NA TURE 



\_May i, 1884 



lies open before us, there is still a higher sphere inacces- 

 sible to our methods. We begin to understand the life 

 of bodies ; that of the soul belongs to another order.' 

 My years, near enough to those of the venerable seer 

 by whose death we are overwhelmed with grief, enabled 

 me to assist at one of M. Dumas' earliest triumphs. It 

 was before the year 1848, when in his official capacity he 

 ascended the tribune of the House of Deputies in order to 

 expound the whole mechanism of minting in connection 

 with a law then under discussion. Notwithstanding the 

 dryness of the subject, I still remember how we remained 

 for two hours captivated by the charm of his natural elo- 

 quence. In taking leave of so great a memory, permit 

 me to repeat the glowing words recently uttered by M. 

 Dumas himself on the occasion of the death of his dis- 

 tinguished colleague, M. Regnault : ' The Academy, faith- 

 ful interpreter of posterity and sole heir of your renown, 

 hastens to render a public homage of affection to your 

 person, of thanks for the great and noble work of your 

 life, of respect for your brilliant services, awaiting the 

 time when science and your country shall pay their debt 

 to a name worthy of every honour.' " 



M. J. Bertrand, Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of 

 Sciences, said : — 



" M. Dumas has been our universal teacher. His lec- 

 tures at the Athenaeum, at the College of France, at the 

 Central School, at the School of Medicine, the Faculty of 

 Sciences, and Polytechnic, had so many attractions, he 

 understood so well how t<i inspire his audience, he indi- 

 cated the path of progress so clearly, and made each dis- 

 course so finished and perfect in itself, that all alike with- 

 withdrew resolved not to miss the following lecture. 



" In the history of reformed chemistry no name will 

 assuredly eclipse that of M. Dumas. Eager to dis- 

 seminate his ideas, skilful in placing his proofs in a clear 

 light, his wise and lofty intellect surveyed from a high 

 standpoint the main routes of science, acting ever as a 

 faithful guide to all who, younger than himself, considered 

 that they honoured themselves in proclaiming him their 

 master." 



M. Rolland, as President of the Academy of Sciences, 

 naturally entered into some detail on the scientific work 

 of M. Dumas. Among other things he said : — 



" The scientific work of J. B. Dumas is immense, and 

 his labours have long shed a lustre on his name. In his 

 thirty-second year he had already joined the Academy of 

 Sciences, of which he subsequently became one of the 

 most eminent and respected members. I cannot attempt 

 here to mention all the numerous discoveries due to his 

 genius, by which he has so potently contributed to the 

 establishment of modern chemistry, herein showing him- 

 self the worthy successor of Lavoisier. 



" I will therefore restrict my remarks to the second period 

 of his career, during which, as Perpetual Secretary of the 

 Academy of Sciences, he enabled us better to appreciate 

 his subtle and lofty intellect, his profound knowledge of 

 men and things. Hence his authority was unanimously 

 recognised by his colleagues, whose councils and labours 

 were so often controlled by him with admirable tact and 

 prudence under peculiarly delicate circumstances. If to 

 these rare gifts be added a fluent speech, a kindly and 

 sympathetic feeling from which he never departed, it will 

 be understood how highly prized was the combination of 

 these exceptional qualities, how valued by the Academy, 

 where Dumas so often played the part of guide and 

 director. 



" These eminent virtues had long been esteemed and 

 utilised by other societies also, such as those of the 

 Central School, of the Friends of Science, and others, 

 over whose labours he had presided for many years. 

 He was also intrusted with the presidency of several 

 international Commissions, where were discussed many 

 important questions in connection with a uniform system 

 of weights, measures, and currency, as well as with the 



determination of electric units. There might perhaps be 

 reason rather to regret the manifold occupations and 

 public duties which absorbed so much of his time, divert- 

 ing him from the prosecution of purely scientific researches, 

 where so much might still be hoped from such a powerful 

 genius. For, in spite of a long life devoted to incessant 

 work, our confrere had to the last preserved his strong 

 intellect and mental activity. 



" But however great and varied were the labours con- 

 stantly claiming his attention, he never neglected his 

 more personal duties. His was the life of a true patriarch, 

 ever encircled by his children and children's children, 

 who cherished his fair name and ever rejoiced in the con- 

 stant solicitude of a tender and devoted father. 



" Dumas had married the daughter of Alexander Brong- 

 niart in the year 1825. All who, like myself, had the 

 privilege to be welcomed in that happy circle, can testify 

 to the intimate and devoted character of their union down 

 to these last days. I may here be permitted to express to 

 the bereaved widow our warmest sympathy in the loss 

 which to-day deprives her of the affectionate support of 

 such a well-beloved husband. 



" But the time has come to bid a last farewell to the 

 mortal spoils of our illustrious colleague, whose memory 

 shall ever remain engraved on our hearts, whose name is 

 eternally enrolled amongst those of the great thinkers by 

 whom the nineteenth century has been most honoured." 



Following M. Rolland came M. Wurtz, who spoke on 

 behalf of the Faculties of Science and Medicine. 



" To those already deposed on the remains of M. 

 Dumas, the University," M. Wurtz said, "adds other 

 wreaths in supreme homage to the teacher by whom we 

 have all profited, to the savant who has shed a lustre on 

 our times, to the worthy citizen who has left a void in the 

 hearts of all. Ours is a public mourning, and above the 

 voices which we hear around us I seem to hear the 

 great voice of France, which in Dumas suffers an irre- 

 parable loss. For a period of sixty years he served her 

 with distinction under the most varied circumstances. 



" To a piercing genius, an intuition leading to great dis- 

 coveries and broad views of the universe, Dumas added 

 the choicest gifts of eloquence, of a clear and graceful 

 style, gifts which make the orator and the writer. He 

 was the ideal of a French savant, and history will award 

 him a place not far removed from that of his admired 

 master, Lavoisier. 



"Born at Alais in 1S00, he began life as a chemist's 

 assistant in Geneva. But he was scarcely twenty years of 

 age when, jointly with Prevost, he published some re- 

 searches on various physiological subjects, and notably 

 some experiments on the blood, which have held their 

 ground to the present time. After his arrival in Paris in 

 1821 he devoted himself exclusively to chemistry, and 

 soon felt himself competent to undertake such grave work 

 as the independent development of organic chemistry, 

 and the reform of mineral chemistry. And if during the 

 last fifty years chemistry has broken new ground, and 

 become, so to say, transformed under our eyes, this has 

 been accomplished in virtue of a programme he was the 

 first to trace, and the foundations of which were laid by 

 his own discoveries. The ideas at that time current had 

 been drawn from the relatively simple study of mineral 

 compounds. All combinations, it was assumed, are 

 formed of two direct elements, themselves either simple 

 bodies or compounds in the first degree. This so-called 

 ' dualism ' in chemistry, traceable to Lavoisier, had been 

 adopted and developed by Berzelius, but was overthrown 

 by Dumas. Studying in 1834 the action of chlorine on 

 organic compounds, he detected in this simple body 'the 

 remarkable power of replacing hydrogen atom by atom.' 

 Such was the first announcement of a law which, sup- 

 ported by thousands of analogous cases, now forms the 

 point of departure for the theory of substitutions and its 

 consequences, associated with the name of Dumas. This 



