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. 



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 surn^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. 



