THE EARLIER YEARS OF DOCTOR HOPKINS' 

 SCIENTIFIC CAREER 



By LOUIE HENKIE SMITH 



Professor of Plant Breeding, University of Illinois 



THE importance and the renown of Doctor Hopkins' great 

 work in the field of soil fertility has naturally tended to 

 overshadow his other scientific accomplishments, and it is 

 doubtless true that thousands of people who knew Doctor 

 Hopkins well as a great soil expert have no knowledge what- 

 ever of his valuable work along other lines. It would be a 

 mistake indeed if on this occasion these other scientific ac- 

 complishments were to be overlooked. To me, therefore, has 

 been assigned the privilege of calling attention briefly to some 

 of these earlier activities of Doctor Hopkins before he entered 

 upon that field that finally claimed him for his great life work 

 and for which he will always be known. 



Perhaps my purpose can best be accomplished by recount- 

 ing in somewhat narrative form certain of the more interesting 

 events of the earlier years of Doctor Hopkins' connection with 

 the University of Illinois. 



Doctor Hopkins came to Illinois in 1894 to take the position 

 of Chemist of the Agricultural Experiment Station. He had 

 been graduated from the College of Agriculture of South 

 Dakota and had been an assistant to Doctor Shepard, the 

 chemist of that station. He had also had some experience in 

 college teaching, having conducted the course in pharmacy. 

 He had not, however, completed his education to his satisfac- 

 tion and one of the conditions of acceptance of his new position 

 was a provision for leave of absence to pursue graduate study. 

 He had already spent some months at Cornell University 

 and in two periods of leave from Illinois he returned to Cornell 

 and finished first the work for his master's degree and finally 

 the work for his doctor's degree. 



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