1 88 



NATURE 



[November 8, 191 7 



mendations, not in a report, but in a Bill, might 

 be conferred upon it. If it is necessary to pass 

 an Act of Parliament to allow of the creation of 

 such a Commission and the giving of such powers, 

 then the passing of such an Act must be the first 

 step. The matter is so important as to justify 

 such procedure. The difficulties with which it is 

 attended, mainly because of the number of depart- 

 ments and interests that are involved, render it 

 almost hopeless to expect that a solution will be 

 found if only the methods regarded as constitu- 

 tional are available. 



PROF. ADOLF VON BAEYER, For.Mem.R.S. 



THE announcement in the Times of September 8 

 of the death of Prof. Adolf von Baeyer at 

 Starnberg, near Munich, in his eighty-second year, 

 must have come as a shock to his many pupils in 

 this country. It was known to several of us that 

 he had not been in good health for some years, 

 but the quiet life which he led at his beautiful 

 home on the shores of the Starnberger See seemed 

 to benefit his health so much that his sudden 

 decease, even at his advanced age, was quite un- 

 expected. It is questionable whether any teacher 

 or investigator ever exerted a greater influence on 

 the development of chemical science, and especially 

 of organic chemistry, than Baeyer has done, for 

 not only was he a great teacher whose pupils are 

 to be found in every civilised country, but his 

 researches have also laid many of the foundations 

 on. which the amazing structure of modern organic 

 chemistry has been raised. Apart from the interest 

 which always attached to his published work, it is 

 probable that his main influence on chemical 

 thought was due to his magnetic personality and 

 power of imparting to others some of his 

 enthusiasm for discovery. 



For many years, and particularly during the 

 period 1 880-1 900, it was the custom for the large 

 majority of those who wished to come into contact 

 with the later developments of experimental 

 method to attach themselves, for a short time at 

 least, to the laboratories at Munich. The power 

 which Baeyer exercised in connection with the 

 progress of chemistry in Germany can scarcely be 

 better illustrated than by the fact that during 

 these years, almost every professor of chemistry 

 in Germany of the first rank was a pupil of Baeyer. 

 Among these we find, for example, the names of 

 E. Bamberger, L. Claisen, Th. Curtius, Emil 

 Fischer, Otto Fischer, P. Friedlander, C. Graebe, 

 L. Knorr, C. Liebermann, Victor Meyer, H. v. 

 Pechmann, J. Thiele, and R. Willstatter. 



Baeyer 's influence on the development of 

 chemical industry, and especially of the colour 

 industry, was not less remarkable, for in every 

 works were to be found such men as Caro and 

 Dulsberg, Homolka and Weinberg, and a host of 

 others who had learnt their chemistry and ac- 

 quired their methods of research in the laboratories 

 at Munich. If inquiry is made into the reason for 

 the wide influence which Baeyer has exerted on 

 NO. 2506, VOL. 100] 



chemical thought, it will be universally agreed 

 that this has been due in the mail to his extra- 

 ordinary enthusiasm for research and the keen joy 

 which he felt and expressed when he had suc- 

 ceeded in producing some new substance of im- 

 portance which he had probably been seeking for 

 many months, and possibly for years. On such 

 occasions he used to walk about the laboratories 

 beaming with delight and discuss his latest dis- 

 covery and its probable Consequences with his 

 assistants and advanced pupils. His enthusiasm 

 fired the enthusiasm of his hearers, and unques- 

 tionably did mtich to awaken and stimulate the 

 desire to make discoveries and achieve something 

 perhaps of equal importance. Baeyer was essen- 

 tially an experimenter, and had little real interest 

 in the development of new theories, although some 

 of his views, such, for example, as those on the 

 constitution of benzene, the structure of oxonium 

 salts, the cause of colour in the triphenylmethane 

 series, and the mechanism of the formation of 

 sugar in the plant, were valuable contributions to 

 theory, and his well-known " Spannungs Theorie "■ 

 was a brilliant conception of real value in con- 

 nection with stability in ring structures. 



It was Baeyer 's habit to adjourn to his private 

 laboratory directly after his early-morning lecture, 

 for perhaps an hour, in order to carry out any 

 experiments which had occurred to him after the 

 close of the previous day's work and to discuss 

 the day's programme with his assistant. He would 

 then walk through the research laboratories and 

 talk over any difficulties with those with whom he 

 happened to be working, and with others whose 

 work happened to interest him. Baeyer's custom 

 was to work himself with comparatively few of 

 those engaged in research in his laboratories, 

 and he left to the Privatdozenten almost entirely 

 the supervision of the Doctorarbeiten. 



Unless something of real interest had happened, 

 it was usual for those working with him to tell 

 him -at once that there was notliing to report, and, 

 in this way, Baeyer frequently made the tour of 

 the large laboratories so rapidly that he was back 

 in his private laboratory soon after- eleven o'clock, 

 and the whole of the rest of the day was spent at 

 his own work. His private laboratory — a large 

 and very well lit room — usually contained, besides 

 one private assistant, some other researcher in 

 whose work he was specially interested, and it 

 was not unusual for such a student to remain in 

 the private laboratory for weeks at a time. Such ' 

 an experience was, of course, of the utmost value 

 to those who were fortunate enough to enjoy the 

 privilege ; in such circumstances it was impossible 

 not to be profoundly influenced by the skill, 

 patience, and resource with which the experi- 

 mental difficulties of so many intricate problems 

 were gradually overcome. His equipment for 

 research consisted almost entirely of test-tubes 

 and glass rods, and it rarely happened that he 

 used anything larger than quite small beakers and 

 flasks. Large wooden racks containing hundreds 

 of test-tubes were always at hand, and It used to 



