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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 23, No. 2
AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES Walter Louis Jennings
“T
H E proper study of mankind is man.” Thus Alexander came, successively, an assistant instructor in organic chemistry Pope illuminated the goal of all succeeding biographers. and quantitative analysis. The master of arts degree followed in Those properly studious who are privileged to study Walter 1890, and in 1892 the degree of Ph.D. The next two years Louis Jennings will never forget their most interesting subject. brought Jennings to Europe. Having received the doctorate in Some of us who have been close to him for many years find here the United States, and as winner of the Parker Fellowship, he a rare gem of personality, revealing each year new facets, of was able to choose courses with some freedom when he began original brightness and hue. Here is the cloistered scholar and his “post-post-graduate” work in Germany. Accordingly he gentleman of the world, combined. attended not only lectures on chemistry, As the late Edwin E. Slosson pointed out, but also those devoted to philosophy and t h e A m e r i c a n Contemporaries series is philology. I n Germany Jennings studied chiefly valuable because of the personal under Victor Meyer in Heidelberg, and under Emil Fischer in Berlin. If you will intimacy of its expression. As biographer of Professor Jennings I should, therefore, consult the Berichte of 1893, and 1894, you report my first impressions. will find two interesting papers. No. 253 Surrounded by shivering freshmen colis entitled, “Emil Fischer und Walter L. J e n n i n g s : Ueber die Verbindungen der leagues, following the purposeful crash of apparatus in the laboratory of general chemZucker mit den mehnverthigen Phenolen,” istry a t Worcester Polytechnic Institute, I w h i l e N o . 4 2 5 has the caption: “Emil beheld the stern, striking visage of the Fischer und Walter L. Jennings: Ueber die white-haired director. He peered motionConstitution des Hydrocyanrosanilins und less through the glass panel of the doordes Fuchsins.” So favorably impressed was the great Emil Fischer with the work of the a l l - s e e i n g , unmoved or immovable. He youthful Jennings, that he invited him to spoke not-presently was gone. Not for a become an assistant in his private laboramonth did I behold him again, but I have never forgotten the first impressive moment tory. This was a rare privilege. There w h e n s o m e o n e breathlessly remarked, were several locational milestones in the “That’s Doctor Jennings, head of the Decareer of Fischer, but the high point of his career was in Berlin. It was a t the beginpartment of Chemistry.” Courtesy PZont Studio M y subsequent contact was to run a wide ning of his Berlin period that Jennings began Walter Louis Jennings gamut from classroom to laboratory, from his association. To a student of both men the ballroom to tennis club-from the viewpoint of student to there can be no doubt that Jennings derived, and incorporated that of colleague. Yea, eventually I was to enjoy visits to the as part of his own nature, many attributes of the master. There stately home where Doctor Jennings, assisted by his inimitable was broad research vision, coupled with a high degree of manipuhelpmate and three charming daughters, entertain with the ele- lative skill, also seemingly inexhaustible energy and power of vating hospitality of New England, and the savoir viwre of the application. There was sympathetic recognition of all phases world. These same daughters-and yet so distinctive is the of a work, but when criticism was to be administered there was personality of each, there is no sameness-are Ruth, Frances, no attitude of apology. Clarity of criticism was achieved through and Alice. There are no middle names and I presume their father, no mincing of words. Emil Fischer was profound and commanding. His laboraused t o the nice simplicity of organic nomenclature, ruled them out. I n this respect they do not take after their mother who, as tory manner was conducive to meticulous professional care in the handling of materials, and his assistants became imbued with Alice Emily Page, was born in Epsom, England. As in the case of many an interesting family, it would be the value of order and cleanliness as allies of analytical accuracy. fascinating t o be a biographer of these other members of the Fischer was careful with advice, but unalterably definite in the pointing of errors or in the administration of reproof. He tolerJennings household. But now I shall shift the scenes rapidly t o the stern and rockbound coast of Maine, and then proceed up ated no evasion. One day Emil Fischer had gone to lunch and the Penobscot River to locate Professor Jennings in the setting Jennings was working in the private laboratory. A flask of of Bangor, Maine, wherein he first began, November, 15, 1866, benzol caught fire and deposited flaky soot ubiquitously on the t o see the light, and whence he migrated eventually to Harvard. innumerable items of chemical glassware. Foreboding the An undergraduate, a t Harvard, but taking a summer course in return of the master, and frantic a t this catastrophe in prochemistry, Jennings was assigned the problem of preparing malic fessionalism, Jennings clambered about and cleaned every piece acid from berries of the mountain ash. In Hoboken, “After of apparatus in the room. When Fischer returned all was in Dark” is thought to be a play, but in Cambridge in the late 80’s order and tranquility. I n Berlin, and in Heidelberg, it was not a case of all work it was a propitious setting in which Jennings could decimate the mountain ash trees in the Boston parkways, to get his first and no play. Every man should have a hobby, and apparently laboratory material. To young people there is characteristi- the initials W. L. J. have been on tennis rackets, or prize loving cally a fascination in separating, and crystallizing, and classify- cups, ever since student days of the champion a t Harvard. In ing chemical products from the materials of nature. This Germany he played tennis again; attended the famous connatural fascination led Jennings to devote his life to the study certs. In short, his life there was well rounded, although not battle-scarred, inasmuch as he was not a dueling member of a of organic chemistry. Receiving from Harvard, in 1889, the degree of A.B., he be- corps. In Heidelberg he met the lady who was to become Mrs.
