Part 11

The interest in Professor Rogers's lectures was not excited solely, however, by the charm of his eloquence; for, although such was the felicity of his presentations, and such the vividness of his descriptions, that he could often dispense with the material aids so essential to most teachers, yet when the means of illustration were at his command he showed his power quite as much in the adaptation of experiments as in the choice of language. He well knew that experiments, to be effective, must be simple and to the point; and he also knew how to impress his audience with the beauty of the phenomena and with the grandeur of the powers of nature. He always seemed to enjoy any elegant or striking illustration of a physical principle even more than his auditors, and it was delightful to see the enthusiasm which he felt over the simplest phenomena of science when presented in a novel way.

We come now to the crowning and greatest work of Professor Rogers's life, the founding of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology--an achievement so important in its results, so far-reaching in its prospects, and so complete in its details, that it overshadows all else. A great preacher has said that "every man's life is a plan of God's." The faithful workman can only make the best use of the opportunities which every day offers; but he may be confident that work faithfully done will not be for naught, and must trustingly leave the issue to a higher power. Little did young Rogers think, when he began to teach in Virginia, that he was to be the founder of a great institution in the State of Massachusetts; and yet we can now see that the whole work of his life was a preparation for this noble destiny. The very eloquence he so early acquired was to be his great tool; his work on the Geological Survey gave him a national reputation which was an essential condition of success; his life at the University of Virginia, where he was untrammeled by the traditions of the older universities, enabled him to mature the practical methods of scientific teaching which were to commend the future institution to a working community; and, most of all, the force of character and large humanity developed by his varied experience with the world were to give him the power, even in the conservative State of his late adoption, to mold legislators and men of affairs to his wise designs.

It would be out of place, as it would be unnecessary, to dwell in this connection on the various stages in the development of the Institute of Technology. The facts are very generally known in this community, and the story has been already well told. The conception was by no means a sudden inspiration, but was slowly matured out of a far more general and less specific plan, originating in a committee of large-minded citizens of Boston, who, in 1859, and again in 1860, petitioned the Legislature of Massachusetts to set apart a small portion of the land reclaimed from the Back Bay "for the use of such scientific, industrial, and fine art institutions as may associate together for the public good." The large scheme failed; but from the failure arose two institutions which are the honor and pride of Boston--the Museum of Fine Arts and the Institute of Technology. In the further development of the Museum of Fine Arts, Professor Rogers had only a secondary influence; but one of his memorials to the Legislature contains a most eloquent statement, often quoted, of the value of the fine arts in education, which attests at once the breadth of his culture and the largeness of his sympathies.

Although the committee of gentlemen above referred to had failed to carry out their general plan, yet the discussions to which it gave rise had developed such an interest in the establishment of an institution to be devoted to industrial science and education that they determined upon taking the preliminary steps toward the organization of such an institution. A sub-committee was charged with preparing a plan; and the result was a document, written by Professor Rogers, entitled "Objects and Plan of an Institute of Technology." That document gave birth to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for it enlisted sufficient interest to authorize the committee to go forward. A charter with a conditional grant of land was obtained from the Legislature in 1861, and the institution was definitely organized, and Professor Rogers appointed President, April 8, 1862. Still, the final plans were not matured, and it was not until May 30, 1864, that the government of the new institution adopted the report prepared by its president, entitled "Scope and Plan of the School of Industrial Science of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology," which Dr. Runkle has called the "intellectual charter" of the institution, and which he states "has been followed in all essential points to this very day." In striking confirmation of what we have written above, Dr. Runkle further says:

"In this document we see more clearly the breadth, depth, and variety of Professor Rogers's scientific knowledge, and his large experience in college teaching and discipline. It needed just this combination of acquirements and experience to put his conceptions into working shape, to group together those studies and exercises which naturally and properly belong to each professional course, and thus enable others to see the guiding-lines which must direct and limit their work in its relations to the demands of other departments....

"The experimental element in our school--a feature which has been widely recognized as characteristic--is undoubtedly due to the stress and distinctness given to it in the 'Scope and Plan.' In our discipline we must also give credit to the tact and large-heartedness of Professor Rogers--in the fact that we are entirely free from all petty rules and regulations relating to conduct, free from all antagonism between teachers and students."

