46 Obituary — Professor Bischof. 



iutention of devoting himself to mathematics and practical astronomy; 

 but in a short time he became so impressed by the chemical lectures 

 of Professor Hildebrandt, that he entirely changed his course of 

 studies, which resulted in his qualifying himself as a lecturer on 

 chemistry and physics; and upon the decease of Hildebrandt, in 1816, 

 he succeeded to his position, and also undertook the continuation and 

 conclusion of his "Lehrbuch der Chemie," published at Erlangen 

 in 1816. 



About this period his attention appears to have been more specially 

 directed to Geology, and, in conjunction with his friend Professor 

 Goldfuss, he brought forward, in the " Physicalische Statistischen 

 Beschreibung des Fichtelgebirgs, " (2 vols., Niirnberg, 1817), the 

 results of the geological and physiographical exploration of this 

 mountainous district. 



In the year 1819 his "Lehrbuch der Stoehiometrie " apjDcared, 

 and also, in conjunction with Yon Esenbeck and Eothe, a memoir on 

 "Die Entwickelung der Pflanzensubstanz ;" and in the spring of the 

 same year he removed to Bonn to act as Professor of Chemistry and 

 Technology in the newly-founded University, in which, in 1822, he 

 was appointed Professor of Chemistry, a position he retained for 

 little less than half a century.. 



A treatise on chemistry, "Lehrbuch derreinen Chemie," was com- 

 menced by him in 1824, but only the first volume ever was published, 

 he having given up the study of pure chemistry, in order to devote 

 his entire energy and time to chemical and physical geology, in 

 which branches of science he afterwards became so distinguished. 

 His first production in this line was his work, brought out in 1826, 

 " On the Volcanic Mineral Springs of Germany and France," as well 

 as a memoir on the mineral spring of Roisdorf, which appeared in 

 the course of the same year ; and was followed, some ten years later, 

 by " Die Warmelehre des -Innern unseres Erdkorpers," (Leipzig, 

 1837), a work which gave rise to his " Physical, Chemical, and 

 Geological Eesearches on the Internal Heat of the Globe," published 

 in London, in 1841. 



During the interval from 1837 to 1840 he had been ordered by 

 the Government to inquire into the nature of the inflammable gases of 

 coal-mines, and the safety-lamps employed in their exploration ; and 

 the results of these investigations will be found in several communi- 

 cations to "Karsten tmd von Dechen's Archiv fiir Mineralogie" and the 

 Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, as also in a memoir on " Des 

 Moyens de soustraire I'Exploitation des Mines de houille aux dangers 

 d'Explosion," (Brussels, 1840), to which the premium offered by the 

 Academy of Brussels was awarded. 



In the following years numerous memoirs were contributed by 

 Professor Bischof to the different scientific Journals, amongst which 

 may be mentioned "The Glaciers in their Relations to the Elevation 

 of the Alps," 1843 ; " The Formation of Quartz and Metallic Veins," 

 1844, etc. ; and in 1847 he commenced the publication of the first 



