232 
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
Kekule himself, as will be seen, had not yet, in the year 1860, ventured 
to express an opinion as to the mode in which the seven atoms of carbon 
are united to one another, although he had already, in the first part 
(published in the spring of 1859) of his Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie , 
sought to represent the structure of simple inorganic and organic com- 
pounds by means of graphic formulae, which for lucidity leave nothing to 
be desired, as, for instance, the formula of acetic acid : * 
Involuntarily the thought arises — how would Archibald Scott Couper 
have supported his observations and his views in the face of the opposition 
of his fellow-chemists ? Would not organic chemistry have undergone a 
more rapid development if he had succeeded in fully working out his ideas 
as to the mode of constructing the formulae of carbon compounds ? Couper 
was just the man to do that. 
But what was this investigator like, who, so young and, after so short 
an acquaintance with chemistry and at the time of which we are speaking, 
ventured to pronounce on the mode of union of the atoms in such com- 
plicated compounds as salicylic acid, tartaric acid, mucic acid, grape sugar, 
cyanuric acid, etc. ? 
Mr Berring gives us from the treasury of his memory the following 
picture of his friend : — 
“ Couper was a very handsome man, tall and slender, of a distinguished, 
aristocratic aspect. His fine face, with its glowing colour, was animated 
by the almost miraculous brilliancy of his deep black eyes. He had no 
appearance of weakness, but yet his health was delicate, and I have heard 
Hamilton say that his mother was always anxious about him. The basis 
of his character, as is often the case with Scotsmen, was deeply religious. 
He was very fond of music — classical, serious, and lively — and seldom 
missed a good concert when he was in Berlin.” 
Mr Berring wrote to Crum Brown, on receiving from him a copy of 
the portrait prefixed to this biography : “ This is an excellent picture, and 
will let you see that Couper was the strikingly handsome man I described.” 
The original of the portrait is a hand-coloured photograph in the possession 
of Mr Dollar. It was taken in Paris in 1857, or in the beginning of 1858, 
and is therefore of the same date as Couper s scientific work. Couper ’s 
features betray an energetic will combined with a penetrating understand- 
ing. In his theoretic paper, his pleasure in the philosophical, critical 
* Compare Bd. i., Seite 164, Anm. 
