WILLIAM GOSSAGE. 



No name among the practical chemists of 

 the present century is more deserving of a 

 permanent memorial than that of William 

 Gossage. His character as an inventor was 

 exemplary for the unceasing industry and 

 perseverance with which he pursued his 

 labours; and his inventions illustrate for nearly 

 half a century the progress of more than one 

 department of chemical industry. 



With few advantages in the way of early 

 education, for he was the youngest child in a 

 family of thirteen, taken from school before 

 he was thirteen years of age and sent to serve 

 in a druggist's shop with no aids such as 

 evening classes or technical schools or even 

 mechanics' institutes, he acquired such a 

 knowledge of the science of chemistry as the 

 books of that day afforded, and in order 

 to gain access to the work of some great 

 authors, he mastered the French language. 



He was born in the little Lincolnshire town 



of Burgh-in- the- Marsh, in the year 1799, and 



his un< ! was the chemist and druggist, at 



.terfield, with whom he was placed when 



< years of age. But William Gossage 



