GERMAN SCIENCE 103 
There yet remains to record of Liebig the chief service 
which induces me to lay such stress upon his influence on 
German science. He was the first man not only in Germany 
but in the world to found a great school of instruction 
in experimental chemistry. His laboratory at Giessen and 
his methods of teaching were the model on which all chemical 
instruction, and scientific instruction in general, have since 
been based, and for many years Giessen was the Mecca to 
which all chemical pilgrims wended their way. It was there 
that were trained the first great modern teachers of chemistry 
in Germany, France, and England. When systematic chemical 
instruction for students was provided in England in the year 
1845 by the establishment of the Royal College of Chemistry 
in London, the first professor was one of Liebig’s most 
distinguished pupils, A. W. Hofmann. 
Again we must note that Liebig’s laboratory was not a mere 
mart of knowledge ; it was a centre of inspiration. The study 
of chemistry was there nothing more or less than the impas- 
_sioned pursuit of truth. He was a teacher among teachers. 
‘There was’, says Hofmann, ‘an earnestness, an enthusiasm in 
‘ all he said which irresistibly carried away the hearer. Nor was 
it so much the actual knowledge he imparted which produced 
this effect, as the wonderful manner in which he called forth 
the reflective powers of even the least gifted of his pupils. 
And what a boon it was, after being stifled by an oppressive 
load of facts, to drink the pure breath of science such as flowed 
from Liebig’s lips—what a delight after having, perhaps, 
received from others a sackful of dry leaves, suddenly by 
Liebig’s lectures to see the living, growing tree!’ 
‘We felt then, we feel still, and never while we live shall we 
forget Liebig’s marvellous influence over us; and if anything 
could be more astonishing than the amount of work he did 
with his own hands, it was probably the mountain of chemical 
toil he got us to go through. I am sure that he loved us in 
