LYMAN CHURCHILL NEWELL DR. LYMAN C. NEWELL died suddenly but peacefully on the morning of December thirteenth after having apparently started upon the road to recovery from a long and severe illness. Readers of the JOURNAL who had not the good fortune of personal acquaintance with Dr. Newell will remember him as a frequent contributor of interesting and important historical material and as an active participant in Division of Chemical Education affairs. His services to the JOURNAL, however, far exceeded those of a faithful and valued contributor. He was a stanch and active supporter of the publication from the fitst. As Chairman of the Division a t the time the reorganization of the JOURNAL took place and as a member of the committee entrusted with the administration of JOURNAL affairs, he gave unsparingly of his time and energy and displayed to a rare degree the ability to think and act calmly and purposefully under conditions which might well have conduced to flurried and ill-considered behavior. Dr. Newel1 also had the admirable quality of maintaining his enthusiasm and activity in the anti-climactic periods of routine drudgery which follow moments of emergency. He realized fully that execution is quite as important as decision-though it usually involves less ~"staining excitement. until ill-health forbade, he was the constant adviser and encourager of the editorial staff. His suggestions always took the graceful form of the free-will offerings of a friend. If any of them proved for any reason not to be feasible, he never displayed the slightest pique or disappointment, nor did he withhold the next idea which seemed to him likely to be helpful. He could and did exhibit a kindliness tmlv ~aternal.and it was never alloved that "father is with a traceGf ihe right, my lad." His aid and counsel never bore the musty savor of duty; they were the generous outpourings of a warm and benevolent nature. The sense of personal bereavemedthat we experience in his passing is one which will be felt in many places. Some conception of the breadth of the public-spirited services that he pe~ormedand of the esteem that he had earned is conveyed in the tributes that follow.
Chemical Education, for the editorial board of the JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION, and for the Senate of Chemical Education. Dr. Newell read a paper a t the very first meeting of the then Section of Chemical Education in September, 1921, and from that date participated actively in our programs and deliberations. After having refused to allow his name to be considered because of existing obligations elsewhere, he was linally persuaded in September, 1932, to accept the chairmanship of the Division of Chemical Education. To this service he gave every ounce of his strength--an added evidence of his devotion to the cause. Acharacteristicclosing phrase in his letters was, "Assuring you of my unbroken interest in the best Division of the American Chemical Society." In the death of Dr. Newel1 the Division of Chemical Education has lost an outstanding organizer and leader, while every worker in the field has lost a warm friend and counselor. No monument could be more appropriate than the one he himself built through the years in our hearts, whereon the challenge of his example is deeply engraved. Ross A. BAKER
* * * * * *
THE RECENT PASSING of Dr. Lyman C. Newel1 comes as a profound shock to the members of the American Chemical Society who have been interested in the work of the Division of the History of Chemistry of which he was Secretary from 1922 to 1927 and Chairman from 1927 to 1932. ' As one who was closely associated with Dr. Newell in the early labors of this Division the writer wishes to pay a brief tribute to his services in support of the historical movement which Was initiated and fostered by the late Edgar F. Smith. before the establishment of the History of Chemistry Section a t the Rochester meeting of the American Chemical Society in April, 1921, Dr. Newel1 had begun to accumulate a vast collection of autograph letters, portraits, cartoons, books, medallions, and other historic memorabilia of famous chemists. This accumulation, to which he was constantly adding, has become one of the most.valuable private collections * * * * * * in the world. I t was not only most useful to Dr. Newel1 in his college courses upon the history of chemAS I LOOK BACK upon the score of years since I istry but it was a great source of pleasure and instrucfirst met Dr. Newell, I realize that there have been no tion to his colleagues of the Historical Division at the inconsistent readings on the continuous curve of my meetings of the American Chemical Society to which admiration and respect for him. I well remember my Dr. Newell constantly brought illustrative material delight when I 6rst discovered that he was intensely of the choicest kind. The writer has most vivid human in addition to being the author of a standard recollections of assisting Newel1 in the installation of textbook. some of his exhibits a t the Pittsburgh meeting of the Dr. Newell's vast fund of knowledge and experience, American Chemical Society in 1922 and at the New his quiet dignity, his tolerance of others, his unfailing Haven meeting in 1923. His comments upon the humor, and his sense of values made him a tower of significance of each psrticular item showed a marvelous strength in the profession. It was inevitable that he attention to thoroughness and to accuracy of detail. should be chosen for the first A. C. S. Committee on In his ability to place a chemist in the complete en66
