J u s ' r u s LIEBIGfound, through personal experience, that an adequate chemical education could not be obtained in the German universities of his student days. Accordingly, when he was appointed to the chair of chemistry a t the University of Giessen in 1825 he made the development of an effective program of chemical studies his chief endeavor. In 1824.-25 he founded a teaching laboratory which attracted so many students,. both German and foreign, that a second laboratory had to be built in 1843 to accommodate the overflow. Liebig taught a t Giessen from 1824 to 1852, when he accepted a call to Munich. This period of 28 years was the most frnitful of his life; his accomp!ishments and teaching made Giessen a Mecca for chemical students and this little city became a world-famous center of chemical science.' Most of Liebig's outstanding contributions fall within the Giessen years. Here he discovered chloroform and chloral; here he developed his simple but efficient method of ultimate analysis, which in itself entitles him to be ranked as one of the founders of organic chemistry. His joint work with Wohler on the benzoyl radical, which "ushered in a new day," also came in this period, likewise the founding of the Annalen. His most significant achievements, however, were his researches in 'For an account of Liebig's studmt career and his Giessen R. E., .I. CHEM.EDUC., 4, 1461 (1927). Picperiod see OESPER, tures of the laboratory and Liebig monument a3 they were before rhr war will be found there.
KARL SCHARRER Agrikulturchemisches Institut, Giessen, Germany Translated by Ralph E. O e s p e r
agricultural chemistry. His fundamental "Die organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agrikultur und Physiologie" was published a t Giessen in 1840. His equally important "Die Tierchemie oder die organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung anf Physiologie und
The Ruins of the Liebi. Houa.
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Pathologie" appeared in 1842. The first work marks the founding of modem plant nutrition, the second did the same for animal chemistry. His famous "Chemische Briefe," which has served as a model of popular presentation of science, appeared in 1844. These and many other achievements made Liebig an international figure, a true benefactor of mankind, a teacher, author, and scientist, whose fame will long endure. The city of Giessen honored this outstanding man by naming a street after him. The high ground on which he conducted his first experiments with fertilizers is still called the "Liebigshohe." The war dealt severely \r-ith Giessen and its Liebig mementos. A copy of the famousTrautscholdportrait of Liehig hung in the small Senate chamber of the main university building. The latter was destroyed, with its contents, by bomb attacks in 1944. The Liebig monument in one of the parks was also a war casualty. Thisimposingmarble statue had been presented to the city in July, 1890 by Liebig's friends, admirers, and students. It was badly damaged toward the end of the war, and later completely demolished. After years of neglect the world-famous Liehig laboratory in Giessen had been restored tothecondition which it had ,,.hen Liebig taught ~~~
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and worked within its walls. This labor of love mas performed by the Gesellschaft Liebig Museum, under the active leadership of the late Professor Robert Sommer, who was a psychologist, not From 1920, it a chemi~t.~ served as a Liebig Museum and housed appropriate souvenirs of all kinds. The collection of Liebig letters, both to and from him, was especially rich. The bnilding mas severely hit during the bombings of Giessen in December, 1944. Its exterior has now been brought somewhat in order, but the interior is still in a sad condition. No funds are available for repairing the damages. Chemists and chemical societies in all parts o f t h e world might well give serious consideration to financing the restoration and preservation'of this great chemical shrine. The Liebig House in Darmstadt was described some years ago by the late Dr. Ernst BerL3 This house was also ruined by the war, as the illustration shows. The Kekul6 Room in the Technische Hochschule was also badly damaged in 1944. There are no funds or plans as yet for the restoration of these historic relics. The history of the restoration, withappropriate illustrations, has been given by R. SOMMER, J. CHEM. EDUC., 8, 211 (1931). a J. CHEM.EDUC., 6, 1869 (1929).
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