MY JUBILEE 413 



A particularly interesting Address was that which I received 

 from the Dutch chemists : 



March, I5th, 1904. 

 DEAR SIR, 



On this memorable day a day on which you enjoy the rare privilege of 

 being able to look back upon fifty years of honourable scientific activity 

 we, the Dutch Chemists, desire to offer you our congratulations, and to 

 add our meed of appreciation to the many similar tokens, which will no 

 doubt reach you from all parts of the world. 



Although we did not sit immediately at your feet to be initiated 

 by you into Chemistry, we yet would wish to range ourselves among your 

 pupils. 



Your researches on the laws of gaseous solution, on the composition of 

 the aqueous acids at their boiling-point as affected by pressure, on 

 vanadium and other elements, on the chemical intensity of light these 

 are among the classics of our science and are known to every chemist. 



They afford proof of how exact observation, founded upon carefully 

 devised experiments and combined with logical thought, leads to perman- 

 ent results, and as such constitute examples to be followed by all 

 subsequent investigators. 



Your lectures on spectral analysis, which have contributed so much to 

 the propagation, development, and application of this branch of inquiry ; 

 your treatises which in various translations and editions have been for so 

 many years the chief text-books in schools of chemical instruction these 

 also give us the right to call you Our Master. 



We ask you to accept our grateful thanks and homage. 



May you enjoy for many years to come the memory of a half century so 

 assiduously devoted to the service of Science, so rich in endeavour and so 

 fruitful in achievement. 



Signed by ten Dutch Professors. 



I finally quote the translation of three letters. The first is 

 from perhaps the most eminent of all living organic chemists, 

 Professor von Baeyer, the successor to Liebig at Munich ; 

 the second is from Professor Beilstein, of St. Petersburg, the 

 author of the great Dictionary of Organic Chemistry ; the 

 third from Professor Quincke, the distinguished physicist at 

 Heidelberg, a life- long and intimate friend. All three studied 

 with me under Bunsen half a century ago. 



Translation oj PROF. VON BAEYER'S Letter of Congratulation. 



HIGHLY HONOURED FRIEND, 



Among the many Anniversaries in his own career a man of Science 

 may live to see, there is only one which we in Germany are in the habit 

 of celebrating : it is the fiftieth return of the day on which he took his 

 Doctorate, the first step in his Academic career. In conformity with this 

 charming custom your many friends and admirers have this day combined 

 to testify their appreciation of your achievements and to express their hope 

 that a serene and restful evening may follow the day of strenuous 

 endeavour. 



Among the multitude of your admirers I beg to number myself as one 

 of the oldest and warmest. 



