52 GRAHAM LUSIv 



there would remain 50 gin. of carbon and 6 gm. of hydrogen suitable for oxida- 

 tion ; this would yield 575 calories. Since calculations based on the carbonic 

 acid elimination and oxygen absorption show that a man produces between 2,500 

 and 3,000 calories daily, it follows that he needs an additional 200 gm. of carbon 

 and 10 gm. of hydrogen to complete the required quantity of heat. 



The writings of Dumas brought Liebig (6) to the defense of his priority 

 in an article entitled, "Antwort auf Herrn Dumas' Rechtfertigung wegen 

 eines Plagiats," published in 1842. He recited how, in the winter of 

 1840-41, he had lectured to his students upon: (1) the respiration process 

 in its relation to the bile, (2) the nitrogen-containing substances of the 

 vegetable kingdom are identical with those of the blood; and (3) sugar 

 and starch are not food materials but serve for respiration and for fat 

 production. A young Swiss student of Geneva came to Liebig with a 

 letter from Dumas, attended the lectures, and afterward carried the in- 

 formation to Dumas in Paris. With volume 41 of Liebig's Annalen the 

 name of Dumas as collaborator disappears from the front page. Berzelius 

 sided with Dumas in this historic controversy, greatly increasing the bit- 

 terness of Liebig. The feeling between the two men, however, must have 

 died down, for in a dedication to Dumas of his "Nouvelles lettres sur 

 la chimie," dated Giessen, 1851, Liebig speaks in the most flattering terms 

 of his old associate and brilliant antagonist. 



Charges of plagiarism are contemporaneous with the progress of hu- 

 man thought. When two people work together they may find it possible to 

 make the pleasing statement of Bidder and Schmidt, "As the result of 

 mutual exchange of ideas and through intellectual metabolism, we find 

 ourselves in entire agreement." But as regards the controversies regarding 

 the priority of discoveries, such as grouped themselves around the person 

 of Lavoisier and the person of Liebig, no such self-abnegation was pos- 

 sible. 



Wb'hler writes to Liebig regarding another matter in the following 

 words (Moore, 1918) : 



To make war upon Marchand (or any one else for that matter) is of no use. 

 You merely consume yourself, get angry, and ruin your liver and your nerves 

 finally with Morrison's Pills. Imagine yourself in the year 1900, when we shall 

 both have been decomposed again into carbonic acid, water and ammonia, and 

 the lime of our bones belongs perhaps to the very dog who then dishonors our 

 grave. Who then will care whether we lived at peace or in strife? Who then 

 will know anything about your scientific controversies of your sacrifices of 

 health and peace for science? No one:, but your good ideas, the new facts you 

 have discovered, these, purified from all that is unessential, will be known and 

 recognized in the remotest times. But how do I come to counsel the lion to 

 eat sugar! 



This is the correct interpretation to be placed upon rights of priority. 

 The influence of an individual is evidently the result of the sum total 

 of all activities of his life. If he contributes to the ideas of others, the 



