DESCENT AND EARLY MANHOOD 7 



former and of devoting himself to science. Happily, 

 the advice was followed, and Goessmann decided to 

 devote himself henceforth to chemistry. Soon after 

 this he became chemical assistant to Professor Staede- 

 ler, who was then lecturing on physiological chemistry. 



In March 1852 he passed the examination in phar- 

 macy before the Electoral Medical College of Hesse- 

 Cassel, and in June was appointed by Wohler second 

 assistant in analytical and practical chemistry in the 

 Chemical Laboratory. During the temporary absence 

 of Wohler in Switzerland, whither he had gone in 

 search of health, Goessmann taught his class in phar- 

 maceutical chemistry. On his return Wohler presented 

 him with a handsome Swiss watch, which he carried for 

 more than half a century. 



In the autumn of 1852, during the dekanat of 

 Geheimer Hofrath Ritter, Goessmann presented a dis- 

 sertation Ueber die Bestandtheile der Canthariden. This 

 was his first scientific paper and stamped its author as 

 an original investigator of marked ability. In Decem- 

 ber, * after passing,' says Wohler, *a most excellent 

 examination,' he took his degree as Doctor of Phi- 

 losophy. 



Two years later, in 1854, appeared his Habilitations- 

 schrift, Verwandlung des Thialdins in Leucin and Bei- 

 trag zur Kenntniss des Leucins. The results of this 

 classic research on the constitution and production of 

 leucin were at once communicated by Wohler to Jean- 

 Baptiste Dumas, Perpetual Secretary of the French 

 Academy of Sciences, and published by him in the 

 Comptes rendus. This important contribution to knowl- 



