102 GERMAN SCIENCE 
father. At the age of sixteen he went to the University of 
Bonn and then to Erlangen, where he studied chemistry as 
well as the circumstances allowed, and graduated at the end 
of three years. He had already published an original paper 
of considerable worth, and through the good offices of friends, 
his merits having become known in high places, he was 
furnished by the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt with the 
means of pursuing his studies. To do this satisfactorily he 
had to go beyond Germany, and accordingly we find him in 
1822 at Paris, where, after working for a year in an undis- 
tinguished laboratory, he was admitted through the influence of 
his great countryman, Alex. von Humboldt, to one of the most 
distinguished, that of Gay Lussac. A year later, in 1824, 
again through Humboldt’s influence, he was appointed 
Professor of Chemistry in the University of Giessen, his age 
being then 21. He stayed at Giessen for 28 years; in 1852 
he became Professor at Munich, where he ‘remained until his 
death in 1873. t 
Of Liebig’s scientific work it is impossible within the time 
at my disposal to give any precise account, and indeed it can 
hardly be appreciated by those who are not to some extent 
familiar with chemical science. I may say in a few words 
that he will always be reckoned one of the greatest chemists 
of all time, in virtue of the momentous character of his original — 
investigations in pure chemistry. But beyond this, he was the 
first to extend chemistry in a rational and far-reaching way 
into agriculture, physiology, and pathology. It was said of 
him, on his death, ‘If we sum,up in our minds all that Liebig 
did in industries, in agriculture, and in the laws of health, for 
the good of mankind, we may confidently assert that no man ' 
of learning in his course through the world has ever left a 
more valuable legacy behind him.’ Since this was said, another 
and possibly a greater benefactor, also a chemist, has passed — 
away in the illustrious Frenchman, Louis Pasteur. 
2 Ong $y BOF 
a 
