x ADDRESSES ON RETIREMENT 243 



model of many similar institutions which the success of your 

 own school has called into existence. No place of chemical 

 instruction has exercised so profound an influence as that 

 of which you have been the moving and directing force, and 

 with which your name will always be connected. The 

 influence on the industrial welfare of the community is seen 

 from the number of important posts held by your students 

 in the district. As a centre of chemical research you have 

 made Owens College known all the world over, and your 

 published books on chemical science form the standard works 

 not only in this but in many countries. Whilst we have 

 viewed with regret the severance of your active connection 

 with the institution for which you have done so much, we 

 trust that you may be long spared to continue in the wider 

 sphere of political and public life those efforts which have 

 contributed so largely to the intellectual advancement of the 

 people of this country. We beg your acceptance of the 

 portrait which accompanies this address as a token of our 

 affectionate respect, and in grateful recollection of the many 

 kindly acts which have endeared you to us all. 



It was especially a great wrench to leave my well- 

 fitted laboratory, and to cut myself more or less off 

 from scientific work. So strongly did I feel this that 

 I determined to start a private laboratory in London, 

 and with the help of Messrs. Lunt and Scudder I 

 worked on various subjects, especially on a new and 

 accurate method of estimating the dissolved oxygen 

 in water, and on an examination of some of the micro- 

 organisms present in sewage. This latter piece of 

 work was published in the Philosophical Transactions, 

 and was one of the first memoirs containing really 

 good photo-micrographs of the pure cultures. To- 

 gether with Mr. Lunt I also wrote a First Step in 

 Chemistry which has had a large sale. With reference 

 to this little book, I here insert a reproduction of a 

 coloured drawing by my niece, Miss Beatrix Potter, 

 as original as it is humorous, which was presented to 

 me by the artist on the publication of the work. 

 After a while I found that I could not give time to 



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