Septembeb 24, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



387 



chemistry. The next year he was ap- 

 pointed to the new professorship of analyt- 

 ical chemistry. In 1857 he succeeded 

 John A. Porter in the chair of agricultural 

 chemistry and continued to give instruc- 

 tion in both these subjects until 1875, when 

 he became professor of theoretical and 

 agricultural chemistry. From 1870 until 

 his retirement in 1895 he also gave in- 

 struction in organic chemistry. 



Professor Johnson's agricultural work 

 began while he was yet a student in his 

 own laboratory in New York state. In 

 1847, when he was only seventeen years old, 

 his first paper, "On fixing Ammonia," was 

 published in the Cultivator. This was 

 followed during the next few years by 

 many other papers in this and other agri- 

 cultural journals on various topics con- 

 cerning the application of science to 

 agriculture. After coming to Tale he 

 continued his writings on agricultural sci- 

 ence, and in 1856 read a paper to the Con- 

 necticut State Agricultural Society which 

 led to his appointment as chemist to this 

 society. In 1866 he became a member of 

 the first Connecticut State Board of Agri- 

 culture and two years later its official 

 chemist. 



In 1873 he devoted his energies to the 

 establishment of an agricultural experi- 

 ment station in this state and spent much 

 time visiting all parts of the state and 

 arousing an interest in this subject. The 

 work that he had done as chemist to the 

 Agricultural Society and the State Board 

 of Agriculture did much to make the ad- 

 vantages of such an institution evident to 

 those engaged in farming. In 1877 an act 

 was passed by the legislature establishing 

 such an institution and he was appointed 

 its director. The work that he had done 

 for more than twenty years among the 

 farmers of Connecticut had at last born 

 fruit and the duty of organizing and de- 



veloping the new institution occupied him, 

 in addition to his college duties, during the 

 twenty years succeeding. 



Although the act incorporating the new 

 station stated that its aim was "to pro- 

 mote agriculture by scientific investigation 

 and experiment" his experience in bring- 

 ing about its establishment showed him 

 that it was necessary to devote a large part 

 of his energies to work that would readily 

 be recognized as of immediate pecuniary 

 value to the farmer. Though his chief in- 

 terest then, as always, lay in purely scien>- 

 tific research work on fundamental prob- 

 lems of agricultural science which he 

 believed would be of greater value to. 

 agricultural practise, he felt it most im- 

 portant during the early years of the de- 

 velopment of the institution to devote the- 

 larger part of its resources to such work 

 as would win popular support for the insti- 

 tution. Most of his time, therefore, was-, 

 given to establishing an effective fertilizer 

 control and to improving the methods of" 

 practise on dairy farms and to perfecting 

 the methods of agricultural analysis. 



The limited resources of the station left 

 little to be applied to the study of purely^ 

 scientific problems, but such work as coulcf 

 be done along these lines was followed aa 

 far as possible, and to an increasing ex- 

 tent, as the resources of the station became- 

 larger. In his later years it was a con- 

 stant source of regret that he was not able- 

 to take personal part in the research work 

 which the federal funds now make pos- 

 sible in the institution he had founded. 

 Many times he recalled to the writer the- 

 limited resources with which he had to 

 work and expressed his regret that he had 

 not been able to do the research work that 

 he had for so long hoped to have the fa- 

 cilities to carry out. 



By developing the details of station- 

 work and methods, by establishing high 



