438 Sir Henry Boscoe [June 1, 



to make known to you what manner of man he was — how he worked 

 and taught, bo that you may understand the feelings of admiration 

 and affection with which all those who came under his influence 

 regarded him, and why they look back upon his memory as that of one 

 whom it has been a privilege to know. Many people — even some 

 chemists I fear — have heard of the Bunsen Burner, and the Bunsen 

 Battery, but have no further knowledge of the great work which he 

 accomplished. 



Let me, to begin with, give you an idea of Bunsen's personality, 

 and show you bis likeness when he was in the height of his strength, 

 in 1862, and again in 1887, when age had mellowed but not weakened 

 his features. It has been well said, you know, that Davy's greatest 

 discovery was Faraday — so too we may add was Bunsen's discovery 

 of Kirchhoff; for this brought about one of the greatest steps in the 

 progress of modern science — the foundation of spectrum analysis. 



It was in the autumn of 1852 that I first became acquainted with 

 the man who afterwards — for nearly fifty years — was one of my most 

 intimate friends, to whom 1 owe more than I can tell. At that time 

 Bunsen was at the height of his power, both physical and mental ; 

 he had just been called to the Chair of Chemistry at Heidelberg, and 

 was facile princeps amongst the active workers and teachers of the 

 science. He stood fully six feet high, his manner was simple yet 

 dignified, and his expression of rare intelligence and of great kind- 

 ness. This first impression of his bearing and character only became 

 stronger as my knowledge of him was more intimate, and the feelings 

 of respect and affection with which I regarded him, were only ex- 

 pressive of the attitude of all with whom he came in contact. His 

 singular amiability was not a sign of weakness but of strength of 

 character. His modesty was natural and in no degree assumed. In 

 his lectures, when giving an account of some discovery he had made, 

 or some new apparatus or method of work which he had instigated, 

 I never heard him mention himself. It was always " man hat dies 

 gefunden," or " es hat sich so herausgestellt." In his old age, and 

 looking back on his life-work, he writes to me that he " feels as 

 keenly as ever how modest and contemptibly small is the amount 

 which I have added to the building of science." And yet the con- 

 tributions of this man have been equalled by few. He was the 

 pioneer in some of the most important scientific discoveries of the 

 century. His work was not only of a truly original character, but 

 to use an expression which has lately come into vogue, it reached the 

 bed-rock of the subject. He laid the foundations of many branches 

 of chemical science. In pure chemistry, in chemistry applied to the 

 arts and industry, in physical chemistry, and in chemical geology his 

 researches have long ranked as classics, and will thus remain for 

 time to come. 



Let me give you a few examples. But first I would ask you to 

 look in at his laboratory at Heidelberg and see him at work. At 

 eight o'clock every morning he lectured on General Chemistry. 