The associates of Professor Rogers in this Academy--many of them his associates also in the Institute of Technology, or in the Society of Arts, which was so important a feature of the organization--will remember with what admiration they watched the indefatigable care with which its ever active president fostered the young life of the institution he had created. They know how, during the earlier years, he bore the whole weight of the responsibility of the trust he had voluntarily and unselfishly assumed for the public good; how, while by his personal influence obtaining means for the daily support of the school, he gave a great part of the instruction, and extended a personal regard to every individual student committed to his charge. They recall with what wisdom, skill, tact, and patience he directed the increasing means and expanding scope of the now vigorous institution, overcoming obstacles, reconciling differences, and ingratiating public favor. They will never forget how, when the great depression succeeded the unhealthy business activity caused by the civil war, during which the institution had its rise, the powerful influence of its great leader was able to conduct it safely through the financial storm. They greatly grieved when, in the autumn of 1868, the great man who had accomplished so much, but on whom so much depended, his nerves fatigued by care and overwork, was obliged to transfer the leadership to a younger man; and ten years later were correspondingly rejoiced to see the honored chief come again to the front, with his mental power unimpaired, and with adequate strength to use his well-earned influence to secure those endowments which the increased life of the institution required; and they rejoiced with him when he was able to transfer to a worthy successor the completed edifice, well established and equipped--an enduring monument to the nobility of character and the consecration of talents. They have been present also on that last occasion, and have united in the acclamation which bestowed on him the title "Founder and Father perpetual, by a patent indefeasible." They have heard his feeling but modest response, and have been rejoicing though tearful witnesses when, after the final seal of commendation was set, he fell back, and the great work was done.

We honor the successful teacher, we honor the investigator of Nature's laws, we honor the upright director of affairs--and our late associate had all these claims to our regard; but we honor most of all the noble manhood--and of such make are the founders of great institutions. In comparison, how empty are the ordinary titles of distinction of which most men are proud! It seems now almost trivial to add that our associate was decorated with a Doctor's degree, both by his own university and also by the University at Cambridge; that he was sought as a member by many learned societies; that he was twice called to preside over the annual meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and that, at the death of Professor Henry, he was the one man of the country to whom all pointed as the President of the National Academy of Science. This last honor, however, was one on which it is a satisfaction to dwell for a moment, because it gave satisfaction to Professor Rogers, and the office was one which he greatly adorned, and for which his unusual oratorical abilities were so well suited. He was a most admirable presiding officer of a learned society. His breadth of soul and urbanity of manner insensibly resolved the discords which often disturb the harmonies of scientific truth. He had the delicate tact so to introduce a speaker as to win in advance the attention of the audience, without intruding his own personality; and when a paper was read, and the discussion closed, he would sum up the argument with such clearness, and throw around the subject such a glow of light, that abstruse results of scientific investigation were made clear to the general comprehension, and a recognition gained for the author which the shrinking investigator could never have secured for himself. To Professor Rogers the truth was always beautiful, and he could make it radiant.

It is also a pleasure to record, in conclusion, that Professor Rogers's declining years were passed in great comfort and tranquillity, amidst all the amenities of life; that to the last he had the companionship of her whom he so greatly loved; and that increasing infirmities were guarded and the accidents of age warded off with a watchfulness that only the tenderest love can keep. We delight to remember him in that pleasant summer home at Newport, which he made so fully in reality as in name the "Morning-side," that we never thought of him as old, and to believe that the morning glow which he so often watched spreading above the eastern ocean was the promise of the fuller day on which he has entered.

VIII.

JEAN-BAPTISTE-ANDRÉ DUMAS.[K]

Jean-Baptiste-André Dumas was born at Alais, in the south of France, July 14, 1800. His father belonged to an ancient family, was a man of culture, and held the position as clerk to the municipality of Alais. The son was educated at the college of his native place, and appears to have been destined by his parents for the naval service. But the anarchy and bloodshed which attended the downfall of the First Empire produced such an aversion to a military life that his parents abandoned their plan, and apprenticed him to an apothecary of the town. He remained in this situation, however, but a short time; for, owing to the same sad causes, he had formed an earnest desire to leave his home, and, his parents yielding to his wish, he traveled on foot to Geneva in 1816, where he had relatives who gave him a friendly welcome, and where he found employment in the pharmacy of Le Royer.

[K] Reprinted from the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. xix, 1883-'84.

