XXX 



ference to Henri Sainte-Claire Deville, Wurtz, Berihelot, and Cahonrs 

 The Academie had already, however, given Wurtz every other distinc- 

 tion it had to bestow. In 1859 it had awarded to him and his friend 

 Cahours jointly the Jecker Prize ; in 1864 it had again conferred on 

 him the Jecker Prize ; and in 1865 the great Biennial Prize of 

 20,000 francs was voted to him by the Institnte. 



In 1881, the Copley Medal was awarded to him by the Royal 

 Society. 



During the siege of Paris he punctually attended the daily meetings 

 of the Comite Superieure do Hygiene. At these meetings had to be 

 considered the question of supplying food to the city, of the best 

 means of resisting epidemics, and of diminishing as far as possible 

 the immense mortality caused by the investment. Among the mem- 

 bers of this committee were H. Sainte-Claire Deville, Gubler, Behier, 

 &c. Wurtz became President in 1879. 



He was also an active member of the Commission des Hopitaux 

 Civils et Militaires. 



He had been a member of the Academie de Medecine since 1856. 

 In 1871 he was chosen President, and during the whole of that 

 gloomy year he regularly took the chair at the meetings, with one 

 exception, that of the 23rd of May, during the disastrous period of 

 the Commune. He took an important part in the discussions which 

 were held in 1871, on vinage ; in 1874, on the water of Paris ; on the 

 phenomenon of fermentation in cells ; on the products of cincho- 

 nine, &c. 



In 1877, during the rebuilding of the Faculte de Medecine, Wurtz 

 moved into a provisional laboratory, which was arranged for him in 

 the old houses facing the Rue des ficoles and the Rue Hautefeuille. 

 This new laboratory was more commodious and better arranged than 

 the old one, and as there were more rooms, a better distribution of 

 the work could be made. Wurtz now had his own private laboratory, 

 and he had also the gratification of being able to give a place in the 

 laboratory to his former teacher, Professor Caillot, who had left 

 Strasburg when the Germans took possession of Alsace. 



It was here that Wurtz worked during the remaining years of his 

 life, amidst a larger number of students than ever, and a little group 

 of disciples who had gathered around him. 



About the year 1856 there existed in Paris a society of young 

 chemists, who used to meet for mutual instruction. In 1858 Wurtz 

 conceived the happy idea of transforming this association into a 

 learned society. He succeeded in obtaining the concurrence of Durnas, 

 Balard, Sainte-Claire Deville, Berthelot, Thenard, Pasteur, Cahours, 

 and others in this object. He organised the " Bulletin," a periodical 

 in which are published the papers read before the Society, and also 

 the 4 ' Repertoire de Chimie Pare," which gives resumes of chemical 



