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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 441. 



fessor of physics at Columbia University, who 

 offered at once to introduce him to Liebig, 

 and assist in every way toward the desired 

 end. But Eood advised him not to use his 

 letters of introduction; not to call Liebig 

 ' professor,' but ' Herr Baron ' ; to have plenty 

 of assurance, and not to spare flattery. With 

 this preparation the introduction was brought 

 about and Brewer stated his mission. Liebig 

 assured him that he would do better to go 

 somewhere else. He said : ' I will give you 

 no attention; no attention.' This assurance 

 met every advance until finally the speaker 

 said : ' I told him I have come three thousand 

 miles to sit at the feet of the greatest teacher 

 of chemistry in Europe and I am going to 

 remain here.' ' Well,' said Liebig, ' see Mr. 

 Meyer.' 



He saw 'Mr. Meyer,' and a place was set 

 apart in the laboratory for the new student, 

 who remained there a year, but actually re- 

 ceived practically ' no attention,' except when 

 he showed some organic crystals to him which 

 had the appearance of potassium nitrate, and 

 were so pronounced by Liebig on sight. The 

 effort to convince him that they were organic 

 was followed by a sound berating for ' con- 

 tradicting,' which was later followed by dem- 

 onstrating to the great professor that no con- 

 tradiction had been intended, and that the 

 crystals were in fact ' very peculiar.' Pro- 

 fessor Brewer's address was full of personal 

 interest and was followed with the closest 

 attention. 



Dr. Carl Duisberg read a paper describing 

 the influence of Liebig on chemical industry, 

 his teachings resulting in that knowledge of 

 the importance of scientific method which has 

 so largely displaced the ' rule-of -thumb ' man 

 by trained chemists in all the great chemical 

 industries of Germany; and more or less in 

 other countries. Liebig's influence was ex- 

 erted chiefly on the organic chemical indus- 

 tries, and much of their progress is due to 

 his activity and energy while at Giessen. 



"A statf of his pupils making their way 

 to all quarters of the globe disseminated his 

 ideas in assisting agriculture and the chem- 

 ical industries, and as the flrst systematic 



teacher of laboratory methods, the credit is 

 justly due him for an influence which can 

 hardly be measured or described." 



Among those assembled to honor the mem- 

 ory of the great chemist were Mr. Ivan Lev- 

 enstein, of Manchester, England, president of 

 the Society of Chemical Industry, and his 

 son, who represents the Levenstein Company, 

 limited, in this country; Dr. Liebmann, also 

 of Manchester; Drs. H. Reisenegger and E. 

 Backe, of the color works at Hochst am 

 Ehein; Dr. Teichmann, of Kuhnheim Works, 

 Berlin; E. Bayer of Elberfeld; W. Haarmann 

 and son of Holzminden, -German; also Dr. 

 T. J. Parker, chairman of the American 

 Chemical Society; Dr. McMurtrie, ex-presi- 

 dent of the same society; Professors W. H. 

 Hallock and C. E. Pellew, of Columbia Uni- 

 versity; Charles A. Doremus, William Jay 

 Schieffelin and others. 



DuEAND Woodman. 



THE DALTON CELEBRATIONS AT 

 MANCHESTER.'' 



The Manchester celebrations in connection 

 with the centenary of Dalton's atomic theory 

 began on Tuesday afternoon. May 19, when 

 Professor F. W. Clarke, chairman of the In- 

 ternational Commission on Atomic Weights, 

 delivered the Wilde lecture on the ' Atomic 

 Theory ' to the Manchester Literary and Phil- 

 osophic Society. Addresses were presented 

 on behalf of the Royal Society and the 

 Chemical Society, and a message was received 

 from the Russian Physico-chemical Society. 

 In an admirable discourse Professor Clarke 

 sketched the history of the atomic theory from 

 its flrst conception in the minds of Greek 

 philosophers down to the present day. He 

 pointed out the directions in which the atomic 

 theory would probably develop, but declared 

 that the problem of matter would never be 

 solved until the atomic weights of the ele- 

 ments had been finally settled. " Who," he 

 asked, " will establish the Dalton Laboratory 

 for pure research, and so give the work which 

 he started a permanent home ? " 



In the evening the Literary and Philosoph- 

 ical Society gave a dinner, at which the prin- 



* From Nature. 



