272  •  Obituary.  {AmMay?i?89arm- 
TJie  History  of  Education  in  North  Carolina.  By  Charles  Lee  Smith,  Fellow  in 
History  and  Politics,  Johns  Hopkins  University.  Washington,  D.  C.  8vo. 
Pp.  180. 
This  is  one  of  the  contributions  to  American  educational  history,  which 
are  edited  by  Herbert  B.  Davis,  and  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Education. 
OBITUAEY. 
Professor  Michel  Eugene  Chevreul  died  in  Paris,  April  9th.  Born  at  Angers, 
August  31, 1786,  he  studied  chemistry  under  Vauquelin  ;  became  preparator 
of  the  chemical  course  in  the  Museum  of  Natural  History ;  in  1813  was 
appointed  professor  in  the  lyceum  Charlemagne;  in  1820  was  made  ex- 
aminer in  the  polytechnic  school ;  in  1824  took  charge  of  the  dye  works  of 
the  manufactory  of  the  Gobelins ;  in  1826  was  elected  to  the  Academy  of 
Sciences,  and  in  1830  was  called  to  the  chair  of  applied  chemistry  in  the 
Museum  of  Natural  History  as  the  successor  of  Vauquelin.  Chevreul  con- 
tinued to  lecture  at  the  College  de  France  until  a  few  years  ago,  and 
attended  the  sessions  of  the  French  Academy  for  over  sixty  years.  He  was 
remarkable  for  the  intellectual  vigor  which  he  retained  until  the  time  of 
his  death,  when  he  had  nearly  completed  his  one  hundred  and  third  year. 
His  contributions  to  science  are  very  numerous,  and  extend  over  a  period 
of  about  sixty  years ;  the  most  important  ones  relate  to  the  chemistry  of 
colors  and  dye-stuffs,  and  to  the  composition  of  fats.  The  researches  on  the 
colors  were  commenced  in  1807,  and  aside  from  the  essays  contributed  to 
various  periodicals,  resulted  in  the  publication  of  several  special  works  in 
1828,  1839  and  1864.  His  classical  investigations  of  the  composition  of 
vegetable  and  animal  fats,  which  form  the  basis  of  our  present  knowledge 
of  these  products,  were  commenced  in  1811  and  continued  for  a  series  of 
years;  they  led  him  to  point  out  in  1818  the  chemical  resemblance  of 
ethal  (cetyl  hydrate)  to  alcohol,  and  in  1823  to  regard  the  constitution  of 
fats  as  resembling  that  of  the  compound  ethers. 
Samuel  W.  Gross,  M.  I).,  Professor  of  the  Principles  of  Surgery  in  the 
Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  died  April  16th,  in  the  fifty-third 
year  of  his  age.  He  was  born  in  Cincinnati,  graduated  at  the  Jefferson 
College  in  1857,  and  occupied  the  chair  of  surgery  in  the  same  institution 
since  1882,  when  his  father,  the  late  Samuel  W.  Gross,  retired,  whom  the 
son  survived  only  five  years.  The  deceased  had  established  an  excellent 
reputation  as  author,  teacher  and  surgeon,  and  was  apparently  at  the  height 
of  his  usefulness  when  an  attack  of  pneumonia  terminated  his  earthly 
career. 