February, 1931
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Jennings. They met a t one of the garden concerts in the courtyard of the old and famous castle. Here was a splendid setting to which the youth of the day migrated from all parts of the world. This mecca of literary lore and scientific emanation still was laden with the same free air that Goethe breathed. Castle courtyards were resonant to the presence of the greatest scholars and scientists of the golden age of Germany. Completing his studies in Germany, Jennings was presently in London, and one day, as he ascended the steps of the Bodlein Library, whom should he meet coming down but Leonard P. Kinnicutt, famous for his studies in municipal sanitation, and then director of the Department of Chemistry a t Worcester Tech. Said Kinnicutt, “What are you doing?” Said Jennings, “I have just finished my work in Germany, and am going back to the United States to look for a job.” Said Kinnicutt, “My professor of organic chemistry, George D. Moore, is just now resigning. How would you like to take his place?” “ I t sounds good!” said Jennings. Thus a bargain was struck which has endured to date since 1893. Following the death of Doctor Kinnicutt, Professor Jennings succeeded him as director of the department. Although specialist in a different field of chemistry, Doctor Jennings, like his predecessor, had a taste for administration, We who have worked with him know that he excels in this capacity, a t the same time not letting it interfere, in the slightest degree, with his thoroughness as teacher. He has builded the department to a commanding place as one of the four major departments a t the institute. Many graduates occuying positions of usefulness anti leadership in chemical industry owe their professional bearing and scientific method to days spent in the lecture rooms, and meticulous laboratories, under exacting but kindly leadership. The department now embraces, in addition to a complete curriculum of chemistry courses, a chemical engineering division which adds engineering poignancy to the earlier semesters of industrial chemistry. That select circle in Worcester known as “The Bohemians” establishes for each member a beautiful, painted plaque in the nature of a coat of arms. The heraldic shield of our subject bears a tennis net taut against a background of cerulean blue. Pedaling across the top of the net, on a winged unicycle, is a stately professorial figure, with head in the form of an alembic. The tennis racket in hand provides a nice balance. The subject of this rare illustration is probably entitled to be ranked as the dean of American tennis tournament players. He has been playing hard tennis for forty-five years, ever since he was a freshman a t Harvard. There is every reason to believe that again he will give several good men a hard battle in the tournament of 1931. In younger days he could be found a t Center
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Harbor, N. H., where then the best players gathered each summer; also a t Longwood, and in the national championships a t Newport. He has won many times, and is still winning. He is one of those very rare men who play their top game with a minimum of dashing around the court. Foot work is of the highest class. To Worcester folk Doctor Jennings’ tennis is inseparable from his bicycle. There you can still observe a white-haired gentleman pedaling leisurely from his home to the tennis club, his racket before him, clamped to the bicycle handle. Professor Jennings has, of course, all the usual affiliations. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of innumerable learned societies. For many years he has been chairman, or member, of the Worcester Medical Milk Commission. He has been chairman of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society; many times a councillor. His fraternal affiliations include the Bohemian, Cosmopolitan, Worcester Tennis, and Worcester Harvard clubs, also the Sigma Xi fraternity. During the war the Institute laboratories constituted one of the field stations in which research on government problems of chemical warfare was conducted. The most important contribution of Doctor Jennings was the preparation of cyanogen chloride by an improved method which he developed. I n association with W. B. Scott, his report of this work appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in 1919. The statement, “Published by permission of the Director of Chemical Warfare Service,” is but one clue t o the intensive organic research which kept the “home fires” burning in Salisbury Laboratories, a t any hour that you might choose to look. It is the aim of the American Contemporaries series to sketch with fewest strokes, a series of human-interest pictures. Thus, even the younger men may see in more complete perspective a fellow-worker, whom their elders have been able to evaluate more gradually. hlajor characteristics indicate the mold and character; innumerable details reflect the personality, and give to the picture its distinctive name. Above all, Doctor Jennings is a teacher. His best achievement is multiplied in the work of other men whom he has led. His students know that they will never meet one more sternly methodical, more penetrating, or more intolerant of evasion. One too will go far to meet a man who is more thoroughly the gentleman, more genuinely affable and entertaining. Even when a disciple of Professor Jennings attempts biography he must take care that the analysis is carried to complete qualitative and quantitative conclusion; also that the interpretation of results is correct. Yet here I pause, confident that, while corroborative analyses will be made, they will surely check with the present determination. LEONV. QUIGLEY
BOOK REVIEWS Bibliography of Organic Sulfur Compounds (1871-1929). BY P. BORGSTROM, R. W. BOST,AND D. F. BROWN. 187 pages. American Petroleum Institute, 250 Park Ave., New York, 1930. Price, $4.00. This is a bibliography of organic sulfur compounds covering those “which may occur in petroleum products as well as their properties, uses, and methods of removal from petroleum products.” It comprises 130 double-columned pages of references to the literature, and 30 double-columned pages of patent references. The literature references have been classified in 34 groups; some of these are rather short, some very long. I n a few cases it is doubtful whether these group classifications are significant. For instance, it seems questionable to consider mercaptides separately from mercaptans, particularly since the former are covered by a few citations.
The basis for selection of articles has evidently been a broad one, and this is to be praised, since we have a t present scant means of predicting what sulfur compounds may or may not occur in petroleum. While the work is strong from the academic side, it appears a trifle weak in covering the references to the more strictly technical and industrial studies. The section on the solvent action of liquid sulfur dioxide appears incomplete; there is no section on the doctor reaction, which has the beginnings of a respectable literature of its own; the papers of Wood, Lowy, and Faragher, and of Wendt and Diggs, which in 1924 first elucidated the chemistry of the doctor test, have apparently been omitted. The reviewer has noted in a brief search occasional other omissions of papers believed to be of marked interest to petroleum chemists. The impression is easily gained that the recent literature has been much better covered than that of earlier years; this is undoubtedly attributable to the change in the completeness of the abstract literature.
