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OBITUAET.  475 
As  a  writer,  Dr.  Hare  was  much  inclined  to  controversy,  and  many  of  his 
papers  have  been  of  this  character  on  chemical  and  physical  theories  ;  espe- 
cially in  relation  to  the  salt  radical  theory,  and  the  theory  of  storms.  In 
this  way  he  has  been  engaged  with  Berzelius,  Liebig,  Faraday,  Redfield 
and  others.  Dr.  Hare  was  among  the  earliest  contributors  to  this  Journal, 
and  his  papers  to  the  number  of  twenty-eight  are  interspersed  through  its 
earlier  volumes,  particularly  the  fifth,  sixth  and  ninth.  Of  these  papers, 
ten  are  notices  of  methods  of  making,  or  a  description  of,  substances  ;  four- 
teen are  descriptive  of  apparatus  ;  tivo  are  argumentative  on  nomenclature, 
and  two  are  critical  on  the  doctrines  of  Liebig  and  others  in  reference  to  salt 
radicals. 
As  a  lecturer,  Dr.  Hare  was  not  always  fluent,  nor  was  he  lucid  in  his 
explanations  of  phenomena.  His  manner  was  often  absent,  as  though,  in 
the  midst  of  his  lecture,  an  idea  had  arrested  his  attention  to  the  thread  of 
his  discourse,  which  occasionally  gave  an  abruptness  to  his  remarks  not 
intended.  As  a  teacher  of  medical  chemistry,  Dr.  Hare  was  not  happy.  He 
dwelt  too  long  and  too  much  in  detail  on  the  physics  of  chemistry,  espe- 
cially on  electricity  and  galvanism,  which  were  the  subjects  he  delighted  to 
illustrate ;  and  never  have  we  seen  his  countenance  more  beaming  with 
satisfaction  than  after  one  of  his  magnificent  displays  of  the  power  of  the 
electric  fluid  in  its  chemical  or  mechanical  relations.  He  had  not  the  time, 
if  he  had  had  the  will,  to  illustrate  fully,  the  long  list  of  chemical  bodies, 
especially  of  organic  substances,  which  particularly  interest  the  practi- 
tioner of  medicine. 
As  an  experimenter,  Dr.  Hare  was  the  reverse  of  W^ollaston.  The  micro- 
scopic acuteness  of  the  latter,  which  enabled  him  to  accomplish  his  results 
with  materials  and  apparatus  so  diminutive,  in  Dr.  Hare  was  replaced  by  a 
tendency  to  operate  on  a  large  scale;  and  whether  in  electrical  batteries,  or  in 
chemical  decompositions  in  the  precipitating  glass,  his  experiments  were  of 
a  magoitude  unseen  in  ordinary  laboratories,  and  calculated  to  excite  the 
admiration  of  the  student,  rather  than  to  open  the  difficulties  in  his  path. 
In  fact,  that  valuable  accomplishment  which  enables  the  chemist  to  produce 
great  results  from  small  means,  was  almost  unknown  to  Dr.  Hare ;  and  hence, 
whilst  he  was  wasting  his  energy  and  time  in  the  construction  of  complex 
apparatus,  during  a  period  of  half  a  century,  the  most  brilliant  in  the  his- 
tory of  chemical  development,  other  and  less  favored  laborers  grasped  the 
discoveries  and  achieved  the  immortality  which  had  been  waiting  his  accept- 
ance. 
As  a  man,  Dr.  Hare  had  many  valuable  qualities.  His  frame  was  large 
and  well  developed,  his  bearing  erect  and  dignified,  and  his  head  was  very 
large  and  remarkable  in  its  expression.  It  is  said  that  he  resembled  Louis 
Phillipe  ;  and  certain  it  is  that  a  resemblance  can  be  traced  if  they  are 
judged  by  the  published  portraits.  Dr.  Hare  had  a  firmness  of  self-will, 
amounting  sometimes  to  obstinacy,  and  a  strong  self-esteem  based  on  an 
