102 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 786 



the one hundredth volume of the Chemical 

 News at the end of next month, unanimously 

 resolved to forward a suitably engrossed letter 

 of congratulations to Sir "William Crookes. 

 The letter has been prepared and reads as fol- 

 lows: 



Tlie Chemists' Club of the City of New York 

 extends to Sir William Crookes, of London, hearty 

 congratulations upon the completion of the one 

 hundredth volume of the Chemical News, which, 

 under his direction, has been so successfully de- 

 voted for a half century to " the diffusion of facts 

 which may tend to improve and augment our 

 knowledge of the arts and sciences upon which 

 most of the operations of civilized life are based," 

 and its members wish for him not only many more 

 years in fruitful service, but that they and other 

 men of science may profit by further additions to 

 his already long list of rich contributions to 

 theoretical specialized and practical scientific 

 knowledge. 



MOEBIS LOEB, 



Paeker C. McIlhinney, President 



Secretary 



Furthermore, the trustees unanimously 

 voted to recommend that the club elect Sir 

 William Crookes to honorary membership, and 

 I was designated to present the matter to the 

 club at this meeting. I perform this duty, 

 which is a privilege, with extreme pleasure, 

 and regard myself fortunate in being able to 

 close my term as a trustee in paying a grace- 

 ful tribute to one so deserving of our admira- 

 tion and esteem, and one whose personal 

 friendship I have enjoyed for a number of 

 years. 



William Crookes was born in London on 

 June lY, 1832, and studied chemistry and later 

 assisted Hofmann at the Eoyal College of 

 Chemistry. In 1854 he became superintend- 

 ent of the meteorological department of the 

 Eadcliffe Observatory, Oxford, and in 1855, 

 professor of chemistry at the Science College, 

 Chester ("Chester Training College"). In 

 1859 Crookes founded the Chemical News, to 

 which reference has already been made; and 

 in 1871 he became editor of the Quarterly 

 Journal of Science, having previously served 

 as coeditor with James Samuelson from the 

 founding of the journal in 1864. 



Crookes has been a feUow of the Eoyal So- 

 ciety since 1863, and was knighted in 1897. 

 In 1887 he succeeded Dr. Hugo Miiller as 

 president of the London Chemical Society, 

 serving two years. Crookes was elected presi- 

 dent of the British Association in 1898, and, 

 previously, in 1886, he had served as chair- 

 man of the chemical section. He has also 

 been president of the Institute of Electrical 

 Engineers. He has received honorary degrees 

 of doctor of science from Oxford, Dublin and 

 Cape of Good Hope universities. 



Crookes engaged in original research at an 

 early age, his first paper " On the Seleno- 

 Cyanides " being published in 1851. In 1861 

 he discovered the element thallium, and in 

 subsequent years investigated its properties 

 and compounds. In 1865 he discovered the 

 process of separating gold and silver from 

 their ores by sodium amalgamation. In 1872 

 he was led by his experiments in determining 

 the atomic weight of thallium to consider the 

 subject of repulsion resulting from radiation, 

 and invented the radiometer, which he after- 

 wards modified as the otheoscope. He was en- 

 gaged at the same time in examining the phys- 

 ical phenomena of modern spiritualism, and 

 having become convinced of the existence of 

 force exerted by an intelligent, disembodied 

 agency, he announced his conclusions in his 

 " Eesearches in the Phenomena of Spiritual- 

 ism " (1874). Later Crookes pursued a course 

 of investigation in regard to the properties 

 of matter in a vacuum, and published some of 

 the results in his " Molecular Physics in High 

 Vacua" (1879). He asserted that he had dis- 

 covered a fourth state of matter, the ultra- 

 gaseous protyle, in which he maintained that 

 the molecules are not in contact as in a liquid 

 or gas, but isolated. Crookes's method of 

 producing extreme vacua rendered incandes- 

 cent electric lighting a practical possibility. 



In 1880, in recognition of his discoveries, 

 the French Academy of Sciences gave Crookes 

 a gold medal and a prize of 3,000 francs. In 

 1875 the Eoyal Society awarded a Eoyal Medal 

 to Crookes, and the same society awarded him 

 the coveted Davy Medal in 1888, and the 

 Copley Medal — " the ancient olive crown of 



