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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
News
Edilion
Edgar Fahs Smith Chemical Memorabilia Collection t o Be Preserved The priceless collection of chemical memorabilia assembled b y the late Edgar Fahs Smith has been presented to the University of Pennsylvania b y his widow, Mrs. Margie A. Smith, and will be preserved intact in its present setting in the Harrison Chemical laboratory. With the acquisition of the collection which will be known a s "The Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection in Historical Chemistry," the University is making special arrangements to safeguard it, following which it will continue to be accessible to visitors and students of the history of chemistry, many of whom during Doctor Smith's lifetime had frequent recourse t o it for study and research work. Eventually it is expected, the University will create a fund, t h e interest of which will be devoted to t h e perpetual maintenance of the collection, and additions will be made to the collection from
while probably one of the rarest in the collection is t h e "Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum," printed in London "at the Angel in Cornhill" in 1652. This work was edited by Elias Ashmole, and contains a series of old English poems on alchemy, one of which is b y Geoffrey Chaucer. Letters from eminent chemists of all nations from t h e earliest times down to those of Pasteur and Madame Curie are among the autographed manuscripts found in the collection. Notable among these is one addressed by Joseph Priestley in 1792 to the members of the National Assembly of France. In this letter Priestley accepts the honor which they do him b y making him "a citizen of France," but declines "nomination to the approaching National Convention." Doctor Smith had long been interested in the life and works of Priestley, and in 1926 had deposited in the Priestley Museum at Northumberland, Pa., a collection of Priest-
A Corner of Doctor Smith's Office Showing a Portion of His Collection time t o time, if possible, so that it m a y be an ever-growing asset t o the Chemical Department of the University. Doctor Smith became interested i n the history of chemistry early in his career and his private collection of chemical memorabilia, which is said by many authorities to be the best of its kind, was compiled during years spent in patient search in all parts of t h e world for rare items in which he w a s interested. The collection, as presented to the University, comprises three main divisions. The first contains about 5 0 0 autographed letters and manuscripts of eminent chemists of all nationalities ; the second is made up approximately of 1000 portrait prints and engravings of prominent chemists from the days of t h e alchemist t o the present; and the third consists of nearly 1000 books on alchemy and chemistry. In addition, there are a number of chemical preparations and a variety of chemical apparatus which Doctor Smith had accumulated during his career as teacher a n d research worker, and a n unusually rare collection of books and manuscripts relating to t h e history of the University of Pennsylvania a n d the lives of outstanding alumni and members of the faculty. Of Doctor Smith's collection of books on alchemy and chemistry t h e majority are in their original bindings and many are printed •in Latin, German, and old French. The oldest book included is Geber's "Alchemy," which was printed in Nuremburg in 1545,
leyana which was said t o be the largest of its kind and which included Priestley's balance and the original manuscript of "Priestley's Memoirs." When the Harrison Chemical Laboratory was erected at the University in 1894, Doctor Smith selected two rooms i n the laboratory for his offices, and these rooms he continued t o occupy until his death, making them the depository for his collections. As his collections increased, these two rooms gradually began to assume t h e appearance of a chemical museum, and as news of the variety and rarity of Doctor Smith's collections became known among chemists and others, the rooms became a mecca for students of t h e history of chemistry from all over the world. So important did his treasure house loom in t h e eyes of chemists that, when the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY met in Philadelphia i n 1926, an exhibition of historical chemistry w a s held in Doctor Smith's office and hundreds of chemists, including Professor Bertrand, head of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Ernst Cohen, of Utrecht, Holland, Prince Conti, of Italy, and Professor Sapojnikoff, of Leningrad, Russia, were in attendance. The work of fire-proofing and otherwise safe-guarding the rooms in the Harrison Laboratory which contain the collections is being carried on as rapidly as possible, so t h a t the collection m a y again be made available to those interested, in research in chemistry.
