86 



NA TURE 



[November 24, 1898 



no newly propounded doctrine, no new reaction which was not 

 submitted to our keen examination and controversy. The 

 subjects of several of those controversies, and even the 

 fashion of them, still linger in one's memory. I need 

 scarcely say that chemical theory came in for a large share 

 of our attention. The molecular weights of water and car- 

 bonic acid, the atomic weights of oxygen and carbon, and, 

 above all, the then newly introduced idea of polyatomic 

 radicles, were keenly discussed. We were a little too late 

 for the interesting question as to whether compound radicles 

 could possibly be oxygenous; but slill, radicles were pre- 

 dominant at that time in chemical science, and reigned with 

 undisputed sway over the whole domain of organic chemistry. 

 One cannot but reflect how fleeting has been their reign. The 

 doctrine of radicles has now sunk to an entirely subordinate posi- 

 tion in chemistry, not unlike, may I venture to say, the subordinate 

 position into which radical doctrines have fallen in a difltrent 

 sphere. There was one j>articular controversy I remember very 

 well, and am sure Frankland will remember also. It was of this 

 kind : whether the bodies called ethyl and methyl were really 

 ethyl and methyl at all, or something else. Well, a question of 

 that kind in those un.sophisticated days had to be answered defi- 

 nitely by a plain aye or no. There was no loophole for escape or 

 trimming, no possibility of saying that the one answer was just as 

 true as the other, according to the point of view taken ; nor was 

 there existent in that period of innocence, for the solution of yet 

 more puzzling problems, what we know now by the name of 

 tautomerism, by which we learn that a body is, and at the same 

 time is not, what it is alleged to be ; that it is sometimes one 

 thing and sometimes another, and sometimes both together, and 

 yet preserves its individual chemical entity. In those days the 

 principal provider of chemical material for our meetings was 

 far and away Hofmann. He was in the h.abit of sending 

 his nmltitudinous papers to the Royal Society for publication ; 

 but he gave us the advantage of his presence and his personal 

 disquisitions ; and I would appeal to all in this room who had 

 the advantage of seeing him to s.ay if they can possibly 

 forget his appearances at the blackboard of the Chemical 

 Society, and the enthusiasm and lucidity of his expositions 

 of different points of chemical constitution, enlivened as they 

 were by that extraordinary display of vivacity so inconsistent 

 with the quiet phlegm we are in the habit of attributing 

 to those of his nationality. But, despite the productiveness of 

 Hofmann, still there were evenings on which something else 

 was required ; and then it behoved the Secretary to search far 

 and wide for material to bring before the meeting of chemists 

 who, with Greek-like avidity, were always clamorous for ' some 

 new thing.' At that period the activity of the Giessen school 

 was somewhat on the decline, and we looked for novelties in 

 chemistry, as for novelties in mantles and millinery, to Paris. 

 We had for our consideration the acidic ammonias of Gerhardt 

 and the .diatomic glycols of Wurtz, and the production of alcohol 

 without the aid of either .sugar or yeast, by Berthelol ; and many 

 other remarkable contributions to the knowledge of the day. 

 But our friends across the water, with so much — so very much 

 — justly due to them, nevertheless did manifest now 

 and then a tendency to appropriate to themselves what 

 did not altogether belong to them ; and in this the 

 country of Black and Priestley and Cavendish and 

 Dalton and Davy, we were astonished one fine morning at being 

 informed that 'la Chimic est une science franfaise.' But 

 even with the productiveness of Hofmann and the searchings of 

 the Secretary, it did sometimes happen that our bill of fare was 

 a little meagre. But what of that ? Those were supper-eating 

 days, and a meeting rendered brief by want of pabulum could 

 always be supplemented by a prolonged and substantial, and, I 

 may add, a musical, meal at a then well-known resort not far 

 from Covcnt Garden ; and when it happened, as it did some- 

 times, that our proceedings were not so exhilarating as they 

 should have lieen, when divine philosophy had proved less 

 charming than its wont, Hofmann, despite the abundant supply 

 of tea and coffee of excellent quality, would, with a burst of 

 inspiration, thrust forth his right hand and say : ' I will tell 

 you, we will have a punch ! 



