January 8, 1903] 



NA TURE 



229 



after him Wislicenus, assumed that both were capable of 

 rotating in opposite directions about a common axis ; 

 this possibility ceased, however, with a double or treble 

 linking of the carbon atoms. Wislicenus further called 

 into play the action of certain "specially directed forces 

 the affinity-energies" which "determine the relative 

 positions of the atoms to one another in the molecule." 



The Annalen of these years contain a large number of 

 papers worked out in the Leipzig laboratories under his 

 direction, in which the reactions of maleic and fumaric 

 acids, the tolane dichlorides and dibromides, mesaconic 

 and citraconic acids, the crotonic acids, the a-chloropropyl- 

 enes, &c, were carefully investigated, and the facts shown 

 to be in agreement with those demanded by theory. 



The hypothesis naturally evoked much criticism ; 

 Wislicenus's controversy with Fittig {Liebigs Annalen, 

 1S92, cclxxii. 1-99) is still fresh in the minds of chemists, 

 and it must be admitted that Michael has obtained results 

 which it has not yet been found possible to reconcile 

 with the theory. But when all is said, there can be little 

 doubt that up to the present it remains the simplest and 

 most comprehensive explanation adduced. Even if the 

 theory should ever be disproved, Wislicenus's memoir will 

 always hold a place among the classics of the science as 

 a model of careful reasoning and literary skill, and as an 

 epitome of one of the most laborious researches of that 

 period. 



Now, however, is not the time, nor is this the place, to 

 dwell in any detail on his scientific papers ; the above 

 indication of the direction which his research took must 

 suffice ; it would be presumptuous to attempt to estimate 

 the value of his work ; enough that, among the great 

 names in the history of chemical science, Wislicenus will 

 stand with Bunsen and Kekule and. Victor Meyer and 

 such names as made the nineteenth century what it was. 

 We do not wish to enter into a panegyric of his 

 character ; such things belong rather to the columns of a 

 daily paper and to the exaggerated estimates of medio- 

 crities ; but a word as to his human aspect — and he was a. 

 man of wide sympathies — will not be out of place. In 

 politics, he was an ardent admirer of Bismarck, and had 

 little tolerance for the social democrats of latter days ; 

 not that charitableness was lacking in his disposition, for 

 many were the kindly acts that he performed. He was 

 fond of children, and when his own family had grown up 

 and he was left alone with his daughter, the cheerful 

 presence of a little niece helped to relieve the gloom that 

 the tragedy of his domestic life had cast over the later 

 years. To music he was almost insensible, and Wagner 

 was tohimnothingmore lhanaconfusionof sounds. Hewas 

 present at the first performance of " Siegfried," but lefc in 

 the middle of the second act with aviolent headache. Liter- 

 ature was his one refuge in the intervals of work, and when 

 troubled with insomnia, from which he suffered much, he 

 would pass the hours in his well-stocked library. It is 

 related that at one of his weekly dinner parties, to which 

 all his research students were invited in turn, a youth of 

 an inquiring turn of mind, desirous of probing the extent 

 of the professor's knowledge, read up an almost forgotten 

 author and tackled him on the subject when the cigars 

 were produced ; great was the student's chagrin on dis- 

 covering that it was one of his teacher's favourite authors 

 and at having to sit through an impromptu half-hour's 

 lecture on the author's peculiarities of style. This youth 

 never carried his investigations any further. With his 

 students, Wislicenus was always popular, and though they 

 christened him at one time the " Schmier-Director," from 

 the number of tarry residues that the arbeits were producing, 

 that did not detract from the affection and esteem in which 

 he was held. In his daily round of the research labor- 

 atories, he was ever ready with words of sympathy and 

 encouragement that went far to allay the soreness and 

 disappointment of repeated failures ; his kindly sugges- 

 tions have stimulated many tn greater efforts. 



NO. I 732, VOL. 67I 



In 1898, the Royal Society awarded him the Davy 

 medal, and his death makes a vacancy in its list of 

 foreign members. 



The loss will be felt not in Germany alone, for his 

 students came from all parts of the world, and while 

 men of science will remember him as one of the founders 

 of stereochemistry, his disciples will look back on him 

 as one of the "influences" of their lives, as a man of 

 broad sympathies and great powers, as an example to 

 emulate and as a memory to inspire. 



NOTES. 



Among the names included in the long list of "Durbar 

 Honours " published on New Year's Day, we notice the follow- 

 ing : — Dr. George Watt, C.I.E., officer in charge of the 

 Economic and Art Section of ihe Indian Museum, Calcutta, 

 has had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him. Dr. 

 W. R. Hooper, C.S.I., President of the Medical Board at the 

 India Office, and Sir Colin Campbell Scott Moncrieff, 

 K.C.M.G., President of the Indian Irrigation Commission, 

 have been made Knight Commanders of the Star of India. 

 Colonel St. George C. Gore, Surveyor-General of India, has 

 been made a Companion of the same order. Dr. B. Franklin, 

 Director-General Indian Medical Service, and Mr. John Eliot, 

 F.R.S., Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India 

 and Director-General of Indian Observatories, have been pro- 

 moted to the rank of Knight Commanders of the Order of the 

 Indian Empire. Major A. W. Alcock, F.R.S , Superintendent 

 of the Indian Museum, and Prof. J. C. Bose, Presidency 

 College, Calcutta, have been made Companions of the same 

 order. Major David Semple, Director of the Pasteur Institute, 

 Kasauli, has been awarded the Kaisar-I-Hind Medal for Public 

 Service in India. 



A German newspaper records the following exemplary 

 incident, apropos of a recent act of the Kaiser, in appealing to 

 his people for support in a good work. Dr. Djhrn, of Naples, 

 having appealed with little result to the German Minister of 

 Education for financial aid in the extension of his world-famed 

 biological station, sought an interview with the Kaiser. Re- 

 marking sympathetically that he could not provide all that Dr. 

 Dohrn desired from his private purse, the Kaiser furnished him 

 with a donation form, headed by himself and a contribution of 

 1000/., commanding that it should be circulated among the 

 leaders in Berlin society, for return to the Kaiser in person. 

 The result was that within a few days the magnificent sum of 

 15,000/. was subscribed. 



Mr. Herbert Kynaston has been appointed by the 

 Colonial Office director of the Geological Survey of the 

 Transvaal. 



M. Edmond Perrier has been appointed to the chair of 

 comparative anatomy at the Paris Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, 

 and M. Pierre Marcellin Boule to the chair of palaeontology at 

 the same institution. 



A message from the Times correspondent at Ottawa states 

 that the promoters of the Canadian Marconi Company hope by 

 the end of next summer to have a complete system cf wireless 

 telegraphy in operation throughout Canada, extending from the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Pacific Coast. 



Mr. Marconi was entertained at a banquet at Sydney on 

 December 30 by the citizens of Cape Breton Island. Reuter 

 reports that in responding to the toast of his health, Mr. Mar- 

 coni said that when his system of wireless telegraphy was 

 further developed, it would be possible for ships in distress to ' 

 signal passing ships. The cable companies, when they began, 

 charged pounds per word ; they were now down to shillings, - 



