264 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



Having thus placed the books that seemed to be so 

 absolutely a part of his own life where they would still 

 be in daily use, he divided his time between his car- 

 penter shop and his study, still book-lined, where he 

 followed certain lines of research in the current jour- 

 nals and enjoyed the daily discussions held on the 

 progress of the work on plant-proteins going on in the 

 laboratory of the Connecticut Station. He still read to 

 some extent, current literature often, but most often 

 such books as Thomson's " History of Chemistry," 

 Liebig and Wohler's "Briefwechsel" and Storer's 

 "Agriculture." The "Oxford Book of English Verse" 

 was never far from his hand; most heartily enjoyed 

 were "Prayers, Ancient and Modern" and a thin white 

 volume that bore the name of "Fiona Macleod. ' ' While 

 apparently absorbed in these diversions, he neverthe- 

 less always laid down his book with alacrity to answer 

 patiently and clearly the many questions brought to 

 him concerning the history of science and problems 

 presented in the development of Modern Chemistry, the 

 birth and growth of which had been so nearly coinci- 

 dent with his own professional life. 



Attacks of pneumonia, in 1906 and 1907, left him 

 very frail. He accompanied the family to New Hamp- 

 shire in the summer of 1908 ; in June, 1909, he decided 

 to remain quietly in New Haven, planning for his 

 summer's amusement field experiments that he had 

 "never before had the time to undertake." He also 

 set in order and refitted his private laboratory ; where 

 he undertook to isolate the citric acid which a German 

 chemist, some years before, had reported to be present 

 in milk an observation that up to that time had not 

 been confirmed. 



