November 26, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



499 



lost faith in the ultimate success of the work 

 and were perhaps inclined to advise the use 

 of cells that were not perfect. But Morse 

 v?ent steadily on. He had in mind a practic- 

 ally perfect cell that could be used for high 

 pressures as well as low. He tried all sorts 

 and conditions of clay and after many, many 

 discouragements he succeeded in finding one 

 and in making a satisfactory glaze quite 

 different from any available, and he achieved 

 success. 



In 1902 he and J. C. W. Frazer described 

 " The preparation of cells for the measure- 

 ment of high osmotic pressures." A careful 

 reading of this article will give some idea of 

 the tremendous difficulties that were met and 

 overcome. The closing paragTaph may be ad- 

 vantageously quoted in this connection: 



The difficulties of construction are by no means 

 completely overcome, and we have in view a num- 

 ber of changes which we hope will prove of ad- 

 vantage. That these difficulties are of great mag- 

 nitude will be realized if one considers that in our 

 last experiment the pressure which was measured 

 and which was still below what we were called 

 upon to control would suffice to raise a column of 

 water at 20° to a point 15 meters higher than the 

 top of the Eiffel tower, or which would raise from 

 its base a marble shaft whose height is 120 meters. 

 These comparisons will perhaps make it clear that 

 the most painstaking attention to every detail of 

 construction is absolutely essential to success when 

 an apparatus like ours is to be made up of several 

 parts, consisting of different materials, and which 

 must be united without the usual mechanical means 

 means of securing strong joints. 



Soon after this the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington lent its powerful aid to the large 

 investigation thus begun. In 1914 the insti- 

 tution published a memoir entitled " The 

 Osmotic Pressure of Aqueous Solutions: Re- 

 port, on Investigations made in the Chemical 

 Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University 

 during the years 1899-1913. By H. N. 

 Morse." In it is given a detailed account of 

 this remarkable piece of experimental work. 

 Any one who reads it understandingly will 

 recognize that no one but a master of experi- 

 ment could have done this. The work re- 

 quired the highest degree of resourcefullness 



and skill, of patience and persistence. Any one 

 of ordinary caliber would have stopped short 

 of the accomplishment. Morse was not satis- 

 fied with anything but perfection as nearly as 

 this could be reached, and as it never can be 

 reached he worried about the residual no 

 matter how small it might be. In the con- 

 cluding chapter of the Carnegie Memoir occur 

 these words: 



The work reported upon in the preceding chap- 

 ters is only a fraction of the task which the au- 

 thor hopes to accomplish, or to see accomplished 

 by others. The investigation — already fifteen 

 years old — was undertaken, in the first instance, 

 with a view to developing a practicable and fairly 

 precise method for the direct measurement of the 

 osmotic pressure of aqueous solutions. The need 

 of such a method for the investigation of solutions 

 seemed to the author very great and very urgent. 



Honors came to him rather late but they 

 came, the chief among these was the award 

 of the Avogadro Medal of the Turin Academy 

 of Sciences, in 1916. 



In 1911 an international congress of scientists 

 assembled at Turin, Italy, to celebrate the centen- 

 nial of the announcement of the hypothesis of 

 Avogadro. Those in attendance decided to award 

 a medal to be known as the Avogadro Medal. 

 This medal was to be awarded to the investigator 

 who should, in the judgment of the awarding 

 committee, make the most valuable contribution to 

 the subject of molecular physics during the years 

 1912, 1913 and 1914. 



A few words in regard to Morse, the man. 

 He was quiet and uneffusive. He did not 

 care for the ordinary intercourse with his 

 fellowmen. He lived, when not in the lab- 

 oratory, for his family and a few kindred 

 spirits. He married twice and had four chil- 

 dren — a daughter and three sons. His second 

 wife, who was Miss Elizabeth Dennis Clark, 

 of Portland, Maine, his daughter and two 

 sons survive him. In his later years his wife 

 was of great assistance to him in preparing 

 his articles for publication and was a true 

 helpmate in every way. 



For many years he spent his summers at 

 Chebeague in the beautiful Casco Bay. Here 



