XXX111 



Liebig's scientific activity — ' The Annals of Chemistry and Pharmacy ' 

 and his ' Letters on Chemistry.' 



Before Liebig's time there was no periodical which was exclusively 

 devoted to Chemistry. Chemistry was then more nearly connected with 

 pharmacy ; and as in the practice of pharmacy the results of chemistry 

 came so closely into application, Liebig's first researches were published 

 in the Magazine for Pharmacy founded by the apothecary Hanle, and 

 afterwards continued by the apothecary Geiger in Heidelberg. 



In the year 1832 Liebig founded, in conjunction with Geiger, the 

 ' Annalen der Pharmacie,' which now became entirely his organ. "With 

 the publication of the 33rd volume, Wohler became one of the editors, and 

 the title was changed to ' Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie,' in order, 

 as Liebig said, to bring the title and the contents more into unison. 

 Later on Kopp, and still later Erlenmeyer and Volhard, all pupils of 

 Liebig, joined in the editing. 



The ' Chemical Letters,' as is well known, originated in a series of essays 

 published in the Augsburg Gazette. These letters were remarkable 

 specimens of exact science popularized for educated people. 



Liebig's active mind led him to an earnest consideration of the chemi- 

 cal processes involved in agriculture and physiology. Having paid more 

 attention to the study of organic bodies than any other chemist, he 

 naturally felt a desire to consider these substances in connexion with 

 their functions, and the circumstances under which they were developed. 

 How fruitful his labours were in this direction is already well known. 



"What is called Liebig's agricultural chemistry was developed in two 

 periods. The first period from 1840 to 1846 in Giessen, and the second 

 from 1856 to 1862 in Munich, whither he migrated in 1852. His views 

 on vegetable and animal physiology were first expounded in a work 

 which was published by Vieweg in Brunswick in 1840, with the title 

 " Die Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agricultur und Physiologie." 



This book originated in the following manner : — The British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, at its Liverpool Meeting in 1837, 

 requested Liebig to publish a report of the present state of knowledge in 

 the department of Organic Chemistry. He expressed his willingness to 

 do so, but proposed that Dumas should share the task with him. Dumas 

 seemed disinclined, and Liebig brought out his 'Agricultural Chemistry.' 

 The result of its publication was astonishing. It went through no less 

 than six important editions in six consecutive years, and excited an 

 immense amount of interest. The stir made by this book was so great 

 that Dumas, as the ^first chemical authority in Prance, felt it necessary 

 one year later to publish a somewhat similar work in the Prench lan- 

 guage, and formally to claim for Prance on this occasion the main prin- 

 ciples enunciated in Liebig's work : " Elles appartiennent a notre ecole 

 dont l'esprit est venu s'exercer sur ce terrain nouveau." 



Many of Liebig's countrymen expressed strong dissent from his views ; 

 VOL. XXIV. d 



