MARCELIN BERTHELOT.¢ 
By CAMILLE MATIGNON, 
Professor of Mineral Chemistry at the College de France; former Assistant 
Professor to Berthelot at the College de France. 
The illustrious scholar to whom all France has paid a last solemn 
tribute held an extraordinary rank in the science of the nineteenth 
century. What he accomplished was tremendous, almost superhuman. 
No other man can grasp it in its entirety, for in order to comprehend 
it in detail one would need to have an encyclopedic knowledge such 
as no one in this day possesses. The scholars of the whole world 
bowed before this grand intellect, unanimously recognized as one of 
the broadest of its time. This intellect, moreover, was powerfully 
aided by a memory no less widely famed. It was by uniting with 
these natural gifts, obstinate and incessant, systematic endeavor, 
that Berthelot was able to build up an immense life work in which is 
shown the universal scope of his knowledge. A man of letters, a 
philosopher, an historian, there was no subject with which he was not 
familiar; he was well and accurately informed on all topics. 
Pierre Eugéne Marcelin Berthelot was born in Paris, October 28, 
1827, in a house on the place de Greves, now the place de l’HO6tel 
de Ville. He studied at the Lycée Henri IV, and showed from the 
start remarkable aptitude in the most varied directions. Fouqué, 
in recalling at the fiftieth anniversary of his scientific career the old 
fellowship of the Lycée that brought him close to Berthelot, added: 
“ Even at that time you felt the lofty position in the science of the 
future which awaited you. Your professors, and even your fellow- 
students, were alike conscious of it, and, more than anyone else, I 
had faith in you.” In 1846 Berthelot won the honor prize in philos- 
ophy at the Concours général. He devoted himself henceforth to 
the study of the sciences without passing through any school. He 
was selected as Balard’s assistant in the Collége de France in January, 
1851, and for nine years he filled this humble office with its annual 
allowance of 500 frances. During this period, in April, 1854, he 
——— 
«Translated, by permission, from Revue Générale des Sciences pures et 
appliquées. Paris, 18th year, No. 9, May 15, 1907. 
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