64 



NATURE 



[May 1 6, 1895 



compounds of carbon. It was for this reason that they 

 called the chemistrj- of these compounds organic chemistr)', 

 and it was ver)- natural that that branch of their 

 science should be nearer to their hearts than any other 

 branch. But there was another .ind stronger reason for 

 haWng special laboratories of organic chemistr)-. The methods 

 of investigation and the way of analysing organic com- 

 pounds differed considerably from those applied to inorganic 

 chemistry. In the latter, if we had ascertained by an accurate 

 analysis of a pure substance its |x;rcentage composition, that, 

 together with the determination of a few simple physical pro- 

 perties, was usually sufficient to give us a perfect insight into its 

 chemical composition ami lK*haviour. The laboratory methods 

 required for that study were simple and most of them well known, 

 so that they could be acquired by sufficient ex|xfrience. In 

 organic compounds the matter was very different. The per- 

 centage composition and the physical properties told them very 

 little of their chemical individuality and behaviour. Many 

 substances of exactly the same percentage composition pos- 

 sessed widely different qualities, which were not explained by 

 their physical properties. They must find out how these com- 

 pounds, many of which were very complex, were built up. 

 They had to unravel the structure of those substances to attain 

 their end, which in chemical investigation always meant to give 

 an explanation of all the various properties of a substance through 

 its chemical constitution. To ascertain its structure they had to 

 break the organic substance down by degrees, to take it gradually 

 to pieces ; and even that was not enough, but to make sure of 

 the actual arrangement of those pieces in the substance they had 

 to put them together again, to rebuild the substance from its 

 proximate constituents, and only after having accomplished that 

 could they consider that they knew its constitution. The 

 methods employed in that work were entirely different 

 from those of ordinary analysis. They were very mani- 

 fold. The investigator had to make his own choice 

 which of them to apply in any individual case, and wherever 

 he broke new ground and undertook the study of a new series 

 of compounds, he had to discover and work out new methods 

 Ijefore he could achieve success. It w.is evident that a student 

 who aimed at qu.alifying himself for such high-class work should 

 enjoy special facilities, and should, after having gone through a 

 regular course of analytical chemistry, have a chance of prosecut- 

 ing special organic work in a IalM)ralory fitted si>ecially f<jr it, and 

 where he was undisturl>ed by the army of lx.'ginners who 

 thronged an analytical laUiratory. -Vnd there he might point 

 out that in his opinion the reason why this country had not 

 advanced in organic chemistry .xs fast as other countries, the 

 reason why llofmann's prediction in his report on the Kxhibi- 

 tion of 1862 that " England will l>e unquestionably at no distant 

 <late the greatest colour-producing countr}' in the world," had 

 not iK-en rulfille<l, and that (iermany had almost entirely taken 

 this iniluslry out of her hands, although it was inaugurated by 

 an Knglishnian (Dr. VV. II. I'erkin), had been that so few English 

 students of chemistry had devoted sufficient lime to the prosecu- 

 tion of their studies. It wils evident, therefore, in order to 

 attain the necessary experience and certainty in carr)ing out 

 original inveslig.-ilion in organic chemistry, that four to five years 

 of close study and attention, under the leadership of a competent 

 profesvir, were a necessity : and for carrying on successfully the 

 manufacture of artificial <'oIours it was indispen.salfle that the 

 chemist should l>e aljle to carry out independent original research 

 l)ecause new colours had year after year to be discovered and 

 manufactured, and the jinKesses for their production had to be 

 constantly improved in order to compete successfully with rival 

 manufacturers. The .success of an industrial enterprise depended 

 n'jt, infleed, up<^m the workman, not the ff)reman, as so many 

 |>eople in this coimtry still lielieve, but upon the leading mind 

 whoilirected the manufactory, who h.id a thorough grasp of scien- 

 tific principles and had been trained to haliilsof scientific thought. 

 Me agreeil that it was desirable to cultivate i)hysical rheniislry 

 and inorganic chemistry much more than had lieen done, and he 

 was very glad that the great supremacy which organic chemistry 

 had enjoyetl — more |Kirticularly in (iermany, the home of 

 chemistry was now being c<mlested by other and equally 

 iriiixjrtant branches (\\ the science. liut great, and very great, 

 as ha<l Ijeen the progress of organic chemistry, it ha<l greater 

 and mfire im[x>rtant problems still to solve ; and in this country, 

 which had given birth to mi many of the most important steps m 

 advance of that science, it hail not received that amount of 

 general attention which it had deserved in the |>ast, and which 

 It still ilcscrvetl in the future. Me therefore .specially and 



NO. 1333, vol., 52] 



