Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/566

550 Wöhler's duties as professor at the Gewerbeschule naturally directed his attention to technical chemistry, and in the autumn of 1833, in company with his intimate friend Magnus, he made a journey to France and England, to visit laboratories and chemical works, and on this tour had the opportunity to become personally acquainted with the most eminent living scientists of that period. In March, 1836, Professor Stromeyer having died the previous year, Wöhler was called to Göttingen as Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Director of the Laboratories, and Inspector-General of all the Apothecaries of the Kingdom of Hanover. His place in Cassel was supplied by Professor Robert Bunsen, who previous to that time had been a docent at Göttingen, and at the present time is the renowned teacher at the University of Heidelberg. Wöhler could not at first refuse the post of Director of the State Apothecaries, and for twelve years traveled over the kingdom at great inconvenience and loss of time; he finally resigned this branch of the service, and gained more time for research. He has been seven times elected Dean of the Medical Faculty, until he declined a further nomination.

In 1860 Wöhler was made permanent Secretary of the Royal Hanoverian Academy of Sciences, to succeed Hausmann, and this position he continues to hold at the present time, attending to all the duties of correspondence with the punctuality of a young man, recalling his intimate friend Dumas, who at the same age holds a similar post in the French Institute.

In 1873 the fiftieth anniversary of Wöhler's doctorate was celebrated with great pomp by the students of the university, and on the 31st of July, 1875, being the fiftieth year of his active career as a teacher, and the seventy-fifth of his age, addresses and congratulations were poured in upon him from all parts of the world. During the current year, on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of Wöhler's birth, the demonstrations of honor and rejoicing will be general at all of the seats of learning in Europe and America, and a presentation of a gold medal will be made to him to commemorate the interesting event. In the course of a long and distinguished career, the universities, learned societies, and sovereigns of Europe have vied with each other in conferring honors upon Wöhler. He received the Order of Merit from Prussia, the highest title of dignity from Hanover, and was elected one of the eight foreign associates of the French Institute, and the Emperor Napoleon made him an officer of the Legion of Honor; and so many decorations and diplomas have been presented to him that the mere catalogue would fill a page. The principal published works of Wöhler have been his translations of Berzelius's “Yearly Reports,” and Berzelius's “Text-book of Chemistry”; also “Grundriss der Unorganischen Chemie und der Organischen Chemie”; “Mineral Analyse mit Beispielen,” etc. These books have passed through numerous editions, and latterly the “Organic Chemistry” has been edited by