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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 769 



standards of fair dealing both with the 

 farmer and with those who supplied him, 

 and by inspiring all who were associated 

 with him with high ideals of scientific work 

 he did more than any other man to make 

 the experiment stations of the country the 

 useful and successful institutions that they 

 are. Those familiar with the details of his 

 work can see the impress of what he did in 

 countless ways in the methods now in use 

 not only in the offices and laboratories of 

 the other stations, but in many other labo- 

 ratories devoted to other lines of work. 

 His influence among those who have sue- 

 -eeeded him in applying science to agricul- 

 ture has been great, and he has had the 

 pleasure of living to see others carrying 

 •out the plans which, in his youth, he hoped 

 to carry out himself. 



Professor Johnson achieved distinction 

 not only as a teacher and as a promoter of 

 agricultural science, but he won a high 

 reputation among the legal profession by 

 the great ability he showed as an expert in 

 many important cases in court. The pro- 

 found knowledge which he brought to bear 

 on these cases, the great care and accuracy 

 with which he performed the analytical 

 work involved, the thoroughness with 

 which he prepared every detail, and the 

 clear and logical way in which he set forth 

 his conclusions, have many times been re- 

 counted to the writer by leaders of the 

 bar, and have always been accompanied 

 with expressions of the highest admiration 

 and respect for the ability he displayed. 



Naturally of a retiring disposition and 

 disinclined to acquire publicity by gaining 

 positions of prominence in societies and 

 public associations, he still took part with 

 others in such organizations as he thought 

 would contribute to the advancement of the 

 sciences to which he was at heart devoted. 

 Thus we find him at the age of twenty-one 

 reading a paper before the American As- 



sociation for the Advancement of Science of 

 which he became a member at about this 

 time. Later, in 1875, he was chairman of 

 its sub-section of chemistry. In 1866 he 

 was elected a member of the National 

 Academy of Sciences and served on its 

 committee on Sorghum sugar in 1881. He 

 was long a member of the American Chem- 

 ical Society and its president in 1878. He 

 was one of the original members of the 

 American Association of Official Agricul- 

 tural Chemists and its president in 1888 

 and also president of the American Asso- 

 ciation of Agricultural Colleges and Ex- 

 periment Stations in 1896. 



Professor Johnson had a strong love of 

 literature and was noted for his literary 

 style and the simplicity and clearness with 

 which he wrote. That this was a natural 

 gift is evident from his paper "On the 

 Houghite of Prof. Shepard, ' ' written when 

 he was only twenty-one, in which he sets 

 forth the results of his investigation with 

 the skill of one who had had careful train- 

 ing and long experience in such work. His 

 assured and finished style is shown in all 

 his early contributions to the agricultural 

 papers for which he wrote. That his most 

 widely read book ' ' How Crops Grow ' ' was 

 translated into nearly every civilized lan- 

 guage was largely due to the purity and 

 conciseness of the style in which it was 

 written, for the character of this book was 

 such that it would have been easy to re- 

 write the material into a new form and put 

 it out as a new book. 



While constantly occupied with scien- 

 tific work Professor Johnson found time 

 to keep himself informed of all that was 

 new in nearly every branch of chemistry 

 and agricultural science, and he also read 

 much of general literature and of poetry, 

 of which he had a high literary apprecia- 

 tion. 



As a man Professor Johnson had a most 