heartily welcomed the opening of the first laboratory exclusively 

 devoted to it in England. Prof. .Schorlemmer, in his excellent 

 and most suggestive little work "On the Rise and Development 

 of Organic Chemistry," after giving a lucid review of the steps 

 by which the great edifice of that science had been built u]), 

 gave in his concluding remarks a persix;ctive of the iiroblenis 

 still to be solved wide enough for the most expansive imagina- 

 tion of any searcher after truth. If to-day we still could not 

 make morphine, quinine, and similar bodies artifically, the time 

 was near at hand. If we could not make quinine, we ha<l 

 already found a |)artial substitute in antipyrine, and its intro- 

 duction into therapeutics had lowered the price of quinine con- 

 siderably. Another imjxirtant problem was the synthesis of the 

 ingredients of our daily food, such as .sugar, gum, and starch. 

 Those bodies were nearly related to each other, for we coul<l 

 convert the two latter into different kinds of sugar, and sugars 

 again into gums. That the synthesis of sugar was imminent had 

 already been stated. Kut it was quite different with those 

 imjxjrtant parts of our food which had been called the album- 

 inous bodies. Kekiilc, in discussing the .scientific aims 

 and achievements of chemistry, brought forward the itlca that if 

 ever chemists should succeed in obtaining albuminoid bodies 

 artificially it would be in the state of living protopl.asm, |X?rhaps 

 in the form of those structureless beings which I laeckel called 

 the " Monera." .Ml attempts hitherto made for the pur]xise of 

 producing living matter artificially had failed. The enigma of 

 life could only be solved by the synthesis of an allmminous com- 

 pound. Prof. Fischer, in a lecture delivered not long ago in 

 Berlin, also cxpre.sse<l himself full of confidence that the time 

 would arrive when we might attack successfully even the pro- 

 blem of the constitution aiui synthesis of the albuminoids, anil 

 might thus approach the problem of the origin of life. Surely 

 with such a prospect before them as the ultimate result of the 

 pursuit of organic chemistry, no amount of work, no amount of 

 thought, no amount of time and trouble devoted to that study 

 would be too much if it was well employed in leading success- 

 fully to the great end in view, although the goal might not be 

 reached for generations to come. 



The company afterwar<ls adjourned to the new laboratory, 

 which was declared open by Dr. Mond. 



THE MIGKA TIONS OF THE LEMMING. 



T TNDEK the title " .Myodes Lemmus, its Habits and Migra- 

 *-^ tions in Norway," Prof. R. Collett, of Christiania, gives a 

 valuable account of his researches into the h.abils and migrations 

 of that interesting little rodent, the lennning, which has t)ecome 

 so notorious on account of its jieriodic wanderings in v.ist hordes 

 down the Scandinavian valleys. Prof. Collett finds the earliest 

 notice of the kniniing in an old Norse manuscri|il ilating from 

 the latter end of the Ihirleenlh century, and reproduces a curiou> 

 and striking woodcut from the great history of Olaus Magnus 

 (1 5551, in which is grai>hically figured the descent of the 

 lemmings from the clouds according to the prevalent belief. 

 But the most valuable )>arts of the memoir are those which 

 depend u])on the author's personal knowledge of the lemming. 

 Tin- nature ami haliits of the lemming are clearly described, and 

 much light is thrown upon the causes which from time to linu- 

 lead such vast rnmdiers of these animals to leave their native 

 uplands and to begin their suicidal wanderings. The migrations 

 seem to be directly due to overpopulation. In certain year.-,, 

 termed by the writer " prolific years," an abnormal fecundity is 

 exhibited by the lemming ; this phenon\enon is not, however, 

 confined to this species, but is shown also in numerous families 

 of manimals, liirds, and insects. The consequences of this 

 great multiplication in the case of the lennning are thus 

 described liy Prof, Collett. " The enormous nndtiludes require 

 increasetl s|)ace, and the indiviiluals, which, under normal con- 

 ditions, have each an excessively large tract at their disposal, 

 cannot, on account of their disposiliim, bear the unaccustomed 

 proximity of the numerous neighlxmrs. Involuntarily the 

 mdividuals are pressed out lo the siilcs until the edge of the 

 moiMilaiii is reached. In :i short lime tiny enjoy themselves 

 there, and the old individuals willingly lireed in the upper 

 regicms of the forests, where, at other times, they are entirely 

 wanting. New swarms, however, follow on ; they could not 

 return, but the journey proceeds cmwards down the sides of the 

 mountains, and when they once reach the valleys, they meet 

 with localities which are cpiite foreign to them. They then con- 

 tinue blindly on, endeavcmring to find a home corresponding trt 



