304 



Proceedings of Societies. 



Edinburgh, vacant by the death of Dr Hope, and though not suc- 

 cessful, produced a collection of testimonials of the highest charac- 

 ter. Most of these were the more worthy of attention as not 

 made for the occasion and so in some degree influenced by private 

 friendship. They are for the most part notices in the published 

 works of eminent chemists and in scientific journals, of Mr 

 Connell's chemical labours, and the papers in which these were 

 announced and described. 



Having failed in this object of his ambition, Mr Connell continued 

 to study and teach his favourite science at St Andrews till 1856, when 

 the fracture of a limb, and its effects upon a constitution already 

 long enfeebled, completely incapacitated him from active duty. 



Mr Connell iDecame a member of this Society in 1829, from which 

 time till 1843 he contributed to the Transactions, or published in 

 the pages of the " Edinburgh Philosophical Journal," memoirs to 

 the number of 29. 



His chief merit lay in his skill and unrivalled accuracy as a 

 mineral analyst. To him we are indebted for several new mineral 

 species — for the discovery in the minerals Brewsterite and Harmo- 

 tome of the earth barytes in combination with silicic acid — that 

 earth previously having been found combined only with the 

 sulphuric and carbonic acids ; while his ascertaining the constitu- 

 tion of the mineral G-reenockite, on one grain of the substance, 

 displayed a dexterity seldom if ever surpassed. 



Mr Connell also engaged in somewhat more ambitious researches 

 on the voltaic decompositions of alcohol, ether, and other liquids, and 

 has presented us with an instrument for ascertaining the dew point, 

 superior in several respects to that generally used. 



Mr Connell was of a very retiring nature, modest, gentlemanly, and 

 gentle in disposition. He expired peacefully on 31st of October last. 



EiLARD MiTSCHERLicH, bom 7th Januar}^ 1794, at Neurede, in 

 the G-rand Duchy of Oldenburgh, where his father was a minister 

 of the Lutheran Church, was educated at Heidelberg and Paris, 

 and studied afterwards at G-ottingen. His first objects of study 

 were language and ethnology. Later in life he devoted himself 

 more to natural science, and especially chemistry. He assisted 

 Berzelius at Stockholm for some years. 



In 1821 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry in the Univer- 

 sity of Berlin, and attached to the Friedrich Wilhelm Institut. 

 His lectures were held in high estimation, and attended by 

 numerous classes of students. 



In 1828 he was elected an Honorary Member of this Society, and 

 in 1829 was awarded a Medal by the Pioyal Society of London for 

 his discourses " regarding the laws of crystallization and the pro- 

 perties of cr^^stals." 



In 1852 Mitscherlich was elected an Associate Member of the 

 Institute of France. His great European reputation is founded on 

 liis studies on crystallization and some ingenious adaptations of in- 

 struments for practical chemistry. His text-book— ieAW)wc/i der 

 Chemie — has gone through a great many editions. 



