' ' 
- THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, ‘1916. 
— 
REMINISCENCES OF RAPHAEL MELDOLA. 
Raphael Meldola: Reminiscences of his iVorth 
and Work by Those Who Knew Him, together 
with a Chronological List of his Publications, 
MDCCCLXIX-MDCCCCXV. Edited by James 
Marchant. Pp. xv+225. (London: Williams 
and Norgate, 1916.) Price 5s. net. 
LTHOUGH the late Prof. Meldola’s oft-re- 
peated warnings to the nation on the decline 
of our chemical industries would fully entitle him 
to a place among the prophets, yet it could not 
truly be said of him, as was stated of the earlier 
seers, that he was “not without honour, save in 
his own country,” for in spite of the distractions 
and anxieties of the present troublous times, more 
than twenty of his friends and colleagues, men 
eminent in their respective professions, have 
already in a few months contributed in his memory 
their tributes of appreciation and respect. These 
reminiscences of Meldola’s worth and work have 
now been collected in a convenient volume which 
includes a chronological list of his original papers 
and other publications. 
The biographical memoir by Sir William Tilden 
serves to emphasise the many-sided character of 
Meldola’s scientific activities. Not only was he 
a brilliant chemist of wide experience, with special 
knowledge of synthetic dyes, but he was also a 
practical astronomer and a first-rate biologist. 
A glimpse of Meldola’s early days is furnished 
by Miss Neumegen, whose father taught him from 
the age of seven to fourteen years. His first 
chemical lecture was delivered at the ave of fifteen 
to an audience of schoolfellows, of whom Sir 
Isidore Spielmann was one. Reminiscences €x- 
tending over a period of forty years are contri- 
buted by Sir Edward Thorpe. Some of the inci- 
dents recorded have their humorous side, and 
testify to Meldola’s sense of fun and love of the 
whimsical. His surpassing merits as professor 
of chemistry are cordially depicted by his former 
pupils, Dr. M. O. Forster and Prof. W. J. Pope, 
and by his colleagues of the Finsbury Technical 
College, where he presided over the chemical de- 
partment for thirty years. 
Prof. Green deals sympathetically with the 
classification of his technical and scientific re- 
searches. The technical investigations were often 
of a pioneer character. They opened up new 
ground, but in many cases the harvest was reaped 
in other countries. The first oxazine dye, ‘“Mel- 
dola’s blue,” was not introduced into commerce 
in England, but was manufactured in Germany, 
where it became the forerunner of the still more 
important gallocyanine blues. His study of beta- 
naphthylated rosaniline led to a sulphonic acid 
which has since acquired importance in cotton 
dyeing. The researches on azo-dyes, although 
ignored in England, were utilised profitably by 
the astute colour-makers of Germany. His scientific 
NO. 2451, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
125 
chemical work can be classified under eight 
headings, of which the most important are the 
studies on azo- and diazoamino-compounds, and 
on substitution in the naphthalene series. In 
recent years Meldola and his assistants were 
engaged in studying imidazole and quinone 
ammonium bases, these researches being still in 
progress when death overtook him last November. 
Prof. Poulton, who edits the bibliography of 
published works, contributes also an essay on 
Meldola as a naturalist. This appreciation con- 
tains many interesting reminiscences, some of 
which are published for the first time. Although 
Meldola received numerous scientific and academic 
honours from British sources, it is significant that 
during his lifetime he was even more appreciated 
in France. Twice he was offered a decoration of 
the Legion of Honour, and one learns with amaze- 
ment that on each occasion the Foreign Office 
forbade him to accept this distinction ! 
Where so many distinguished contributors have 
united in a labour of love to place on record their 
happy recollections of this great teacher’s work 
and personality, it would be superfluous to add 
more than that all these praises are worthily be- 
stowed as a last fitting tribute to a life of high 
ideals and great accomplishment. It may, how- 
ever, be mentioned that in addition to his pub- 
lished works and the grateful remembrances of his 
pupils, Meldola leaves behind another memorial in 
the form of a unique collection of research 
chemicals. The writer and two other former 
students of Prof. Meldola have spent a portion of 
the summer recess in arranging and cataloguing 
this collection, of which the specimens represent 
every phase in his career as chemical investigator. 
The preservation and study of these historical 
substances will constitute another method of keep- 
ing his memory green in the school- of chemistry 
which he inspired and adorned for many years. 
GaEeM: 
ANIMA ANIMANS. 
The Breath of Life. By John Burroughs. Pp. xi+ 
295. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 
1915.) Price 55. net. 
WO ideas struggle for mastery in the mature 
reflections of this lover of nature and poetry : 
the one the super-mechanical and super-chemical 
character of living creatures, the other the con- 
tinuity of natural processes and the universality of 
natural law. Living organisms transcend machi- 
nery; they are so persistent, insurgent, construc- 
tive, and inventive; but they are not possessed 
by any extraneous entelechy. They are solidary 
with the inanimate, though the creative energy or 
‘“procreant urge” finds freer expression in them 
than it does in crystal or star. It is a modernised 
hylozoism to which the essays composing this 
volume give beautiful expression: “The psychic 
arises out of the organic, and the organic arises 
out of the inorganic, and the inorganic arises out 
of—what? The relation of each to the other is as 
H 
