 and 1883, he edited 

 three editions of Fresenius' Manual of Qualitative Chemical Analysis. 

 Also, in 1870, he edited Fresenius' System of Instruction in Quantita- 

 tive Analysis. His writings on chemical subjects were numerous, he 

 being for more than fifty years a constant contributor to agricultural 

 and scientific journals. 



As the writer has stated in another connection. Professor Johnson's 

 broad and keen grasp of chemical problems, added to his farsighted 

 appreciation of the many advantages to be gained by a judicious 

 application of the science of chemistry to agriculture, made him a 

 power in his generation, and his services counted for much in the 



