OLIVER WOLCOTT GIBBS 1 



WHEN Oliver Wolcott Gibbs died, on December 9th, 1908, 

 American chemists were bereft of one of their leaders, 

 to whom they could look, with affectionate respect, as a 

 pioneer in research, and the true example of the tireless seeker 

 after truth, withal an earnest patriot and a noble gentleman. 

 He was never at the head of a great university laboratory, 

 and the last twenty-five years of his life were spent in retire- 

 ment from all academic duties; no great body of students 

 is left to mourn the loss of their former teacher. He wrote 

 comparatively few papers of general interest and no books; 

 he shrank instinctively from appearing in the public eye, 

 and the idea of making even an informal after-dinner speech 

 was hateful to him. His austere demeanor and dignified re- 

 serve must have always prevented his gaining popularity 

 with the masses, even if his tastes had not led him to prefer 

 scholarly seclusion. To what, then, shall we ascribe the 

 influence which he wielded in the world of chemistry, so that 

 foreign as well as American institutions of learning delighted 

 in showering honors upon him, and considered themselves 

 fortunate if they could obtain his cooperation and advice ? 

 Was it not because we all realized that this was a true High- 

 Priest of knowledge, a guardian of the sanctuary, rather than 

 an exploiter of its mysteries; one who could read without an 

 accusing pang, that beautiful distich in which Schiller says 

 of Science : 



" Einem ist sie die hohe, die himmlische Gottin, dem Andern 

 Eine tiichtige Kuh, die ihn mit Butter versorgt." 



1 Reprinted from Proceedings, Am. Chem. Soc. (1910), p. 69. 