At that time Geneva was the center of much scientific activity, and young Dumas, while discharging his duties in the pharmacy, had the opportunity of attending lectures on botany by M. de Candolle, on physics by M. Pictet, and on chemistry by M. Gaspard de la Rive; and from these lectures he acquired an earnest zeal for scientific investigation. The laboratory of the pharmacy gave him the necessary opportunities for experimenting, and an observation which he made of the definite proportions of water contained in various commercial salts, although yielding no new results, gained for him the attention and friendship of De la Rive. Soon after we find the young philosopher attempting to deduce the volumes of the atoms in solid and liquid bodies by carefully determining their specific gravities, and thus anticipating a method which thirty years later was more fully developed by Hermann Kopp.

About this time young Dumas had the good fortune to render an important service to one of the most distinguished physicians of Geneva, whose name is associated with the beneficial uses of iodine in cases of goitre. It had occurred to Dr. Coindet that burned sponge, then generally used as a remedy for that disease, might owe its efficacy to the presence of a small amount of iodine; and on referring the question to Dumas, the young chemist not only proved the presence of iodine in the sponge, but also indicated the best method of administering what proved to be almost a specific remedy. It was in connection with this investigation that Dumas's name first appears in public. The discovery produced a great sensation, and for many years the manufacture of iodine preparations brought both wealth and reputation to the pharmacy of Le Royer.

Soon after, Dumas formed an intimacy with Dr. J. L. Prévost, then recently returned from pursuing his studies in Edinburgh and Dublin, and was induced to undertake a series of physiological investigations, which for a time withdrew him from his strictly chemical studies. Several valuable papers on physiological subjects were published by Prévost and Dumas, which attracted the notice of Alexander von Humboldt, who on visiting Geneva, in 1822, sought out Dumas and awakened in him a desire to seek a wider field of activity than his present position opened to him. In consequence he removed to Paris in 1823, where the reputation he had so deservedly earned at Geneva won for him a cordial reception at what was then the chief center of scientific study in Europe. La Place, Berthollet, Vauquelin, Gay-Lussac, Thenard, Alexandre Brongniart, Cuvier, Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Arago, Ampère, and Poisson, all manifested their interest in the young investigator. Dumas was soon appointed Répétiteur de Chimie at the École Polytechnique, and also Lecturer at the Athenæum, an institution founded and maintained by public subscription, for the purpose of exciting popular interest in literature and science; and from this beginning his advancement to the highest position which a man of science can occupy in France was extremely rapid.

In 1826 he married Mdlle. Herminie Brongniart, the eldest daughter of Alexandre Brongniart, the illustrious geologist, an alliance which not only brought him great happiness, and at the time greatly advanced his social position, but also in after years made his house one of the chief resorts of the scientific society of Paris. The many who have shared its generous hospitality will appreciate how greatly, for more than half a century, Madame Dumas has aided the work and extended the influence of her noble husband.

In 1828-'29 Dumas united with Théodore Olivier and Eugène Péclet in founding the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, an institution which met with great success, and in which, as Professor of Chemistry, Dumas rendered most efficient service for many years; and in 1878 had the very good fortune to aid in celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his own foundation, and to see it acknowledged as among the most important and efficient scientific institutions of the world. In 1832 Dumas succeeded Gay-Lussac as Professor at the Sorbonne; in 1835 he succeeded Thenard at the École Polytechnique; and in 1839 he succeeded Deyeux at the École de Médecine. Thus before the age of forty he filled successively, and for some time simultaneously, all the important professorships of chemistry in Paris except one. This exception was that of the College of France, with which he was never permanently connected, although it was there that he delivered his famous course on the History of Chemical Philosophy, when temporarily supplying the place of Thenard.

Dumas early recognized the importance of laboratory instruction in chemistry, for which there were no facilities at Paris when he first came to what was then the center of the world's science; and in 1832 founded a laboratory for research at his own expense. This laboratory, first established at the Polytechnic School, was removed to the Rue Cuvier in 1839, where it remained until broken up by the Revolution of 1848. The laboratory was small, and Dumas would receive only a few advanced students, and these on terms wholly gratuitous. Among these students were Piria, Stas, Melsens, Leblanc, Lalande, and Lewy, with whose aid he carried on many of his important investigations. By the Revolution of 1848 Dumas's activities were for a time diverted into political channels; but under the Second Empire his laboratory was re-established at the Sorbonne, and in 1868 was removed to the École Centrale.