viromnent of his co-workers and contemporaries Newell was without an equal. His paper upon "The Chemist Friends of Pasteur" with its accompanying exhibits relating to Dumas, Biot, Balard, Payen, Berthelot, Chevrenl, and other noted French chemists (read a t the New Haven meeting of 1923) is cited in this connection. This and his papers upon the chemical associates of Lavoisier, Priestley, and other notables, read at various meetings of the Historical Division, stamp Newel1 as a master in this field of historical presentation. I t is to be regretted that more of these papers have not been published. The writer recalls with especial pleasure his numerous personal contacts with Newel1 a t the time when Dr. Smith was actively engaged in promoting the work of the Historical Division. At the Golden Jubilee meeting of the American Chemical Society and at the meeting of the History of Science Society in Philadelphia in 1926 Dr. Smith invited Newel1 and myself to lunch with him a t the Union League Club and a t Boothby's where I would listen with greatest enjoyment to the plans of my two companions for stimulating an interest in the humanistic and historical aspects of chemistry among students. Those were golden hours. Dr. Newell's interests in historical chemistry were of the broadest kind, as is made evident from the list of some of his published papers on page 125. The chemistry of every country and of every period was treated with the same scholarly care. No matter how fiequently a subject might have been previously discussed there was always something of novel interest in his own presentation. With the passing of Smith, Coyle, and Newell, three of the strongest props of the History of Chemistry Division have been cut away. Their loss is irreparable a t a time when the cultural aspects of chemistry need most to be encouraged. C, A, B ~ ~ ~
* * * * * *
THE DEBT of the Northeaste'rn Section of the American Chemical Society to Profesmr Newel1 is heavy. He served the Section as Councillor a t various times for many years and as Chairman in 1925-26. It was largely his efforts that made the Section an incorporated entity in possession of a permanent trust fund. Recently he was Chairman of the Section's committee on the Theodore William Richards Medal, with the duty of collecting money for its endowment and of making arrangements with the artist and with the die-sinker. He did valuable work on the Section's board of publication, assisting in the management of its monthly journal, the Nucleus, and promoting the now successful project of popular radio broadcasts on chemistry. In his work for the Section, as in that for the other organizations with which he was connected, he exhibited in a remarkable degree the power of secnring the willing cooperation of others. He made them feel the worthwhileness of the causes to which he was himself devoted. Professor Newell was a great teacher of chemistry.
This fact I know by inference, on the one hand from observations of the respect, almost reverence, which his former students invariably showed for him, on the other by my own knowledge of his patience and kindness, of the keenness and whimsicality of his humor, and of his unlimited willingness to be clear. For about fifteen years we have pursued the same hobby together, the history of chemistry. We have exchanged anecdotes, information, and documents, cooperated in inquiries. I have seen Professor Newell's enthusiasm. I have known him as a man devoted to accuracy, appreciative not merely of the work but also of the character of the heroes of chemistry, of their enviroument and their difficulties. He was sensitive to the value of the unessential. He was a great teacher of much more than chemistry. He communicated an appreciation of fine things. TENNEY L. DAVIS
* * * * * * THAT LYMAN C. NEWELL early recognized the need of an association of teachers of elementary chemistry is shown by the fact that he was one of the charter members of the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers and served as its first president. In the third year of his teaching at the Somerville High School, taking his cue from two teachers who, though members of the recently formed physics association, were advocating the formation of a similar organization devoted to chemistry, Newel1 threw his whole energies into the proposal, entered vigorously into the preliminary plans, became the first president of the organization in 1898, took an active part in the work of the earlier years, and has exerted a guiding influence.thr6ugh the succeeding years. Newell's hand is easily seen in the constitution of the N EAssociation, a document characterized by its simplicity, conciseness, and adequacy. I t has been amended but slightly and then only .to meet new needs as they arose. It has served as a'model for other organizations, among them the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society. The Association a t the very beginning began the plan of work through committees. Newel1 was chairman of several of these at various times, in addition to presenting occasional papers on-the regular programs, and to taking part frequently in the discussions of papers read by other members. At the fiftieth meeting of the Association, Newel1 presented a comprehensive "History of the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers from the First to the Fiftieth Meeting," he served as chairman of the committee on the fiftieth meeting, and presented the speakers of the evening. At the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Association (the sixty-eighth regular meeting) Newel1 read a lengthy paper on "The Earlier and Later Days of Chemistry in New England." In 1901 Newel1 was chairman of a special committee to compile a "List of Books in Chemistry" for use of
