vm 



Schorlemmer at once saw the importance of the question, and not 

 only seized upon the correct method of solution, but carried it out 

 successfully. If, said he, the radical methyl, CH 3 CH 3 , is identical 

 with ethyl hydride, C 2 H 6 H, not only must they have the same pro- 

 perties, but must yield the same product on treatment with chlorine. 



This identity he proved, experimentally, not only in the above, the 

 most simple instances, but also in the more complicated cases of 

 ethyl-amyl and di-amyl, C 2 H 5 C 5 H U and C 5 H U C 5 H n , these hydro- 

 carbons being shown to yield, respectively, chloride of heptyl and 

 chloride of decatyl, C 7 H 15 C1 and Ci H 2 iCl. It is difficult to over- 

 estimate the importance of this discovery, for it proved th non- 

 existence of. two sets of isomeric hydrocarbons of the paraffin series, 

 and, therefore, placed the theory of carbon combination on a firm 

 basis. This, though the most important of Schorlemmer's researches, 

 is only one amongst many, a list of thirty-two separate papers baing 

 found in the Royal Society's Catalogue. In 1871 he was elected a 

 Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1874 his position in the scientific 

 world was acknowledged by the creation by the Council of Owens 

 College of a distinct Chair of Organic Chemistry, the only one at pre- 

 sent in England, of which he was the first occupant. 



It was, however, not only as an expert experimentalist that 

 Schorlemmer excelled. He possessed an exhaustive knowledge, un- 

 common even amongst professional chemists, of the extensive litera- 

 ture, not only of the chemical science of his day, but also of that from 

 the earliest times. 



His acquaintance with other subjects was also considerable ; thus, 

 if he had not been a distinguished chemist, he would have been an 

 equally remarkable botanist. Moreover, he possessed, in full measure, 

 that dogged power of work which distinguishes the German, and 

 which has placed that people in the front as a nation of investigators. 



He became joint author with Professor Roscoe in the ' Treatise of 

 Chemistry,' and in the organic portion of that work especially, he 

 has shown both a perfect knowledge of the science, and remarkable 

 literary power. Only those who have attempted to write, even a 

 moderately complete treatise on modern organic chemistry, can know 

 .what serious labour such work entails. Several distinguished 

 chemists have given up the task as hopeless, and have not completed 

 what they had begun. If Schorlemmer's life had been spared, 

 nothing would have prevented him from bringing his work to a 

 satisfactory conclusion. 



As a laboratory teacher Schorlemmer was excelled by few, merely 



as a lecturer by many. But, although, like some eminent lecturers, 



is diction may have been faulty, the staple article was there, and no 



student who passed through his hands can be named who does 



express his admiration for the man, and the sense of obligation 



