2o6 



NA TURE 



[June 30, 1892 



stadt ; from which circumstance arose the myth, affirmed 

 by Kolbe, that he was a " Realschiiler," and not, as was 

 really the case, a " Gymnasiast." His first teacher in 

 chemistry at Darmstadt was Moldenhauer, the inventor 

 of lucifer matches. His leisure time was spent in model- 

 ling in plaster and at the lathe. He was then permitted 

 to return to Giessen. " I attended," he said, " the lectures, 

 first of Will and then of Liebig. Liebig was at work on a 

 new edition of his ' Letters on Chemistry,' for which many 

 experiments had to be carried on. I had to make 

 estimations of ash of albumen, to investigate gluten 

 in plants, &c. The names of the young chemists 

 who helped Liebig were mentioned in the book, among 

 them mine. The proposal was then made to me, just at 

 the time when Liebig intended to make me his assistant, 

 that I should go for a year abroad, either to Berlin, which 

 at that time was to Giessen a foreign land, or to Paris. 

 * Go,' said Liebig, * to Paris : there your views will be 

 widened ; you will learn a new language ; you will get 

 acquainted with the life of a great city ; but you will not 

 learn chemistry there.' In that, however, Liebig was 

 wrong. I attended lectures by Fremy, Wurtz, Pouillet, 

 Regnault ; by Marchandis on physiology, and by Payen 

 on technology. One day, as I was sauntering along the 

 streets, my eyes encountered a large poster with the 

 words 'Legons de philosophie chimique, par Charles 

 Gerhardt, ex-Professeur de Montpellier.' Gerhardt had 

 resigned his Professorship at Montpellier, and was teach- 

 ing philosophy and chemistry as privatdocent in Paris. 

 That attracted me, and I entered my name on the list. 

 Some days later I received a card from Gerhardt ; he had 

 seen my name in Liebig's * Letters on Chemistry.' On my 

 calling upon him he received me with great kindness, 

 and made me the offer, which I could not accept, that 1 

 should become his assistant. My visit took place at 

 noon, and I did not leave his house till midnight, after 

 a long talk on chemistry. These discussions continued 

 between us at least twice a week, for over a year. Then 

 I received an offer of the post of assistant to Von Plantu, 

 at the Castle of Reichenau, near Chur, which I accepted, 

 contrary to Liebig's wish, who recommended me as 

 assistant to Fehling at Stuttgart. So I went to Switzer- 

 land, where I had leisure to digest what I had learnt in 

 Paris during my intercourse with Gerhardt. Then I re- 

 ceived an invitation from Stenhouse, in London, to become 

 his assistant, an invitation I was loth to accept, since I re- 

 garded him, if I may be allowed the expression, as a 

 ' Schmierchemiker." By chance, however, Bunsen came to 

 Chur on a visit to his brother-in-law, at whose house I first 

 met him. I consulted Bunsen as to Stenhouse's offer, and 

 he advised me by all means to accept it. I should learn 

 a new language, but I should not learn chemistry. So I 

 came to London, where as Stenhouse's assistant I did 

 not profit much. By means of a friend, however, I be- 

 came acquainted with Williamson. The latter had just 

 published his ether theory, and was at work on the poly- 

 basic acids (in particular on the action of PCI5 on HgSOJ. 

 Chemistry was at one of its turning-points. The theory 

 ofpolybasic radicals was being evolved: with Williamson 

 was also associated Odling. Williamson insisted on plain 

 simple formulse without commas, without the buckles of 

 Kolbe, or the brackets of Gerhardt. It was a capital 

 school to encourage independent thought. The wish was 

 expressed that I should stay in England and become 

 technologist, but I was too much attached to home. I 

 wished to teach in a German University. But where ? 

 In order to get acquainted with the circumstances at the 

 several Universities, I became a travelling student. In 

 this capacity I came, among other Universities, to Bonn. 

 Here there was no chemist of eminence, and hence there 

 were no prospects. Nowhere did there seem so much 

 promise and so great a future as at Heidelberg. I could 

 ask no help of Bunsen. ' I can do nothing for you,' he 

 said, * at least not openly. I will not stand in your way, 



NO. I 183. VOL. 46] 



but more I cannot promise.* I fitted up a small private 

 laboratory in the principal street in Heidelberg at the 

 house of a corn merchant, Gross by name — a single room 

 with an adjoining kitchen. I took a few pupils, among 

 whom was Baeyer. In our little kitchen I finished my 

 work on fulminate of silver, while Baeyer carried out his 

 researches, which subsequently became famous, on 

 cacodyl. That the walls were coated thick with arsenious 

 acid, and that silver fulminate is explosive, we took no 

 thought about. After two years and a half I received a 

 call to Ghent as ordinary professor. There I stayed nine 

 years, and had to lecture in French. With me to Ghent 

 came Baeyer. Through the kindness of the then Prime 

 Minister of Belgium, Rogier, I obtained the means to 

 establish a small laboratory. I had there with me a number 

 chiefly of more advanced students, among whom I may 

 name Baeyer, Hiibner, Ladenburg, Wichelhaus, Linne- 

 mann, Radzizewski, and Meyer. There was not so much 

 a systematic course of instruction as a free and pleasant 

 academic intercourse. After nine years' work, I received 

 the call to Bonn." With some account of his work in 

 Bonn, and with a reference to the great attention he had 

 always received from his pupils. Prof. Kekul^ concluded 

 his address. The enthusiasm it occasioned, says the 

 Kolnische Zeitung, baffled description. 



The Professor then received the congratulations of 

 his personal staff, as well as those of the University 

 officials, among whom were the Rector Prof Strasburger, 

 the Curator Dr. Gandtner, and the Dean of the Philo- 

 sophical Faculty Prof. Schliiter. In the evening the 

 Bonn students honoured him with a torchlight procession, 

 it being the third time the Professor had received this, 

 the most conspicuous honour which is bestowed by 

 German students. The first occasion was in 1875, when 

 he declined the Professorship at Munich. The second 

 was in 1878, when he was Rector of the University, 

 held to commemorate the restoration of unity among 

 the students after a long period of disunion. Among the 

 torch-bearers on that occasion was the present Emperor 

 of Germany. 



In addressing the students. Prof, Kekuld reminded 

 them of the previous occasions on which they had 

 honoured him in like manner, and impressed on them the 

 necessity of guarding and fostering the unity they had 

 attained. Thus ended an impressive and memorable 

 incident in the history of chemical science. 



J. E. Marsh. 



THE TRUE BASIS OF ANTHROPOLOGY} 



THE Nestor of American philologists, and at the 

 same time the indefatigable Ulysses of compara- 

 tive philology in that country, Mr. Horatio Hale, has just 

 published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of 

 Canada, an important essay on " Language as a Test of 

 Mental Capacity," being an attempt to demonstrate the 

 true basis of anthropology. His first important contri- 

 bution to the science of language dates back as far as 

 1838-42, when he acted as ethnographer to the United 

 States Exploring Expedition, and published the results of 

 his observations in a valuable and now very scarce 

 volume, " Ethnography and Philology." He has since 

 left the United States and settled in Canada. All his 

 contributions to American ethnology and philology have 

 been distinguished by their originality, accuracy, and 

 trustworthiness. Every one of them marks a substantial 

 addition to our knowledge, and, in spite of the hackneyed 

 disapproval with which reviewers receive reprints of 

 essays published in periodicals, it is much to be regretted 

 that his essays have never been published in a collected 

 form. 



I " Language as a Test of Mental Capacity." By Horatio Hale. From 

 the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 1891. 