chemistry teachers. This was the forerunner of several other similar lists prepared later by other teachers and committees, one in particular being the Association's "A Chemistry Library for Secondary Schools" published in 1916. Newel1 was instrumental in incomoratine the Association so that it could legally receive gifts. This paved the way for the receipt of several donations of books, apparatus, specimens, and lantern slides. The largest donation was that of the private scientific library of a former president, Rufus P. Williams, given by his widow along with money to make these books available to members. The Association recognized the importance of this work by making Newel1 permanent curator of the library and museum. The writer had the pleasure of compiling in 1915 an eighteen-page printed catalog oi the library and museum. The books and specimens, through the courtesy of Dr. Newel1 and the permission of Boston University, are housed in an alcove of the University library. While teaching at Lowell Normal School, Newel1 began his extensive textbook career by bringing out his "Experimental Chemistry" in 1900 and his "Descriptive Chemistry" in 1903. His later numerous texts are familiar to many. Though textbook writing can hardly be considered a New England Association activity on his part, a perusal of the early printed reports of the Association reveals the influence of the papeqs and discussions of those days in his lucid methods of presentation. That Newel1 was more than a teacher of chemistry, more than a good organizer, more than a textbook writer is clear to those who knew him well and who called him by his last name without any titles or other honorary adjectives. They remember his oft-repeated injunction: "Let us think this thmg through"; t t is also borne out by his "The Teacher's Problem" and his "The Teacher's Vow" [p. 1001. From the latter let me quote one sentence. "I will see the good in all pupils and lead them on to liigher attainments." WI~HELM SEGERBLOM
-
IN THE DEATH of Lyman C. Newel1 we have lost a friend characterized not only by his fine personality, intellectual ability, and wisdom, but also by his many-sided interests, both in chemistry as author, educator, and historian, and in art and letters. In his article, "American Contemporaries," Dr. Tenney L. Davis has drawn a most faithful portrait of Dr. Newell, which all who knew him can endorse [Ind.Eng. Chem., 24, 1082 (1932)l. Dr. Newell's interest in the history of chemistry dated from his graduate student days a t Johns Hopkins University, a t which time he began to gather portraits, autograph letters, and memorabilia of famous chemists. The old book shops of Boston and his trips to chemical centers abroad enabled him to gamer a most complete and unusual collection of such historic material. He
utilized this in a course a t Boston University on the history of chemistry, which he had developed in a very interesting and systematic fashion. To his auditors, the ability to bring forth a rare print or a letter of Lavoisier gave reality to a historical past. Largely on account of the enthusiasm and leadership of the late Edgar Fahs Smith, the group of chemists interested in the history of our science was finally organized as a section a t the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society in 1921, with Dr. Lyman C. Newel1 as secretary. This began for him nearly a decade of service, first as secretary for the Section, and later (1927) as chairman of the Division of the History of Chemistry. Dr. Newel1 was both untiring and successful in his efforts to arouse interest in this historical field and to provide worth-while programs for the national meetings. We all remember with the keenest appreciation the letters, portraits, medals, etc., which Dr. Newel1 brought to these meetings, and his interesting and scholarly descriptions of his various treasures. In his writings Dr. Newell made very definite contributions to our knowledge of the history of chemistry, especially in the American field. Numerous articles by him have appeared in the publications of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society; of especial interest was the account of "Fourteen New England Chemists," which he (with Dr. Tenney L. Davis) prepared for the program of the Swampscott meeting (A. C. S., Sept., 1928). Dr. Newel1 presented many papers before the Division of the History of Chemistry which later were published, mainly in THIS.JOURNAL.In this list one finds the following subjects: 'an account of the founders of chemistry in America; a sketch of Charles W. Eliot, the first chemist-president of Harvard University; an article on the famous Count Rumford, who hailed from New Hampshire; and another on Adet, the chemist envoy from revolutionary France. Dr. Newell's story of the chemical work of Faraday was a most illuminating study, and his papers on chemical caricature brought together much unusual material. The article on "Chemical Education in America from the Beginning to 1820," presented a t the Buffalo meeting (Sept., 1931), was especially valuable for the wealth of material it contained. Our knowkdge of Priestley in America .he distinctly enriched by the account of Peter Porcupine's persecution of Priestley. His last contribution to THIS JOURNAL (May, 1933) was on "Chemistry in the Service of Egyptology," and showed what our science has done in assisting archreology. Dr. Newell's works were characterized by their pleasing style; and the many illustrations, drawn mainly from his private collection, added greatly to their value. The Division of the History of Chemistry has lost not onlv a strong in the untimelv " and delightful ~ersonalitv death of Dr. Newell, but also one of its most useful members and valuedcontributors. F. B. DAINS
-
