EMINENT CHEMISTS O F O UR TIME E M N H B NJA I HARROW, P . D . Associate in Physiological Ch emistry ILL US TRATED W M NEW YORK D . V A N N O S T R A N D C O M P A N Y EIGHT WARRE N S TREET PREFACE We have several books deal ing with the history of chemistry ; there are a number of biographies of pioneer — l chemists ; but, so far a s I am aware and this inc udes books in French and German as well a s in English l the chemists of our time have been ignored complete y . The Dickenses and Thackerays of chemistry have — l received attention not any too much , to be sure ; but m ll the odem s , the Anatole Frances and We s, have received none . H To fill such a want is the object of this work . ow much these men and woman who are here treated are of our time may be gauged from the following : of the eleven whose lives and work are discussed, one died in 1 897 (through suicide , be it a dded) ; three , in 1 90 7 ; 1 1 1 one , in 9 1 ; one , in 1 91 6 ; one , in 1 9 9 ; and four are The question may very naturally be a sked , why were just these eleven selected? To this I would answer, that, with the historical perspective in mind , I wished to review the achievements of those men whose work is indissolubly bound up with the progress of chemistry la o during the st generation or so . I wished , then , t write a history of chemistry of our times by centering it a m round so e of its lea ding figures . This book aims to fill the wants of three cla sses of men 1 . The chemist who wishes an account of the labors of o Pr f . W l l and the late Prof . R . Me do a , Finsbury College , London , ll . ll r. England ; to my co eagues , Dr E . G . Mi er , I , d . Whit it l o C l m a . an s C o u bi Univ , Mr J E , De Witt int n l n m High Schoo , N . Y . ; a d to y wife . a I wish also to thank the editors of S cience , the Journ l of the Franklin Institu te and S cientific Monthly for l permission to reprint some of the articles . BENJAMIN HARROW N k ew Yor , 1 92 0 . 1 The work as originally written consisted of two parts : th e ” lives h i h rk (whic const tutes the present volume) and t e wo . The latter was an exha ustive review of the scientific work of the hemi nd c sts u er discu ssion. Complete bibliographies were ap ended to each icle . Howe er a m in en ion wa wri e p art v , s y t t s to t a o ular l e h n or i d n h h e p p vo um , and as t e seco d p t on eali g wit t work d nd r d h k d d woul have u uly enla ge t e boo , I deci e to post ne po publishing this part for the pre sent. vii CONTENTS Introduction Perkin and Coal-Tar Dyes Mendeléeff and the Periodic Law Ramsay and the Ga ses of the Atmosphere Richards and Atomic Weights ’ van t Hofi and Physical Chemistry Arrhenius and the Theory of Electrolytic Disso ciation Moissan and the Electric Furnace Madame Curie and Radium i m V ctor Meyer and the Rise of Organic Che istry . m Re sen and the Rise of Chemistry in America . d e m Fischer an th Che istry of Foods . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Pa ge Several eminent chemists Frontispiece opposite ’ Perkin s apparatus for determining optical activity opposite 1 2 D . Mendeléefi opposite 1 9 2 7 4 1 ’ Ramsay s appara tus for the isolation of argon opposite o os t T . W . Richards . pp i e Relation of the atomic weights of the elements to other properties opposite L A room in the Wolcott Gibbs aboratory , Harvard opposite ’ Van t Hoff and Ostwald opposite S vante Arrhenius opposite Henri Moissan opposite ’ Moissan s appara tus for preparing Fluorine and his opposite opposite . site P Curie . oppo opposite ’ V . Meyer s apparatus for determining vapor density opposite Ira Remsen opposite Emil Fischer opposite ’ r a o osite Fische s pparatus used in protein work . pp xi INTRODUCTION DERNchemistry, little more than a century l old , shows several outstanding andmarks in its evolutionary course . These may be cla ssified into ( 1 ) The Foundation Period ; - (2 ) The Cla ssification Period ; (3) The Physico Chemical - Period ; and (4) The Period of Ra dio Activity . T a t Pe od . a a L T1. he Found ion ri M ny reg rd avoisier 1 — m m s ( 743 94) as the father of odern che istry . He Wa unquestionably one of its chief founders , if only because l of the immrtance he atta ched to the use of the ba ance . m With its help he gave us our odern idea of combustion , and established the law of the conservation of ma ss, which tells us that in all chemical reactions the total weight of the products formed is always equal to the w a a . a ma eight of the re cting subst nces M tter, then , y undergo change , but it cannot be created, and it cannot o be destr yed , l 2 o l 1 — . The Classifica ti n Periodf Boy e ( 62 7 9 1 ) wa s the first to distinguish clearly between elements and m — co pounds substances which cannot, and substances h whic can be decomposed . The atomic theory of Dalton ( 1 766 with its conception of the atom a s the unit in all chemical changes , must rank in importance ’ La o with voisier s pi nee r work in quantita tive chemistry . The atom and the molecule were further stu died by Avoga dro ( 1 776-1 856) and Cannizzaro ( 1 82 6 with results which led to the system of chemical nomen clature in common use today. S tudies in the structure of compounds, and the cla ssification of the elements xiii a s the eighties of the l s Then came a remarkab e change . This wa but , to a greater degree , a re ching principles . INTRO DUCTION ’ a re- l S ome , fired by Moiss n s genius , entered the fie d of inorganic chemistry ; many of the younger generation — turned to the physico chemists ; some , however, fa s ’ cinated by such brilliant work a s Fischer s application l of synthetic chemistry to bio ogy and medicine , extended their researches into the domain of physiological chem i stry . - od o Radio Activit . 4 . The Peri f y The study by physicists of the discharge of electricity through ga ses ultimately le d to the discovery of ra dium by Madame - -a i Curie . To day ra dio ct vity is a distinct science ; yet m a he r a a s la a s 1 8 ! M e . Curie beg n rese rches te 98 Radioa ctivity ha s already shed a flood of light on the s l structu re of the atom . It ha shown conc usively that the atom is far from being the smallest possible particle , ’ o though it ha s, if anything, c nfirmed Dal ton s original m al a a la view that che ic re ctions t ke p ce between atoms . Of transcendent importance is the conclusion these studies lead to : that wherea s chemistry deals with r r eactions be tween a toms , a dioactivity deals with reao o om ti ns within the at . The two types of a ctivity are m o o quite distinct fro ne an ther ; to such an extent, in m fact, that Wherea s che ical reactions can be controlled , radioactivity ha s thus far proved entirely beyond the control of man, for no human device seems to increa se or decrea se such a ctivity . Addendu m Chemist A ca ry in meri . The history of chemistry in m a in l A eric is discussed the artic e on Remsen . Here it needs but to be pointed out that Remsen bears the same relation to the va st army of brilliant American - chemists of to day that Johns Hopkins University bears to higher education in the United S tates . X V EMINENT CHEMIS TS OF OUR TIME The various items discussed in this introduction may now be tabulated in chronological order : o l : l m . 1 66 1 . B y e e e ents : m and I 777 ~ Lavoisier co bustion conservation of mass . : a m o . 1 80 8 . Dalton to ic the ry o : m l l . 1 8 1 1 . Av ga dro o ecu es 2 ijhler : a— 1 8 8 . W synthesis of ure the first case of the al o a l artifici producti n of typica animal product . of m Perkin : discovery auve , the first dye ob l- tained from coa tar. : m l Cannizzaro atom and o ecule . m l Kekule suggests ring for u a for benzene . fi : o m Mendelée peri dic syste of the elements . ’ van t Hoff and Le B el : structural chemistry mm (theory of the a sy etric carbon a tom) .