438 
Obituaries. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
\  September,  1907. 
Berthelot  was  a  connecting  link  with  the  founders  of  modern 
chemistry  in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  having  studied 
under  and  acted  as  assistant  to  Balard,  the  discoverer  of  bromine. 
In  1 90 1  Berthelot  celebrated  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  scientific 
work,  when  he  was  presented  with  addresses  from  learned  societies 
(140  in  number)  and  a  gold  medal  struck  in  his  honor  was  handed 
him  by  the  President  of  the  French  Republic,  inscribed  on  the  face 
with  his  bust  and  name  and  the  inscription :  "  La  Synthese  Chimique, 
MARCEUN  BERTHEXOT. 
la  science  guide  l'humanitie,"  and  on  the  reverse  is  shown  the 
synthesis  of  acetylene,  one  of  his  earliest  discoveries,  and  the  inscrip- 
tion, "Pour  le  patrie  et  la  verite." 
His  first  professorship,  in  1859,  was  that  of  organic  chemistry  at 
the  Ecole  Superieur  de  Pharmacie,  and  from  there  he  went,  in  1865, 
to  the  College  of  France,  to  a  new  chair  specially  created  for  him, 
and  here  he  remained  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 
His  first  great  work  was  his  "Synthese  en  Chimie  Organique,"  pub- 
lished in  1864,  in  which  he  showed  how  from  carbon  and  hydrogen 
