,i8 



A' A TURE 



[August i, 1907 



DR. AUGUST DUPKE, F.R.S. 



A WELL-KNOWN name vanishes from the list oi 

 living analytical chemists by the death of Dr. 

 A. Dupru, which occurred at Sutton on July 15. 



Like a number of chemists whose names readily 

 come to mind — Hoffmann, Schorlemmer, rmd Lunge, 

 for example — Dupre was born and educated in Ger- 

 many, but in early manhood crossed the North Sea to 

 seek a sphere for his talents in England. He had 

 studied chemistry under Bunsen ; and in 1855, at the 

 age of twenty, he graduated at Heidelberg with the 

 degree of Ph.D. Coming soon afterwards to this 

 country, his first appointment of importance was that 

 of lecturer in chemistry at Westminster Hospital, in 

 1864. Two years later he became a naturalised 

 British subject. Concurrently with his lecturing 

 duties, Dupre also undertook those of chemical referee 

 to the medical department of the Local Government 

 Board and public analyst for Westminster; and for 

 many years he was chemical adviser to the explosives 

 department of the Home Office, a position which he 

 held at the time of his death. 



As might be expected, Dupr^'s orig-inal work in 

 chemistry bore chiefly upon points arising in his own 

 domain of chemical analysis. Some two dozen com- 

 munications appeared during the period 1876-1902 in 

 the Analyst, the Journals of the Chemical Society and 

 the Society of Chemical Industrv, and in the i/lro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Society. None were epoch- 

 making, but all were useful ; their general character 

 will be shown by the titles of a few of them : — " The 

 Composition and Analysis of Butter Fat" (1876); 

 "On Copper in Food" (1877); "The Estimation of 

 Urea by Cleans of Hypobromite " (1877); "On the 

 Estimation of Dissolved O.xygen in Water" (1885); 

 " Changes in the Proportion of .Acid and Sugar present 

 in Grapes during Ripening "; " The Specific Heat and 

 other Physical Characters of Mixtures of Methvl 

 .Alcohol and Water"; "The Explosion of Potassium 

 Chlorate by Heat" (1902). In addition, Dupr^ made 

 various reports upon explosives, and was joint author 

 with Drs. Thudichum and Hake respectively of two 

 well-known treatises, viz., "The Origin, Nature, and 

 Varieties of ^^■ines," and "A Short Manual of In- 

 'Organic Chemistry." 



The crown of Dupre's professional career was his 

 -election to the Royal Society in 1875. To the general 

 public, however, he was probably best known as the 

 analyst whose dangerous duty it was to examine the 

 explosives used in the Fenian scares of a generation 

 ago — notably the one in which nitroglycerine was 

 found in process of manufacture on a large scale at 

 Birmingham in 1883. 



Concerned chiefly with the practical applications of 

 ■chemistry, Dupr^ was no leader in its philosophv, but 

 his name is honourably associated with the advance- 

 ment in this country of the profession he adopted 

 when maiving this country his home. 



C. S. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT LEICESTER. 



T^HIS week sees the opening of the seventy-seventh 

 ^ annual meeting of the British .Association, 

 .•ind there are indications that at Leicester the -Associa- 

 tion will receive the heartiest of welcomes, and that 

 the deliberations of its members will be followed with 

 deep interest by the inhabitants generallv. The finan- 

 cial position must be very gratifying to all concerned; 

 the whole of the promised subscriptions ar"! in the 

 bank, and have earned quite a good sum as interest. 

 When it is borne in mind that no public appeal has 

 NO. 1970, VOL. 76] 



been made, but that the money has readily been sub- 

 scribed, this happy result speaks highly as to the 

 generosity of the townspeople and the manner in 

 which they have been approached. 



The Mayor (.Sir Edward Wood) is most anxious th;: 

 Leicester should prove its full appreciation of havin, 

 been chosen as this year's meeting place, and that the 

 many visitors to the ancient borough should carrv 

 away a lasting impression of its hospitality and desire 

 for comfort. The local programme tells of Sir Edward 

 Wood's wish to come into as close touch as possible 

 with every visitor, in its record of an evening f^te 

 in the .Abbey Park at which it is anticipated 3000 will 

 be present. His Worship is supplementing this by 

 entertaining on the following evening the officials of 

 the Corporation, the teachers of the town, infirmarv 

 nurses, &c., and he has invited the old people from 

 the Trinity Hospital, almshouses, the cripples of the 

 town, and others, to meet him in the same park on 

 the Saturday — all this in commemoration of the visit — 

 which he desires should be a lasting, pleasurable 

 recollection. 



We have already spoken of the excellent arrange- 

 ments made by the local e.xecutive, with Mr. .Alfred 

 Colson as its chairman, of the sectional meetings, 

 interesting excursions and visits to works planned to 

 add to the enjoyment of the men of science. Each 

 member attending the meeting is to receive a copy 

 of the special edition of " Glimpses of Ancient 

 Leicester," a book written by a Leicester lady, and 

 also to have a capital guide to Leicester and neigh- 

 bourhood, with a map, prepared under the direction 

 of the publications subcommittee, and containing 

 specially written articles by experts on Charnwood 

 Forest ; stone roads, canals, edge-railways, outram- 

 ways, railways, &c., of Leicestershire; geology; the 

 pre-Cambrian rocks ; palaeontology, cry ptogamic flora 

 of Leicestershire; botany; zoology; entomology; and a 

 bibliography of town and county. These, it is hoped, 

 will serve as memoirs of the town's welcome and a 

 most successful week's work. 



The Mayor, Recorder, Town Clerk, and others will 

 attend the official service at St. Martin's Church on 

 the Sundav morning, at which the Bishop of 

 South warlv (Dr. Talbot) will preach. The Bi.shop of 

 the diocese (Dr. Carr Glynn) is giving an address at 

 St. Peter's Church, and other eminent men are 

 preaching at various churches and chapels, so that the 

 harmony of religion and science will doubtless receive 

 every justice. The leading clubs of the town have 

 freely opened their doors to " temporary members," 

 and the full advantages of golfing and bowls are 

 offered to all interested. 



The tramcar service of the town is a most complete 

 one, and every facility for quick transit is given. .A 

 favourite daily rendezvous will undoubtedly be the 

 " loggia " erected adjacent to, and connected with. 

 the town museum buildings, and here, if the weather 

 is fine, a quiet rest, a cun of tea, and the music o-." 

 the band of the Seaforth Highlanders will prove 

 thoroughly enjoyable, and a relief to the heavier work 

 of the sectional meetings. 



Next year the .Association is to meet at Dublin, and 

 by a happy thought a deputation of the following 

 gentlemen, Sir Howard Grubb, F.R.S., Rev. Dr. W. 

 Delaney, and Prof. W. H. Thompson, will be thr 

 guests of the local executive at Leicester. 



We hope that in a future issue we may be ablr 

 to congratulate the .Association on the complete success 

 of its last annual meeting, the large attendance of its 

 members, the high quality of the papers read and 

 discussed and lectures given ; and Leicester upon it> 

 generous welcome and hospitality. 



