666 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 933 



vapor-tension. At this time (1890) experi- 

 mental data to show the value of Beckmann's 

 method had not been published, but Loeb pre- 

 dicted that it would play as great a part as 

 tl^e freezing-point method introduced in its 

 most convenient form by the same chemist. 



Shortly afterwards, in a review, Loeb 

 sketched Arrhenius's hypothesis, with some of 

 its logical consequences.' He discussed the 

 physical and chemical objections known in 

 1890, leaving " the task of judging it ... to 

 those readers who will compare the mass of 

 experimental material and will convince them- 

 selves of the simple relations which the vari- 

 ous phenomena appear to bear toward each 

 other. As far as this test is concerned," Loeb 

 maintained, " the hs^pothesis will be found to 

 fulfill its purposes." 



In the exact measurement of electric cur- 

 rents, employing the method wherein the de- 

 termination of the amount of silver deposited 

 from a neutral solution of a silver salt is 

 made, the source of error, particularly where 

 weak currents are concerned, arises from the 

 imperfect adhesion of the silver upon the 

 cathode. The latter is generally a platinum 

 crucible, and Loeb" found that a Gooch cru- 

 cible with asbestos felting over the holes, was 

 a far better form of cathode, providing an ar- 

 rangement was adopted to hold the solution 

 during electrolysis without leaking. He at- 

 tained this very satisfactorily by replacing the 

 ordinary platinum cap' with a glass siphon of 

 special form. 



Then, when but twenty-eight years of age, 

 he was called to the chair of chemistry at 

 New York University. He published a paper 

 entitled " Apparatus for the Delineation of 

 Curved Surfaces, in Illustration of the Prop- 

 erties of Gases, etc."" 



Professor Loeb thought that, just as an 

 electric system is affected by its approach to 

 or removal from a magnetic field, a reaction 

 which made a system more or less amenable to 



' ' ' The Electrolytic Dissociation Hypothesis of 

 Svante Arrhenius, " Am. Chem. Jour., 12, 506-516. 



"'The Use of the Gooch Crucible as a Silver 

 Voltameter," Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, 12, 800. 



^'Jour. Am. Chem. Sac, 13, 263. 



magnetic action, might show evidence of ac- 

 celeration or retardation by the magnetic 

 force. He concluded that if this effect were 

 appreciable, the relation between magnetic 

 force and affinity would be established, and 

 data could be obtained for calculating the real 

 value of magnetization. His experimental re- 

 sults, however, were negative, and he was led 

 to believe that no such relation existed, unless 

 it was so slight that his means of observation 

 were inadequate." 



It was shortly after this that I met Morris 

 Loeb. He was fired with the zeal of those cap- 

 tain teachers, and his own lighted torch he 

 passed on by students of his who now reflect, 

 in many responsible positions, that spirit of 

 the eighties. 



Soon the very heavy responsibilities of a 

 large inheritance fell upon him. Filial duty 

 of meeting those responsibilities, professorial 

 obligations, and research aspirations required 

 the sacrifice of one of the three. The last was 

 sacrificed for a dozen years. The irksome 

 strain of being " by bells directed " began to 

 tell, for to meet them he found it necessary to 

 have his secretary travel with him to take his 

 dictation. One morning he asked me to go 

 with him to the university. We talked things 

 over and he said he would have to give up the 

 professorship, but he would equip a private 

 laboratory in the old Chemists Club, where he 

 would be nearer his philanthropic obligations 

 and might do some research, and " other 

 things" perhaps as useful to chemistry as 

 teaching. 



In 1905 he published a research on " The 

 Crystallization of Sodium Iodide from Alco- 

 hols." " He found that apparently the mo- 

 lecular proportion of alcohol assimilated by 

 sodium iodide decreases as the series ascends. 

 The addition products determined were: 

 NaI-3CH,0; NaIC,H,0, and 5NaI-3C,H30. 



In 1908, ever keeping abreast with the ad- 

 vances in physical chemistry, in a paper on the 

 " Hypothesis of Radiant Matter," " Loeb 



" " Is Chemical Action Affected by Magnet- 

 ism?" Am. Chem. Jour., 13, 145-153. 

 "Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, 27, 1019. 

 '^Pop. Sci. Monthly, 73, 52-60. 



