CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 



One of the first problems that Doctor Hopkins took up 

 after his arrival at Illinois, as indicated by the title of the first 

 publication of the Experiment Station to bear his name, was 

 a study of the composition and digestibility of corn ensilage, 

 cowpea ensilage, soja bean ensilage, and corn fodder. 



My own earliest recollection of Doctor Hopkins is in con- 

 nection with this work, and I picture in my mind now the old- 

 fashioned mercury air-pump in his laboratory up there on the 

 third floor of what was then the Chemistry Building, but which 

 now shelters the College of Law, where hour after hour we 

 worked on that everlasting job of crude-fiber determination, 

 he with his characteristic patience and accuracy carefully 

 washing out the fiber from the acid and alkali extractions, and 

 I cranking that old mercury pump. The routine nature of this 

 kind of laboratory work did not demand such strenuous mental 

 application but that there was some opportunity for conversa- 

 tion. That opportunity, I may say, was not neglected, and so 

 chemistry, agriculture, politics, religion, and philosophy were 

 freely discussed and at times even a late story was exchanged. 

 Those were rare days, and many a time in later years when re- 

 sponsibilities multiplied and departmental affairs became so 

 intricate that the opportunity for a short, necessary confer- 

 ence with the Doctor sometimes required days of waiting, I 

 have looked back to those old days with some regret, and 

 with great appreciation, for the opportunity they afforded in 

 the intimate contact with this great master of science, an op- 

 portunity that has not been possible in later years. 



The investigation referred to above was a digestion experi- 

 ment conducted by the method well known to students of 

 agriculture in which a given feedstuff of known composition 

 is fed to an animal in known amount and the amount and com- 

 position of the excreta are determined, and from these data 

 the proportion of the various food nutrients retained by the 

 animal body is found and the digestibility of the feedstuff in 

 question thus determined. 



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