388 
and gases, and by Arrhenius (p. 631) on the dissoci- 
ation of substances dissolved in water, brought together 
the three friends in a manner which we now recognise 
as almost dramatic. Of Ostwald’s 147 pupils, 34 of 
whom are now professors in universities all over the 
world, 34 have contributed memoirs to the “ Jubel- 
band ’? in honour of their teacher. 
It would be impossible in the limited space of this 
notice to give an account of the contents of these 
articles, and it would be invidious to select names and 
tedious to mention all. Suffice it to say that the 
memoirs are in French, English and German; that 
their authors write from Germany, Russia, Finland, 
Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Greece, England, Scotland 
and Ireland; and that they are often under two names, 
implying that a third generation has aided in the 
research. The subjects of the memoirs range over a 
wide field; papers relating to solubility, to electric dis- 
charge, to electric conductivity, to vapour-pressures, to 
crystallisation, to catalysis, to capillarity, to high tem- 
perature reactions, to stereochemistry, to phase-rule 
phenomena, to colloids, to critical phenomena, to 
polarisation phenomena, all are found in this volume, 
and it is certain that each and all of the authors would 
acknowledge that their inspiration was derived in great 
part from their master, Ostwald. 
A list is given of Ostwald’s publications. The 
colossal labour of collecting and coordinating all known 
facts bearing on general chemistry is shown by the 
fact that the ‘‘ Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Chemie,”’ 
begun in 1885 and ended in 1887, required a new 
edition in 1891, which, indeed, is not yet quite com- 
plete; that, in addition to this magnum opus, a 
“« Grundriss ’? was published in 1889; that volumes on 
“Physicochemical Measurements ”’ (1893), “* The 
Scientific Foundations of Analytical Chemistry ” 
(1894), ‘‘ Electrochemistry ”’ (1896), ‘f Outlines of Inor- 
ganic Chemistry ”’ (1900), ‘‘ Lectures on Philosophy ”’ 
(1902) and ‘‘ Chemical Dialogues ”’ (‘‘ Die Schule der 
Chemie ”’) (1903) have all proceeded from Ostwald’s 
facile pen; and that translations of many of these works 
have appeared in English, Russian, French, Polish, 
Czech and Japanese. Besides these original works 
Ostwald has edited and annotated since 1889 selections 
from the works of Dalton, Wollaston, Gay-Lussac, 
Avogadro and Ampere, Hess, Hittorf, Wilhelmy, 
Bunsen and Roscoe, Berzelius, Carnot, Dulong and 
Petit, Davy. Scheele, Kirchhoff and Bunsen, and 
Berthollet, in the series of ‘‘ Classics of Exact 
Science’: he has edited, along with van °t Hoff, the 
Zeitschrift fiir physikalische Chemie since 1887, of 
which 45 volumes have now appeared (it is to be pre- 
sumed that the editorship of this, the forty-sixth, was 
not carried out by him); and since 1875 he has pub- 
lished no fewer than 120 papers and memoirs, embody- 
ing in large measure the results of his own researches ; 
lastly, he has contributed about 3880 abstracts of 
papers and 890 reviews of books to the Zeitschrift 
which goes by his name. 
One may well ask, how was it done? Those who 
know Ostwald will still be amazed; but they will recall 
NO. 1791, VOL. 69 
NATURE 
[ FEBRUARY 25, 1904 
to their minds that he possesses a rapidity of thought, 
an extraordinarily retentive memory, an astounding 
diligence and a pen which moves without effort; and 
perhaps most important of all, the power of expressing 
his ideas and those of others in clear language. In- 
deed, it may almost be said that Ostwald has imparted 
to German the accuracy and lucidity of French. 
The volume contains an excellent portrait of Ostwald 
at his desk, and van ’t Hoff prefaces the contents bya 
short biography, from which we learn that he was born 
in 1853 in Riga, that he was there as_ schoolboy, 
student, assistant, ‘“‘privat-docent”’ and professor, until, 
in 1887, he was called to fill the chair of physical 
chemistry in Leipzig, a position which he still holds. 
Van ’t Hoff also sketches Ostwald as a teacher, an 
investigator, an organiser and a reformer, and traces 
his progress in research from his earliest work on 
‘“ The Mass-action of Water ’’ to his latest work on the 
‘* Philosophy of Nature.’? The gap may appear a wide 
one, where only the two ends of the curve are given; 
but it is a continuous curve, and one which abundantly 
testifies to the ‘ Stetigkeit,’’ or continuity, of natural 
phenomena. Ostwald’s missionary zeal is also pour- 
trayed. 
‘““He is not content in gaining a view for him- 
self; it is perhaps with him a necessity to impregnate 
others with his thoughts, and this has doubtless largely 
contributed to the present-day position of physical 
chemistry. The spreading of his ideas abroad runs 
parallel with his own activity in research and original 
thought.”’ 
Again :— 
“In Ostwald as organiser we admire the prac- 
tical man, who sees clearly what can be done, 
in small as well as in great things. On the small 
scale he is the constructor and deviser of handy appa- 
ratus, which he himself enjoys making, and the con- 
triver of convenient methods of work. . . . On the large 
scale, he carries this sense of the practical to the 
erection of a pattern laboratory in the new institute at 
Leipzig, dedicated chiefly to physical chemistry, and 
embodying the many-sided mind of the master.”’ 
And in picturing another side of Ostwald’s character, 
van ‘t Hoff writes regarding the work of Arrhenius 
(and though modesty forbids him to mention it, of him- 
self) :— 
““ How often do we see in similar cases an estrange- 
ment! With Ostwald, however, the opposite; sym- 
pathetic cooperation, in which Nernst soon joined as 
a partner.” 
Lastly, in dealing with Ostwald’s many-sidedness, 
for example, in founding the Bunsen Society for Elec- 
trochemistry and editing the Annalen der Naturphilo- 
sophie :— 
“The astonishing thing, when we consider Ostwald’s 
activity, ever extending to wider and wider circles, is 
that neither his interest in his former sphere of work 
nor-his mastery over it lessens.” 
Fortunate they who have been Ostwald’s students ; 
and happy they who possess his friendship ! 
