194 Mr. Harold B. Dixon on , 



groups. From a knowledge of their boiling points Schor- 

 lemmer was thus able to classify correctly certain hydro- 

 carbons whose constitution was then unknown. 



In the same year he prepared normal propyl alcohol for 

 the first time, and gave a general method of proceeding 

 from the secondary to the normal alcohols. 



In an important paper on the structure of the alcohols 

 in 1870, he showed that their constitution could be deter- 

 mined by an examination of their products of oxidation, 

 and he was able to show that when a higher hydrocarbon 

 of the marsh-gas series is treated with chlorine, a mixture 

 of a primary and of a secondary cJdoridc results. A careful 

 study of the action of bromine on the paraffins showed 

 (1877) that only secondary mono-bromides were formed. 



His later work was mainly on the derivatives of hexane 

 and heptane. He showed that heptane from American 

 petroleum was identical with the heptane discovered by 

 Thorpe in the resin from Pimis sabiniana. But the hexane 

 prepared from mannite was shown to differ from the hexane 

 in petroleum, although both must be described as normal 

 paraffins. No explanation has yet been advanced to 

 account for the isomerism of these hexanes. 



Of Schorlemmer's other researches the most important 

 are those on " Aurine " and its derivatives, and on 

 " Suberone," made in conjunction with Mr. R. S. Dale. 



But Schorlemmer won distinction not only as a brilliant 

 experimenter, but also as an historian and a systematiser of 

 chemical facts. Few chemists have equalled him in his 

 deep and varied knowledge of scientific literature. His 

 " Chemistry of the Carbon Compounds," published in 1874, 

 was the first systematic treatise on modern organic chemistry 

 in the English language, and its clear, yet concise method, 

 makes the work still valuable. His little book, the " Rise 

 and Development of Organic Chemistry" (1879), is original, 

 and full of learning lightly put. He left the well-known 



