Sept. 2, 1886] 
NATURE 
433 
decorated with Gobelins tapestry and flowers. Spaces were 
reserved for Senators, Deputies, members of the Diplomatic 
Corps, and other distinguished persons, M. Goblet, Minister 
of Public Instruction, sat on M. Chevreul’s right, and M. 
Floquet on his left. M. Frémy, the Director of the Museum, 
addressing M. Chevreul, said that the professors of the Museum, 
anticipating the future, had presented to him this statue. He 
then referred to the work of M. Chevreul in various branches of 
science, mainly in chemistry, and the results of his discoveries 
in industry. M. Zeller, President of the five Academies, M. 
Brock, representing the three Academies of Science of Scandi- 
nayian countries, M. Boscha, delegate of the Agricultural Society 
of Moscow, and the Italian Ambassador, also offered their con- 
gratulations to the venerable szvan/. The last speaker was 
the Minister of Public Instruction, who spoke, on behalf of the 
State, of the many ties which connected the great professor and 
chemist with the Ministry of Public Instruction. ‘*The century 
which precedes our time,” said M. Goblet, ‘‘ belonged above all 
to science. What gave it i's true character was the recent rise 
of scientific research, pursuing in the study of Nature the means 
of extending the domain of human power. Amongst the various 
branches of science, that to which M. Chevreul devoted him- 
self—chemistry—is certainly one of the most fruitful, and one 
of those which owes most to French genius. Thanks to great 
French chemists and to M. Chevreul, France marches in the 
foremost rank of the nations which modern science guides.” A 
banquet was given in the evening at the Hotel de Ville. Several 
Ministers of State were present. The toast of M. Chevreul’s 
health was proposed by M. Floquet, and supported by the 
Minister of Public Instruction. The festival which followed 
was very brilliant, ending with a torchlight procession, in which 
two squadrons of cuirassiers and a considerable body of infantry 
with several bands took part. Various Societies, all the mem 
bers carrying Chinese lanterns, also joined the procession, which 
marched from the Hotel de Ville through the principal streets 
and boulevards to the Place de la République. The streets 
through which the procession passed were thronged with dense 
masses of spectators. 
ON the 28th ult. His Excellency Tcheou Meou-Ki, Director of 
the Chinese Mission of Public Instruction, paid a visit, with the 
mandarins attached to his person, to M. Chevreul at his house. 
He handed to the illustrious chemist a Chinese document ex- 
pressing in old characters every wish for his happiness and long 
life. It appears that there is living at this moment in China a 
Chinese savant who at the age of 100 years has just passed his 
examinations and been admitted a member of the highest 
academy of the mandarins. The interpreter explained to M. 
Chevreul that his Chinese visitors considered the fact that two 
savants a hundred years of age were living, one in France and 
the other in China, was a link connecting the learning of the 
two countries. When the Chinese Mission had retired, M. 
Chevreul received a deputation of the inhabitants of the Rue 
Chevreul, who presented him with a bouquet. 
THE last number of Za Mature contains a biographical 
sketch, with several portraits, of M. Chevreul, from which 
it appears that he was born at Angers on August 31, 
1786, his father being a physician and surgeon. It is 
noticeable that the father reached the age of ninety-one, 
and the mother died aged ninety-three. M. Chevreul as 
-a lad witnessed some of the scenes of the conflict in La 
I Vendée, and he saw the guillotine at work in Angers. The 
old University of the town having been swept away by the Revo- 
lution, he received his early education at the Central School 
of the place. He left this at the age of seventeen, and 
wned towards Paris, which was at that time peculiarly 
fortunate in possessing as teachers and professors eminent men 
in every branch of science. Fourcroy, the Professor of Ch2- 
mistry at the College of France, was engaged in improving 
higher education, and left the work of his Chair largely to his 
demonstrator, Vauquelin, of whom Dumas said that he was 
wholly a chemist, a chemist every day of his life, and during the 
whole of each day. Chevreul entered under this teacher, and 
soon distinguished himself so much that he was allowed to take 
charge of the laboratory when twenty years of age. At the 
same time he taught at the Collége Charlemagne; four years 
later he was appointed Demonstrator to the Museum, and at thirty 
was appointed special Professor of Chemistry in charge of the 
dyeing department at the Gobelins. One of his earliest dis- 
coveries was that of margarine, oleine, and stearine in oils and 
fats. The last of these furnishes stearic acid, and thus an important 
industry like that in stearic candles was founded. His studies 
in fatty bodies, and his theory of saponification (1823) have not 
only created new industries, but they opened immense horizons 
in organic chemistry. Between 1828 and 1864 he studied 
colours, and from time to time published memoirs on 
the progress of his work. In 1826 he took his seat 
in the Academy of Sciences, and in 1830 he was ap- 
pointed Director of the Museum of Natural History. His 
life now is spent between this institution, the Gobelins, and the 
Institute of France. He never fails to attend the Monday 
meetings of the Academy of Sciences. The number of his 
papers, memoirs, &c., is very great. Amongst them is one 
written in 1832, on the divining-rod, and another in 1853, in 
which he dissipated the mystery surrounding table-turning and 
similar manifestations. M. Chevreul remained in Paris during 
the siege of 1870-71, working steadily in his laboratory. It 
was soon after this that an expression in a letter he wrote to a 
friend led to the honourable title of ‘‘Doyen des étudiants de 
France” being affixed to his name. Although he possesses a 
large fortune, he still carries on his work at the institutions with 
which he is connected, and prosecutes his experiments with a 
juvenile lightness of touch. He is exceedingly temperate, 
drinking nothing but water or beer, but his longevity is not due 
to this; he owes it to a robust constitution and to a life wisely 
ordered, regular, and laborious. “‘ It is,” concludes M. Tissan- 
dier, ‘‘a great and beautiful sight presented by this centenarian, 
who, like an old oak, shelters under his shadow successive 
generations. Deaf to the sounds of this world, he has chosen 
to work alone in his laboratory, where his ever-wakeful intelli- 
gence is unceasingly attracted to the rays of eternal truth.” 
IN reply to a question from Sir John Lubbock, Mr. Ritchie, 
the President of the Local Government Board, stated last week 
that considerable progress had been made by the Committee 
appointed last session to inquire and report on the subject of M. 
Pasteur’s researches with reference to the prevention of hydro- 
phobia. A sub-Committee visited Paris and had several long 
interviews with M. Pa-teur, who explained to the members most 
fully and unreservedly the whole details of his treatment. The 
Committee examined a large number of the persons who had 
undergone treatment, and so far as this investigation is con- 
cerned, the Committee were fully satisfied that M. Pasteur’s 
treatment had been effective. They hope before long to be in 
a position to report the results of their investigation to the Local 
Government Board, but before doing so they are anxious that 
time should be allowed for the Committee to ascertain that ex- 
periments on animals conducted on behalf of the Committee 
have yielded the same results as those detailed and demonstrated 
to them by M. Pasteur. 
WE regret to announce the death of Dr. James G. Wakley, 
editor of the Zavcet, at his residence, Heathlands Park, Long- 
cross, near Chertsey, on August 30. He was the youngest son 
of the late Thomas Wakley, founder of the Zazcet, Member of 