The political episode of Dumas's life was the natural result of an active mind with wide sympathies, which recognizes in the pressing demands of society its highest duty. The political and social upheaval of 1848 seemed at the time to endanger the stability in France of everything which a cultivated and learned man holds most dear; and Dumas was not one to consider his own preferences when he felt he could aid in averting the calamities which threatened his country. Immediately after the Revolution of February, he accepted a seat in the Legislative Assembly offered him by the electors of the Arrondissement of Valenciennes. Shortly afterward the President of the Republic called him to fill the office of Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. During the Second Empire he was elevated to the rank of Senator, and shortly after his entrance into the Senate he became Vice-President of the High Council of Education. In order to reform the abuses into which many of the higher educational institutions of Paris had fallen, be accepted a place in the Municipal Council of Paris, over which he subsequently presided from 1859 to 1870.

In 1868 Dumas was appointed Master of the Mint of France; but he retained the office only during a short time, for with the fall of the Second Empire, in 1870, his political career came to an abrupt termination. The Senate had ceased to exist, and in the stormy days which followed, the Municipal Council had naturally changed its complexion; and even at the Mint, the man who had held such a conspicuous position under the Imperial government was obliged to vacate his place. Some years previously he had resigned his professorships because his official positions were incompatible with his relations as teacher, and now, at the age of seventy, he found himself for the first time relieved from the daily routine of official duties, and free to devote his leisure to the noble work of encouraging research, and thus promoting the advancement of science. He had reached an age when active investigation was almost an impossibility, but his commanding position gave him the opportunity of exerting a most powerful influence, and this he used with great effect. In early life he had been elected, in 1832, a member of the Academy of Sciences in succession to Serullas; in 1868 he had succeeded Flourens as its Permanent Secretary; and in 1875 he was elected a member of the French Academy as successor to Guizot, a distinction rarely attained by a man of science.

It was, however, as Permanent Secretary of the Academy of Sciences that Dumas exerted during the last years of his life his greatest influence. He was the central figure and the ruling spirit of this distinguished body. No important commission was complete without him, and on all public occasions he was the orator of the body, always graceful, always eloquent. In announcing Dumas's death to the Academy, M. Rolland, the presiding officer, said:

"Vous savez la part considérable que Dumas prenait à vos travaux et vous avez bien souvent admiré, comme moi, la haute intelligence et la tact infini avec lesquels il savait imprimer à nos discussions les formes modérées et courtoises inhérentes à sa nature et à son caractère. Sous ce rapport aussi la perte de Dumas est irréparable et crée dans l'Académie un vide bien difficile à combler. Aussi, longtemps encore nous chercherons, à la place qu'il occupait au Bureau avec tant d'autorité, la figure sympathique et vénérée de notre bienaimé Secrétaire perpétuel."

And while Dumas was still occupying his conspicuous position in the Academy, one of the most distinguished of his German contemporaries[L] wrote of him: "An ever-ready interpreter of the researches of others, he always heightens the value of what he communicates by adding from the rich stores of his own experience, thus often conveying lights not noticed even by the authors of those researches."

[L] A. W. Hofmann, in "Nature," February 6, 1880, to whose admirable and extended biography the writer is indebted for much of the material with which this notice has been prepared.

When the writer last saw Dumas, in the winter of 1881-'82, the great chemist had still all the vivacity of youth, and it was difficult to realize his age. He took a lively interest in all questions of chemical philosophy, which he discussed with great earnestness and warmth. There was the same fire and the same exuberance of fancy which had enchanted me in his lectures thirty years before. At an age when most men hold speculation in small esteem, I was much struck with his criticism of a contemporary, who, he said, had no imagination, although he spoke with the highest praise of his experimental skill. At that time Dumas showed no signs of impaired strength. But during the following year his health began to fail, and he died on the 11th of April, at Cannes, where he had sought a retreat from the severity of the winter climate of Paris.

Dumas was one of the few men whose greatness can not be estimated from a single point of view. He was not only eminent as an investigator of nature, but even more eminent as a teacher and an administrator. Beginning the study of chemistry at the culmination of the epoch of the Lavoisierian system, and regarding, as he always did, the author of that system with the greatest admiration, he nevertheless was the first to discover the weak point in its armor and inflict the wound which led to its overthrow. Without attempting to detail Dumas's numerous contributions to chemical knowledge, we will here only refer to three important investigations, which produced a marked influence in the progress of chemical science.