1893 



GLEANINGS IN REE CULTURE. 



593 



PKOF. H. W. WILEY. 



BIOGHAl'HICAL. 



When we met Prof. Wiley, the Chief Chemist 

 of the Department of Agriculture, at the Wash- 

 ington convention, we were very favorably 

 impressed with his general appearance. Al- 

 though we had previous intimations that we 

 had misjudged him in the past, we felt very 

 sure of it then. In answer to many inquiries, 

 we would say that Prof. Wiley is the man who 

 started what has been called the " Wiley ca- 

 nard;" but as he now seriously regrets it — as 

 much so as any bee-keeper — and seems dis- 

 posed to render every assistance, we feel sure 

 that every one will be glad to make his ac- 

 quaintance, and forget the past. He impressed 

 us as being a gentleman in every respect — a 

 scholar and a scientist; and as he is in a posi- 

 tion to do us great service, we take pleasure 

 in introducing him to the bee-men. 



PKOF. H. W. WILEY. 



Harvey W. Wiley, Chief of the Chemical 

 Division of the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, at Washington, D. C, was born at Kent, 

 Jefferson Co., Ind. He graduated from Hanover 

 College in 1867, receiving the degree of A. B. 

 Subsequently the degrees of A. M. and Ph. D. 

 were conferred upon him by the same institu- 

 tion. He commenced his public career as pro- 

 fessor of Latin and Greek in Butler University, 

 where he remained three years. In 1871 he took 

 the degree of M. D. at the Indiana Medical 

 College, and the following year became a teach- 

 er of science in the Indianapolis High School. 

 In 1873 he graduated from Harvard University 

 with the degree of S. B., and in 1874 accepted 

 the chair of chemistry in Butler University, 



which he occupied for only a short time, being 

 called to a similar position in Purdue Univer- 

 sity, the Agricultural College of Indiana, where 

 he remained until 1883, with the exception of 

 one year spent at the University of Berlin. 

 From 1881 to 1883 he served as State Chemist of 

 Indiana, and for three years (1874-7) was pro- 

 fessor of chemistry in the Indiana Medical 

 College. 



When State Chemist of Indiana, Prof. Wiley 

 directed much of his attention to the study of 

 glucoses and sugars, and his reputation as an 

 expert on these subjects resulted in a call to his 

 present position as Chemist of the Department 

 of Agriculture. Under his capable supervision 

 the chemical laboratory of that Department 

 has rapidly improved, the scope of the work 

 been enlarged, and methods systematized, until 

 at present it ranks as one of the foremost labo- 

 ratories of the country. 



Aside from his ge'neral scientific pursuits. 

 Prof. Wiley has pushed his investigations in 

 two special directions; namely, the solution of 

 the problem of increasing our sugar production, 

 and the adulteration of foods and the various 

 methods for its detection. 



'In the interest of the former of these subjects 

 he visited in 1886 the principal sugar-factories 

 of Europe, inspected the different kinds of 

 machinery, methods of operation, etc. As a 

 result of this visit the diffusion process was 

 introduced into this country, and is at present 

 in use in some of the large sugar-plantations of 

 the United States. During the whole period of 

 his connection with the Department of Agri- 

 culture, Prof. Wiley has been the director of 

 the government sugar - experiment stations, 

 and was the originator of the alcohol process 

 —a trial of which was so successfully made 

 in Kansas two years ago. The skill and per- 

 severance displayed by him in carrying on 

 these experiments, and the service rendered to 

 a great agricultural industry, entitle him to 

 much commendation. He has interested him- 

 self in the development of new, and the 

 improvement of old varieties of sugar-produc- 

 ing plants, and has, in short, done more, in a 

 scientific way, than any other one man to 

 develop and put on a paying basis the sugar- 

 industry of the country. 



In pursuing his scientific researches, honey 

 has received particular attention from Prof. 

 Wiley. He is in hearty accord with the bee- 

 keepers of the country; has delivered addresses 

 before the American Bee-keepers' Association, 

 and devoted much time to the establishment of 

 accurate and reliable methods for detecting 

 adulterations of honey. All known methods of 

 honey analysis have been carefully tried under 

 his direction, and, as a result of this work, 

 together with the new processes he has devised. 

 it is possible now to detect all adulterations of 

 honey when practiced on a commercial scale. 



One of the most interesting and useful of 

 the new processes devised by Prof. Wiley con- 

 sists in the detection of the percentage of levu- 

 lose in honey by means of its deportment with 

 polarized light at widely separated tempera- 

 tures. There are still many points in connec- 

 tion with honey analysis which require more 

 careful elaboration, and to the solution of these 

 problems Prof. Wiley is giving much of his 

 time. He will not rest satisfied until the bee- 

 keeper is absolutely relieved from the disas- 

 trous competition of the honey-adulterator in 

 all the markets of the United States. 



Prof. Wiley is connected with various scien- 

 tific societies. He has served as president of 

 the Washington Chemical Society; president of 

 the Chemical Section of the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science; president 

 of the Association of Official Agricultural 



