152 A Page of Scientific History, [April, 



achieve a plan which he had so long cherished. It was in 

 that year that Dr. Lyon Playfair resigned the Professorship 

 he then held in the School of Mines connected with the 

 Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street. Sir James 

 at once placed himself in communication with Sir Henry de 

 la Beche, then Director of the Museum, and by his exertions, 

 in which he was most generously supported by Lord Ash- 

 burton, he succeeded in bringing about a fusion of the two 

 institutions. The Royal College of Chemistry was adopted 

 by Government as the chemical department of the Museum 

 of Practical Geology, the Professor of the College becoming 

 the successor of Dr. Playfair as Director of the Laboratory 

 and Chemist to the Museum. The Royal College of 

 Chemistry became the property of Government, under whose 

 auspices it has since been carried on in a most prosperous 

 manner. 



Of the further development of the Royal College of 

 Chemistry in connection with the Royal School of Mines, 

 and of the services which it has rendered to the cause of 

 science, nothing need be said here, except that Sir James 

 never ceased to take the most lively interest in its progress. 

 Even long after my return to Germany — indeed, within the 

 last twelve months — I received two letters from him, which 

 showed that he was still watching the welfare of this 

 College with unabated solicitude. 



I must not, however, conclude this sketch without 

 alluding in terms of the deepest gratitude to the, I might 

 almost say, paternal kindness with which Sir James over- 

 whelmed me from the moment when first we met at Bonn 

 until when, but shortly before his death, I saw him last. 

 During the many years that I have directed the labora- 

 tories of the Royal College of Chemistry, often, and more 

 especially in the beginning, under difficulties which 

 appeared insurmountable, Sir James's ever-ready counsel, 

 his most active support, his warm-hearted sympathy, have 

 never failed me on any occasion. Not without profound 

 emotion can I think of the time which most unsparingly he 

 devoted to my instruction ; indeed, so far went his anxiety 

 to promote my progress, that, tired as he often was from 

 the exertions of his professional life, which at that time had 

 reached its culminating point, he did not shrink from giving 

 up the late hours of the evening to correct my early 

 attempts at English composition. The evenings which, 

 twice a week and often more frequently, I spent at that time 

 with Sir James and Lady Clark in Brook Street, belong to the 

 most charming recollections of my life. Indeed, if I have not 