"But the Chemical Society has a future to look forward to, 

 as well as a past to loo'iv back upon. At the Jubilee of the 

 Society some seven or eight years ago, it devolved upon me to 

 give an account within the short period of a quarter of an hour 

 —I iKflieve I wcupied twenty minutes— of ihc progress of 

 chemical .science during the preceding fifty years. But today 



NO. I 5 17, VOL. 59] 



is also a Jubilee or almost so, the Jubilee of our incorporation 

 by Royal Charter, which, in the then days of our insignificance, 

 I'layfair did so much to obtain for us. Now, on this diamond 

 Jubilee, I ask you how many minutes will you give me to lay 

 before you a forecast of the chemical progress that may be 

 expected to take pKace within the next fifty years? I will only 

 venture to say that, judging by the number and activity and 

 intellectual gifts of the workers of the present day, we may feel 

 assured that the .ichievements of English chemistry and the 

 progress of the Chemical Society in the past will be as a mere 

 nothing to the brilliancy which they will attain to in the 

 future." 



Sir Frederick Abel — " Sir Edward Frankland has out of his 

 vast stores of knowledge recalled a fact of which I confess I was 

 ignorant, that in years past I indulged a poetic fancy. I only 

 wish I might now be inspired in order to find words to express' 

 on behalf of myself and my old friends our apiweciation of this 

 glorious reception which you have given us. The Chemical 

 Society is endeared to me in many ways. Among the epochs of 

 a somewhat long career of ceaseless activity, that which con- 

 nected me intimately with the work of the Society is one 

 of those which I recall with the greatest pleasure and satis- 

 faction. And it so happens that the years of my connection 

 with the Society in various functions were years in which some 

 of the most memorable events in its annals occurred. As ' 

 Treasurer, it was my privilege to arrange with the illustrious 1 

 chemist and brilliant orator, Jean Baptiste Uumas, for the 

 delivery of the first of those memorable lectures which were 

 given through the agency of the Chemical .Society in honour 

 of the memory of Michael Faraday. While I was Treasurer, 

 the volume of the Journal of the Society, which was then 

 of modest and slender dimensions, nurtured by well digested ' 

 extracts from foreign journals, speedily gained proportions i 

 unwieldy in character, so unwieldy, in fact, that the one 

 volume split up into two before long. In the first year of 

 my Presidency, the Research Fund, which was initialed in a 

 modest manner by Mr. Thomas Hyde Hills, was placed upon a 

 firm and substantial basis through the generosity of one of the 

 most respected of the Society's original members, Dr. Long- 

 staflf ; and in the second year in which I held that office, the 

 somewhat revolutionary agitation which was persisted in by a 

 not unimportant section of the younger Fellows of the Society, 

 an agitation which, by the way, has been imitated since — led to 

 earnest deliberation and consultation between the Council and 

 some of its chosen members outside the Council, which resulted 

 in I the birth of an institution now flourishing exceedingly, 

 which has become the guardian of the best interests not only 

 of the chemical profession but also of the public, I of course 

 allude to the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and- 

 Ireland. When I look back to the early days when I 

 first owned the proud title of F.C.S., and remember 

 my attendance, in a small room at the Society of Arts, at 

 the meetingsof the Chemical Society, presided over in succession 

 by William Brande and Phillips, the business being managed 

 by CSeorge Fownes and Robert Warington, the founder of the 

 Chemical Society, and the funds not very cleverly handled by 

 dear old Robert Porrett, one of the most prominent forms that 

 appears in my mind's eye is that of the favourite pupil of Liebig, 

 my venerated master, Hofmann. In the very first years of the 

 Society, Hofmann Ijecame the very life and soul of it. He was 

 beloved by his English brethren directly he came among them, 

 and for years he was by far the most prolific contributor, either 

 himself or through his pupils, to the volumes of the Society. 

 Pardon me if I have been tempted into reminiscences : it is 

 difficult to avoid it at such a gathering as this. The welcome 

 you have given to the veteran Past-Presidents will remain in 

 their minds to their last day as one of the great joys of their 

 lives. To the many old friends and colleagues whom I see 

 around me— Past-Presidents who, as men of science, hold 

 positions second to none, whose names arc familiar as house- 

 hold words— to them I can wish no higher gratification than 

 that they may live lo experience the SiUislaction of such an 

 entertainment, and of such a graceful appreciation of their 

 work, as has been the lot of your old Past- Presidents to-night." 

 Prof A. W. Williamson—" Ijthank ycu, Mr. President, most 

 heartily for the kindly words you have uttered in relation to me, 

 and to my efforts for the advancement of chemistry. It is an 

 immense satisfaction to me lo see a man of your talents and 

 vast acquirements placed in so influential a position as that 

 which you so worthily occupy. But whilst thanking you I am 



