NATURE 



97 



THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1900. 



A LIFE OF SC HON BE IN. 

 Christian Friedrich Schonbein^ 1799- 1868. Ein Blatt 

 zur Geschichte des 19. /ahrhunderfs. Von Georg W. A. 

 Kahlbaum und Ed. Schaer. I. Theil. Pp. xix + 230 

 (Leipzig : Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1900.) 



THIS work forms the fourth part of the series of mono- 

 graphs on the history of chemistry being published 

 under the editorship of Prof. Kahlbaum, of Bale, whose 

 qualifications for the task have already been made known 

 to English men of science m the notices of two of his 

 earlier volumes published recently in these columns.^ The 

 present mstalment covers the period from the time of 

 Schonbein's birth to the year 1849, and is divided into 

 four sections, which comprise respectively the intervals 

 1799-1820, the " Wanderjahre " 1820-1828, the resi- 

 dence at Bale from 1828 till the discovery of the passivity 

 of iron towards the end of 1835, and the prosecution of 

 the researches on the latter subject and on cognate elec- 

 trical subjects from 1836 till 1849. There is a supple- 

 mentary section dealing with Schonbein as a teacher and 

 friend, which is by no means the least interesting part of 

 the present volume. A perusal of the work will not only 

 convince its readers that Schonbein was altogether a 

 remarkable man as a thinker and experimenter, but that 

 his personality and work could not have fallen for delinea- 

 tion and estimation into any better or more appreciative 

 hands than those of Dr. Kahlbaum and his colleague. 



The subject of the present biography was born at 

 Metzingen, in Schwabia, on October 18, 1799. Passing 

 over his boyhood, it appears that in his fourteenth year 

 he made his first start in life as a pupil in the chemical 

 and pharmaceutical factory 'of Metzger and Kaiser at 

 Boblingen, so as to become a practical chemist. He 

 suffered much at first from home-sickness, which, the 

 authors tell us, is a purely German ailment :— 



" Dasbittere Leiddes Heimwehs, dieseriicht deutschen 

 Krankheit, die Englander und Franzosen haben kaum ein 

 eigenes Wort dafiir, &c." 



.After seven years in this factory, he went, in 1820, into 

 Dr. J. G. Dingler's factory for chemical products at 

 .Vugsburg, on which occasion it is noteworthy that he 

 underwent his only examination, and obtained his only 

 certificate from Dr. Kielmeyer, of Stuttgart. The original 

 document, which has been obtained by Dr. Kahlbaum, 

 testifies that at that time Schonbein was possessed of a 

 >d scientific and practical knowledge of chemistry. Dr. 

 pngler's letter, setting forth the qualifications which he 

 )ected on the part of the young man whom he was 

 inking of engaging, is dated March 20, 1820, and as 

 [revelation of the state of aflTairs in a German establish - 

 snt during the early part of the nineteenth century, it will 

 pay careful perusal. The chemist required by him was 

 have scientific rather than ordinary routine chemical 

 )wledge ; he was to have at the same time something 

 re than a superficial acquaintance with chemistry, in 

 !er that he might be able to carry out the analytical 

 rk required of him ; he was to have a knowledge of 



1 Xatuke, February 8, p. 337 ; and March 29, p. 513. 



NO. 1596, VOL. 62] 



languages, so as to be able to translate, at least from 

 French ; he was to be possessed of moral rectitude, and 

 to be entirely worthy of confidence. He was to come on 

 probation for fourteen days, and if not found suitable he 

 was to be sent back " carriage paid " (" bei Vergiitung der 

 Reisekosten "). If found suitable, he was to be boaided 

 and lodged, and to receive from 200 to 300 florins per 

 annum, with an increase to follow. 



As the editor points out, Schonbein must have made 

 good use of his time at Boblingen, since he seems to have 

 come up to Dingler's requirements, and was appointed to 

 the Augsburg factory ; but before entering upon his duties 

 he drew a fatal conscription number, and had to undergo 

 a short term of military service. It appears, however, 

 that he was soon discharged from this duty, through the 

 intervention of the King, and in May 1820 he was 

 " militarfrei." 



The eight years from 1820-28 must have been years of 

 great activity in Schonbein's early life. He remained 

 only a few months at Augsburg, and then travelled from 

 one University to another. His name is associated during 

 this period with the Universities of Tiibingen and 

 Erlangen. While studying at the latter place, where he 

 had Liebig for a contemporary, he was also holding the 

 appointment of director in Adam's factory at Hemhofen, 

 but finding that his factory work interfered with the pro- 

 secution of a regular course of study at the University, 

 Mr. Adam relieved him of this work, and assisted him 

 pecuniarily by appointing him tutor in his family. 



Among many other interesting episodes in Schonbein's 

 career at this period is his sojourn in England, which 

 appears to have been the outcome of a taste for pedagogy 

 inspired by his friend Christian Friedrich Wurm, who 

 subsequently became professor of history in the Ham- 

 burg gymnasium — a man of many parts, a master of the 

 English language and an ardent disciple of Pestalozzi, 

 whose works he had translated into English. It was in 



1826 that the young Schonbein entered the service of Dr. 

 Mayo, who kept a school at Epsom, where Wurm was 

 already engaged, for the purpose of imparting instruction 

 in mathematics and natural philosophy on Pestalozzian 

 principles in return for " 50/. sterling per annum ; with 

 board, lodging and washing." The description of Dr. 

 Mayo's establishment given by Wurm, and the criticisms 

 which he makes upon the English educational methods 

 of that time, are preserved in a letter to Schonbein 

 written from Epsom in 1825, and published by Dr. 

 Kahlbaum in the present volume. The editor comes 

 to the conclusion that the Epsom academy was as 

 far removed from the ideal Frobel institute as the classical 

 establishment of Dr. Blimbers at Brighton, in which 

 young Paul Dombey was " forced " to death. Schonbein 

 appears, however, to have made the best of his oppor- 

 tunities while in England, and to have paid visits to 

 London and to Scotland, making friends and acquaint- 

 ances, and gleaning knowledge wherever he went. In 



1827 he left for Paris, and a long extract from his diary 

 of travel, reprinted in the present work, is full of most 

 interesting comparisons of English with French modes of 

 travelling, and of the personal characteristics of the two 

 nations. While Anglophobia, judging from some of the 

 correspondence received by Schonbein at that time, 



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