186 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 971 



On entering tlie laboratory, I found one as- 

 sistant at work; a young man with jet-black hair 

 and pleasing appearance, seated on a high stool 

 before a desk, attending to some of the details 

 of an analysis. . . . This was my first meeting with 

 Dr. MeMurtrie and the beginning of a friendship 

 which continued unabated until the time of his 

 death. . . . Within the next two years from the time 

 of which I speak, Dr. Brown retired from the posi- 

 tion of chief chemist of the Department of Agri- 

 culture and Dr. MeMurtrie took his place. He was 

 at that time, though only twenty-one years of age, 

 well trained in chemistry, as training was regarded 

 in those days. . . . When he entered Lafayette Col- 

 lege there was no special course of chemistry, so 

 he took mining engineering because in that he 

 could have the best chemical training which the 

 college afforded. 



The story of how he was selected for the suc- 

 cession to Dr. Brown reveals one of the character- 

 astics of his whole life, namely, unselfishness. 

 Judge Watts was at the time Commissioner of 

 Agriculture. When Dr. Brown retired a number 

 of applications for this position came in. Com- 

 missioner Watts called young MeMurtrie into his 

 office and asked him what he thought of the quali- 

 fications of the applicants. He said he did not 

 think any one of them was properly qualified for 

 the position. Commissioner Watts then asked him 

 if he thought he could do the work and would like 

 the position. He replied that the idea of succeed- 

 ing Dr. Brown had never entered his miad, but he 

 thought he could do better than any of the men 

 who were being considered. 



In 1876 he married Helen M. Douglas, who 

 with his son, Douglas C, survives him. 



In 1878 he became agent of the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture and superintendent 

 of the agricultural section at the Exposition 

 Universelle at Paris. His account of the 

 work is contained in the first volume of the 

 Report of the U. S. Commissioners, page 113. 

 An interesting confirmation of Dr. McMurtrie's 

 modesty 'is to be inferred from a certain letter 

 contained in the volume just cited from Mr. 

 McCormick, Commissioner General, to Secre- 

 tary Evarts, in which he states that " there 

 is an eager movement upon the part of cer- 

 tain Americans here to secure decorations 

 from the French government." Dr. Mc- 

 Murtrie's name does not appear in this list, 

 Tjut in 1883 he was made a Chevallier du 



Merite Agricola "because of service rendered 

 in agriculture." 



From 1879-1882 he was special agent of the 

 Department of Agriculture in agricultural 

 technology and wrote several valuable reports, 

 only a part of which were published. Among 

 these were reports on " The Mineral Nutri- 

 tion of the Vine," " A Eeport on the Culture 

 of Sumac in Sicily," on the " Culture of the 

 Sugar Beet," on the " Examination of Eaw 

 Silks," and " A Report upon an Examination 

 of Wools and other Animal Fibers." His re- 

 ports upon " Sugar Beet Culture " and upon 

 " Wool " are considered especially valuable. 

 The subject last named he returned to, pub- 

 lishing two further reports in 1887 and 1901. 



In 1882 MeMurtrie became professor of 

 chemistry at the University of Illinois at 

 Champaign, in 1884 chemist of the Illinois 

 State Board of Agriculture and in 1886 chem- 

 ist of the Agricultural Experiment Station. 



In 1888 he came to New Tork as chemist 

 of the New York Tartar Company. He took 

 charge of their factory in Brooklyn and revolu- 

 tionized the methods of manufacture, trying 

 one method after another until he finally suc- 

 ceeded in making perfectly pure cream of 

 tartar and tartaric acid on a manufacturing 

 scale at a reasonable cost. In further prose- 

 cuting the work of the Royal Baking Powder 

 Company he organized a complete factory for 

 making tin containers for their product. 

 This was highly successful and is still consid- 

 ered a model factory for this purpose. 



Dr. MeMurtrie was very much interested in 

 the reorganization of the American Chemical 

 Society, which was undertaken in 1893 when 

 Dr. Wiley became president. I was then 

 editing the Journal of Analytical and Applied 

 Chemistry and Dr. Wiley came to me with 

 the suggestion that I had better either give 

 up my own journal and run the Journal of the 

 American Chemical Society as editor or edit 

 both journals. I told him at once that I 

 would decline the second proposition but 

 would hold the first under advisement, and I 

 finally consented. When the arrangement was 

 concluded it was June. We had two papers 

 and were six numbers in arrears. By the end 



