ing to what we term also a " diysalter ;" and 

 we here see the reason of the early attentiou 

 paid by the boy to chemical pursuits. The in- 

 terest excited by his father's experiments, seems 

 to have founded in him such a permanent love 

 of similar pursuits, that no one, advising him to 

 tlie contrary, was able to influence his mind in 

 any degree. Nor can his father now, when he 

 looks with pride on the son vsho has so highly 

 educated himself, refrain from thinking, as we 

 hope many others v^ ill think \\ ith him, that the 

 early predilections of childhood are not to be 

 disregarded in choosuig a path for future pur- 

 suit. True it is that the studies of the Gymnasi- 

 um were forgotten, or almost entirely neglected, 

 and that ^'irgil and Horace were not apprecia- 

 ted ; but the teachers of the Gymnasium, like 

 other teachers, failed to perceive that there are 

 some studies of value which do not come under 

 their province ; and that the Latin and Greek of 

 the olden time, beautiful as is their literature, 

 must never dare to oppose themselves to the ra- 

 pid growth of that knowledge, ■w^hich is, as it 

 were, a continuation of the creation of things, 

 inasmuch as it opens to us truths %\'hich have 

 for ages remained as if uncalled into existence. 



At the age of fourteen, Justus knew well all 

 that had been done in the science ; had read all 

 tlie books the library- could give on tlie subject; 

 and let no one suppose that Darmstadt not being 

 so large as London, cannot so well supply the 

 student with books; and Manchester. Liverjjool, 

 and Birmingham, though able to compete with 

 it in money, cannot compete with it in literary 

 treasures. Not that any offence is meant to Darm- 

 stadt, Ln comparing it for a moment with these 

 English towais iu a literaiy point of view ; .but it 

 would be well for us to know that many as are 

 the booksellers in England, but a small number 

 of towns can boast of establishments such as 

 many places which we might call villages, 

 are supplied with in Germany. At this age, 

 Liebig had also experimented as much as his 

 means would allow him, and had, no doubt, a 

 good knowledge of chemistry, whilst the im- 

 pressions made on his youthful mind could not 

 easily be effaced, growing as they did with his 

 growth, and familiar as a game of marbles or of 

 cricket. The usual method of learning chemis- 

 try then, as it is also unfortunately in England, 

 was to go to an apothecarj-'s shop, and accord- 

 ingly Liebig followed this course. 



It was with little encouragement that this 

 course was undertaken ; but it was the only 

 mode left, as at school he v^^as considered a 

 dunce, not giving any attention to languages, 

 and not being gifted with so much of what the 

 phrenologists call " Imitation," as to glide easily 

 into any form of speech or into any language 

 used by others. I prefer saying that he is defi- 

 cient in imitation, as he does show great fluency 

 of speech, and has a peculiarly expressive style 

 of his own, which could not be the case were it 

 mere deficiency iu language. (See Prof Greg- 

 orj's remarks in the Phren. Jouru. on "Prof 

 Liebig"s Development.") 



Reuling was his fellow-boobie at Bchool. and 

 is now disiingui.shed as a musician at Vienna. 



Liebig remained onlj- ten months at the 

 ajjothecary's in Heppenheim, near Darmstadt, 

 finding that chemistry, as a science, was as far 

 offaseverin that mode of proceeding. After 

 six months' preparatory ,study at home, he went 

 to the Univer.sity of Bonn, then to Erlangen, 

 studying wider Kastner in the latter place. — 

 Here he became acquainted witli many who 

 (370) 



followed different as well as similar pursuits; 

 and the influence of the lectures of Schelling he 

 has often expressed to have been strong, and to 

 have been hurtful to him in the study of physics ; 

 but probably the elevated .sentiments of Schell- 

 ing have not been without advantage in raising 

 the character of tlie chemist, and giving it that 

 extended influence and those higher tendencies, 

 unknown to its earlier ioilowers. To keep alivo 

 his knowledge and sharpen his reasoning pow- 

 ers on the subject, he ibrraed a society among 

 the students of Bonn and Eriaugen, for discu.ss- 

 ing chemical and physical subjects. "We have 

 been mmble to procure the first papers written 

 by him \\ hilst at Erlangen, on the action of al- 

 kalies, on fulminating silver, and on some color- 

 ing matters ; both are types of his future labors, 

 as he has shone so much in illustrating the ac- 

 tion of bodies, which .seem to act by laws some- 

 what different from the ordinary attraction then 

 kno^vn. We are not infonued by what chan- 

 nel the talents of the young man were made 

 known to the Grand Duke Lewis I. of Darm- 

 stadt ; but in 1822 he was liberally furnished by 

 him with means to prosecute his studies ui Pa- 

 ris. Here he attended Gay Lussac, Thenard 

 Dulong, and others, and made acquaintance 

 with the principal chemists now his cotempora- 

 ries in Gemiany. His talents havhig recom- 

 mended him to De Humboldt, many advantages 

 in the prosecution of his studies and his investi- 

 gations were given him ; and a more intimate 

 acquaintance with Gay Lussac, caused by 

 the recommendation of tlie same great philoso- 

 pher, was followed by an investigation into the 

 fulminates ; a work which had tor some time 

 engaged his attention, and which was^ now un- 

 dertaken in the private laboratoiy of Gay Lus- 

 sac, and publi.shed under their joint names. 



In 1824, in his twenty-first year, by the re- 

 commendation of De Humboldt, he determined 

 to teach the science, and took means to obtain 

 the necessary degrees. He was, in the same 

 year, made extraordinary professor of chemis- 

 try at Giesen, and in two years after, ordinary 

 profes.sor. The place of extraordinaiy profes- 

 sor is that of lecturer or tutor, and is the first 

 step made towards a professorship in Germany. 

 There the station of professorship is fixed upon 

 by young men, and they follow it step by step 

 as the3' would any other occupation, and is not, 

 as here, the chance result of patronage and hard- 

 earned fame, although they felt it necessary to 

 labor hard to find a claim, and they are seldom 

 fixed upon before having made them.selves 

 somewhat known. They are, however, gener- 

 ally taken out of this body. Were I to give a 

 list of the labors of Liebig in chemistry, it would 

 be too long for this article, and at the same time 

 uninteresting to all but chemists. He was tu- 

 tored into fitness to speak on organic combina- 

 tions, as may be seen from the investigation 

 made into such substances as hippuric acid, 

 which he discovered, kinic acid, camphor and 

 camphoric acid, lactic, malic, and aspartic acid, 

 with their products of decomposition ; in many 

 instances tracing them from the highly organi- 

 zed state to the lower, where they approach 

 more morganic compounds. 'We see this espe- 

 cially in his investigation of ether, alcohol, alde- 

 hyd,"and the numberless comjjounds of cyano- 

 gen ; \\-hilst the more purely organic part, such 

 as sugar, was not forgotten. 



Profes.'-or Liebig is a great admirer of our dis- 

 tinguished chemist, Davy ; and the lives of the 

 i two are intimately connected as far as science 



