248 



SCIEirCE. 



[Vol. VIII, No. 189 



and noticed the time required to repeat from 

 memory the obsei'vations I had just made : and 

 this indi<?ated 45 seconds, and 10 seconds from the 

 first sensation to the time of observation. In the 

 same way I counted the number of beats per min- 

 ute of the sounding body in the adjoining room, 

 which indicated 110. As I have an ear for music 

 and time, I have much confidence in this method 

 of estimating. 



" I then went into the other room to examine the 

 object which caused the sounds, and found, that 

 upon oscillating my wardrobe, which was backed 

 against the north-and-south partition wall of the 

 room, the sounds were produced by one of the 

 doors tapping the partition between the two com- 

 partments of the wardrobe, giving out a not un- 

 musical sound, and one that could not be evoked 

 from any other object, and could only be produced 

 by an east-and-west oscillation. To reproduce 

 them with the intensity and periods dm-ing the 

 earth movement requii'ed a movement of i an 

 inch at 6^ feet from the floor, for a complete oscil- 

 lation." 



If many observers had the self-possession and 

 skill to make such reports, the results would be 

 valuable indeed. Everett Hayden, 



CHEVREUrS CENTENNIAL FESTIVAL. 



During the last two days, Paris has celebrated 

 with unprecedented demonstrations of joy and 

 respectful sympathy the centennial anniversary of 

 the venerable savant Chewreu\, unprecedented and 

 uniivalled, because he is the only great scientist 

 of our times who has attained the late hour of 

 life he has entered this morning, Aug. 31, and 

 because his life has been one of labor and hard 

 work fi-om the beginning. Chevreul's life is 

 easily and shortly written. Like happy men and 

 happy nations, he has no history, no adventures, 

 no romance of any sort, but a simple, honest, 

 straightforward, and manly life, given entirely to 

 work, — to serious work, seriously conducted. 



Michel Eugene Chevreul was born Aug. 31, 

 1786, in Angers. His father was a well-to-do 

 physician in Angers, professor in the medical 

 faculty, and a talented writer. Old age seems to 

 be hereditary in the family ; Chevreul's father 

 having died at ninety-one, and his mother at 

 ninety-three years. Chevreul is yet a very tall 

 man, square in the shoulders, and walks quite 

 erect and straight. 



After the revolution the University of Angers 

 was disestablished, a school for chemical and 

 physical studies being put in its place; which 

 school Chevreul attended between the ages of 

 eleven and seventeen. In 1803, Chevreul went to 



Paris, after having been taught the elements of 

 chemistry by a professor named Heron. Chemis- 

 try was taught in Paris at that time by men of 

 great science, Vauquelin and Fourcroy. Thenard 

 was assistant to the former. Chevreul entered 

 Vauquelin's laboratory, and set to work immedi- 

 ately. He was there with Orfila, Payen, Bou- 

 chardat, and Fremy, of which only one survives, 

 Fremy, the present director of the Museum of 

 natural history, on whose arm Chevreul leaned 

 to-day when coming to the festival given in his 

 honor. Chevreul's aptitudes were quickly noticed. 

 In 1806 he was appointed director of Vauquelin's 

 laboratory, and professor in the Lycee Charlemagne, 

 and during the same year he published the re- 

 sults of his first experiments. In 1806 seven 

 papers came from his pen, of which three were 

 on coloring-matters (indigo and Brazilian wood). 

 Four years later he was appointed aide-naturaliste 

 in the Museum of natural history, then examiner 

 for the Ecole polytechnique ; and at thirty he was 

 professor of chemistry in the Gobelins, the world- 

 known manufactory of tapestry, and director of the 

 department of tinctorial baths. In 1826, after the 

 death of Proust, Chevreul was appointed member 

 of the Academy of sciences, to which he has be- 

 longed ever since. Not one of his colleagues of that 

 time is yet living. In 1830 he became professor in 

 the museum, and some time after director, hold- 

 ing the former position till the present day, 

 though not so actively the last two years, and the 

 latter till 1883. He is a member of a great num- 

 ber of foreign scientific societies, and since 1875 

 has attained the highest dignity in the order of 

 the Legion dlionneur. He never misses a meet- 

 ing of the Academy of sciences, and it is not long 

 since one could meet him in the Rue des ecoles, 

 walking to the institute, hat in hand, and hands 

 behind the back. He seems to have an aversion 

 to hats, and dispenses with them a great deal. 



Dru-ing the war of 1870 he remained in Paris 

 the whole time of the investment, and lived in the 

 museum, notwithstanding eighty German bombs 

 scattered to pieces the magnificent hothouses of 

 the Jardin des plantes, and one fell quite close to 

 his own laboratory. It was in a letter written 

 during January, 1871, to Abbe Lamazon, in 

 answer to a note of the latter, that Chevreul used 

 for the first time the exijression he prefers when 

 speaking of himself, — ' the dean of French 

 students.' 



Chevreul married early, but his wife died more 

 than twenty years ago. His conjugal life was a 

 very quiet and happy one. Chevreul has only 

 one son, who lives in Dijon, and is a retired 

 magistrate. He himself lives alone in Paris, de- 

 voted to his books and laboratory, both of which 



