24 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 53. 



A NEW educational review has appeared at 

 Leipzig, Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Ausldndisches 

 Unterrichtswesen, edited by Dr. J. Wychgram. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 Justus von Liebig, His Life and Work (1803- 

 1873). By W. A. Shenstonb, F. I. C, Lec- 

 turer on Chemistry in Clifton College. New 

 York, Macmillan & Co. 1895. Pp. 220 + vi. 

 This is one of ' The Century Science Series ' 

 edited by Sir Henry Roscoe, and it is fitting 

 that one of the first chemists to receive atten- 

 tion should be Liebig. In his preface the author 

 says : ' ' The name of Liebig is doubtless familiar 

 to most of us, but I fear very few have any 

 clear idea what he did, why chemists admire 

 and esteem him, or, indeed, are aware that 

 they do admire and esteem him. As the result 

 of many inquiries made among cultivated 

 people, I have found the prevailing impression 

 concerning Liebig to be that he was a man who 

 gained a large fortune by making ' extract of 

 meat.' Now and then one meets someone who 

 ' seems to have heard ' of his name in connec- 

 tion with agriculture. Scarcely anyone now 

 seems to know that he was one of the greatest of 

 that class in whose work Mr. Balfour finds ' the 

 causes which more than any others conduce to 

 the movements of great civilized societies.' I 

 have therefore made it my object in writing this 

 little book not so mucli to dwell upon Liebig's 

 private life as to tell what he Avas, what he 

 did, and why all chemists and all those who 

 are versed in the history of science admire and 

 esteem him so greatly." 



There can scarcely be a doubt that chemistry 

 owes more to Liebig for its advancement dur- 

 ing the present century than to any other one 

 man. He was born in 1803 at Darmstadt, 

 where his father dealt in colors, which he also 

 manufactured. The boy was a failure at 

 school. He had no ear memory and could not, 

 therefore, make progress in linguistic studies. 

 On the other hand, he liad the powers of an ex- 

 perimenter, and was attracted by everything 

 connected with chemical phenomena. He spent 

 some time in an apothecary shop, but he took 

 little interest in the commercial side of his oc- 

 cupation, and, in the course of a few months, 



he was sent back to his father. It was then de- 

 cided that he should follow his bent and study 

 chemistry. He went to the Universities of 

 Bonn and Erlangen, but did not find what he 

 wanted. In 1822 he took the degree of Doctor 

 of Philosophy at Erlangen, and then he was 

 provided Avith the means for continuing his 

 studies abroad. He went to Paris and was 

 soon admitted to the laboratory of Gay-Lussac, 

 one of the leading chemists of that time. Two 

 years later he was appointed Extraordinary 

 Professor of Chemistry at Giessen. In 1826 he 

 became full professor. In 1852 he was called 

 to Munich, where he died April 18, 1873. 



" Liebig was essentially a pioneer in science. 

 In the course of his life he took the lead in no 

 less than four great departures. The first was 

 in organic chemistry, the second and third in 

 the applications of chemistry to agriculture and 

 to physiology, the fourth was the outcome of his 

 labors as a teacher." 



How he labored in these four fields is well 

 told in Mr. Shenstone's little book, and every 

 one interested in the intellectual development 

 of mankind, be he chemist or not, will find here 

 much that is stimulating and suggestive. The 

 book is divided into nine chapters with the fol- 

 lowing titles : Introduction; Liebig and Wohler; 

 Chemical Discoveries; Liebig and Dumas; Fer- 

 mentation; Chemistry and Agriculture; Phys- 

 iological Chemistry; Education and Other Work; 

 Character and Later Years. 



Anleitung ziir mikrochemischen Analyse der wich- 

 tigsten organischen Verbindimgen. Von H. 

 Behrens. Prof, an der Polytechnischen 

 Schule in Delft. Erstes Heft (Anthracen- 

 gruppe, Phenole, Chinone, Ketone, Aldehyde) 

 Mit 49 Figuren im Text. Hamburg und 

 Leipzig. Verlag von Leopold Voss. 1895. 

 Pp. 64 + viii. 



The author of this book is well known in con- 

 nection with work on microchemical analj'sis 

 in general. He has now endeavored to show 

 the chemist who deals with organic compounds 

 how he may avail himself of the microscope for 

 the purpose of recognizing various substances. 

 The methods described have been thoroughly 

 tested in the author's laboratory and the results 

 have been most satisfactory. 



