Decembeb 18, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



875 



hogs and of cattle than of human beings. 

 The first legislative step to be taken is that 

 for the concentration of the proper bu- 

 reaus into one of the existing departments. 

 I therefore urgently recommend the 

 passage of a bill which shall authorize a 

 redistribution of the bureaus which shall 

 best accomplish this end. 



WOLCOTT QIBB8 



Dr. Oliver Wolcott Gibbs, from 1863 to 

 188Y Eumford professor of applied science and 

 later emeritus professor in Harvard Univer- 

 sity, past president of the National Academy 

 of Sciences and of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, died at his 

 home in Newport, E. I., on December 9, in 

 his eighty-seventh year. We hope to print 

 later an adequate appreciation of Professor 

 Gibbs's contributions to chemistry. A bio- 

 graphical note, prepared by him about two 

 years ago and given to his nephew. Dr. Alfred 

 Tuckermann, with the request that it be pub- 

 lished after his death, is as follows : 



Oliver Wolcott Gibbs was born in New 

 York, February 21, 1822. He was the second 

 son of George and Laura Wolcott Gibbs and 

 grandson of Oliver Wolcott, secretary of the 

 treasury during part of the presidency of 

 Washington and of John Adams. His father. 

 Colonel George Gibbs, owned a large estate on 

 Long Island known as Sunswick, a few miles 

 from the then small city of New Tork. He 

 was one of the earliest American mineralogists, 

 devoted to that branch of science, and an active 

 and successful horticulturist. Wolcott, like 

 his elder brother, inherited his father's tastes : 

 He was often occupied with making volcanoes 

 with such materials as he could obtain and in 

 searching the stone walls on the estate for 

 minerals, and the gardens and fields for 

 flowers. His mother was an artist of no mean 

 ability, and often won the praises of Gilbert 

 Stuart by her work. At the age of seven, 

 Wolcott went to reside in Boston with his 

 aunt. Miss Sarah Gibbs, who, at that time, 

 with her brother-in-law. Dr. Channing, and 

 her sister, occupied a fine mansion in Mount 

 Vernon Street during the early spring and 



winter months. The boy was sent to a school 

 kept by Mr. Leverett, a prominent Latin 

 scholar. Among his fellow pupils were Wil- 

 liam M. Evarts, the two brothers Perkins, 

 Greenough, Samuel Eliot and others who in 

 time became distinguished. Miss Gibbs and 

 the Channings spent the summers and au- 

 tumns at Oakland, a large estate about five 

 miles from Newport, Rhode Island, which, 

 under their care, became, as it still is, very 

 attractive. The summer home was a most 

 hospitable one and Dr. Ghanning's fame 

 brought many foreign visitors. When about 

 twelve years of age, Wolcott, whose father had 

 died in 1833 at Sunswick, was sent to a cele- 

 brated school at Plushing, Long Island, kept 

 by the Eev. Dr. Muhlenberg. He was two 

 years at this school of which he entertained 

 always an ailectionate remembrance. In 1835 

 the estate at Sunswick was sold and the 

 family moved to New Tork. Wolcott was sent 

 to the grammar school of Columbia CoUege 

 and in 1837 he entered Columbia CoUege as a 

 freshman. 



In 1841 he graduated and later became as- 

 sistant to Dr. Robert Hare who held the chair 

 of chemistry in the medical school of the 

 University of Pennsylvania. After some 

 months in the laboratory, Wolcott commenced 

 the study of medicine with the view of 

 qualifying himself to hold the chair of chem- 

 istry in a medical school. After two years of 

 study at the College of Physicians and 

 Surgeons in New York, he received the degree 

 of Doctor of Medicine in 1845, and shortly 

 after sailed for Hamburg. He took up his 

 residence in Berlin and entered, as a student, 

 the laboratory of Professor Carl Raromels- 

 berg. After some months with him, he en- 

 tered the laboratory of Heinrich Rose, where 

 he remained about a year. He then went to 

 Giessen where he spent one semester ^tcith 

 Liebig. Thence to Paris, where he attended 

 lectures by Laurent and Dumas, and especial- 

 ly by Eegnault. He returned to New York in 

 the faU of 1848, having received from the 

 College of Physicians and Surgeons an offer 

 of an assistant professorship of chemistry. Dr. 

 John Torrey being full professor. In 1849 he 

 was elected professor of chemistry and 



