784 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION^ 1913. 



establish the different temperatures of transformation they used 

 ordinary tensimetric and dihatometric methods. 



The problem may be considered to-day completely solved, at least 

 so far as its theoretic side is concerned. Moreover, the results agree 

 on almost all points with those obtained by mineralogists and 

 those in practical work; some of the new minerals, one of which 

 bears the name of vanthoffite, at first unknown and prepared syn- 

 thetically, have been since found in nature as a result of the sugges- 

 tions given. The importance of these studies, even from the practical 

 point of view, has been recognized by practical men and by the 

 German government. A committee was in fact established, in 1908, 

 charged with making a detailed study of the deposits of Stassfurt, 

 with reference to their application, but based principally on the 

 Avork of van't Hoff. * * * 



We have come now to the end of this brief review of the life of 

 the master and of the different phases of his scientific work. But 

 our purpose would not be fully attained if we did not turn back 

 for a resurvey of the entire field to see his figure as a man and a 

 scientist as it was in reality. 



As I have already said, he reproduced in his features the Dutch 

 type, he had a height slightly above the medium, and in his manner 

 of dressing and of speaking, as well as in familiar conversation, 

 he appeared as he was — modest ; only the gentle but keen and pene- 

 trating eye betrayed at times the exceptional man that stood 

 before one. 



As a man he was not one of those who weaken the splendor of 

 their genius by crudities and extravagances of character; his real 

 goodness, his serene gentleness, his modesty, even reaching almost 

 to ingenuousness, have brought him as many affectionate friends 

 as his work procured him admirers. 



He had as many and as high academic and scientific honors as a* 

 man could Avish ; of ambitions of another kind he did not possess the 

 slightest trace; his life ran tranquilly in the bosom of his family, 

 consisting of his wife, whom he had married while she was very 

 young, two daughters, and two sons. He was a complete stranger to 

 the spirit of domination and intrigue, and for this reason he never 

 had to suffer any of those jealousies and envies so frequent even in 

 the academic world. No superiority has ever been recognized so 

 tacitly and unresistingly as his, which he never made any one feel, 

 whoever it was. 



He was extremely reserved when it was a question of expressing 

 opinions on things, and particularly on men ; and it was only after a 

 long period of intimacy that one could hear him pronounce explicit 

 judgments, especially if they were not favorable. 



