OLIVER WOLCOTT GIBBS 117 



work would have assumed gigantic dimensions; but, with a 

 single assistant to carry out the most subtile quantitative sep- 

 arations, his theories must, perforce, await mathematical con- 

 firmation, and his cabinet must contain scores of unanalyzed 

 compounds. I believe that he regarded the tungstic acids 

 more or less as the inorganic analogues of hydrocarbons, with 

 certain typical arrangements, into which other groups could 

 enter by direct substitution, largely merging their own iden- 

 tity. Probably, the majority of modern investigators ascribe 

 a more important r61e to these elements of lesser atomic 

 mass; but viewed from the standpoint which I have indicated, 

 the work of Gibbs will show a remarkable consistency, just 

 as his experimental data will, undoubtedly, be confirmed in 

 all essentials by the work of his successors. 



And thus the American Chemical Society may well inscribe 

 among its immortals the name of an honorary member, with 

 the words of one of his favorite authors: 



"Wer es den Besten seiner Zeit hat gleich gethan 

 Der hat gelebt fur alle Zeiten." 



