xxviii 



In 1866 he accepted the post of Dean at the Faculte de Medecine. 

 In thus consenting to sacrifice a part of his valuable time to adminis- 

 trative occupations, it was in the hope of promoting the development 

 of scientific instruction in the Faculte. He succeeded, in fact, in 

 reorganising it, got all the practical work placed on a new footing, 

 especially that of chemistry, obtained a laboratory of Biological 

 Chemistry for his pupil, M. Guutier, and that laboratories should 

 be put at the disposal of the clinical professors in the hospitals. 

 He was an active advocate for the admission of women on an 

 equal footing with men to the classes and examinations. He likewise 

 took a considerable part in the planning and execution of the new 

 buildings of the Faculte, and of the Ecole Pratique. His high-minded 

 courage enabled him to pull happily through a period of trouble, and 

 to retain the office of Dean until a period of tranquillity ensued. 



On two different occasions, in 1868 and in 1878, Wurtz visited the 

 principal German and Austrian University centres, bringing back 

 with him numerous documents, by the help of which he drew up two 

 elaborate reports on Foreign Chemical, Physiological, Anatomical, 

 and Pathological Anatomical Laboratories. 



Wurtz had held his professorship at the ficole de Medecine for 

 twenty-five years, when in 1874 he was appointed to the new Chair 

 of Organic Chemistry, at the Sorbonne. He then resigned the office 

 of Dean at the ficole de Medecine. He was named Honorary Dean, a 

 distinction well earned by his many and long services, especially by 

 the courage he had shown during the disastrous time of the Commune, 

 never quitting his post until summoned to Versailles. 



Wurtz had long wished for the opportunity of teaching the higher 

 theories of chemistry, which he of course could not do to a class con- 

 sisting chiefly of medical students, who for the most part took no 

 interest in the subject, except in as far as it was necessary for passing 

 their examination. 



At the Sorbonne, Wurtz had no laboratory, and his experiments 

 had to be prepared in his old laboratory at the Ecole de Medecine, and 

 all the substances and apparatus to be carried to and fro for each 

 lecture. Thanks to the energy of the Professor, and to the efficiency 

 of his able assistants, Messrs. Salet and CEchsner de Coninck, the 

 course did not suffer from this unusual arrangement. It was only in 

 the last months of 1881, after the death of Henri Sainte-Claire 

 Deville, that a small laboratory was given to Wurtz for preparing his 

 lecture experiments. A new and more suitable laboratory was being 

 built for him in the Avenue de l'Observatoire, according to plans 

 drawn up by himself, pending the completion of which Wurtz and his 

 students remained at 'the Ecole de Medecine, and he was looking for- 

 ward during the last few. months of his life to occupying the new 

 buildings at the commencement of the following session. 



