Eliot and Storer crossed-one on top of the other as an indication that the order of the title page had no real meaning.

The "Manual of Inorganic Chemistry" sold in considerable numbers for a long term of years, and is still in the market after several revisions. It was at first the only book of the kind in the English language; and, indeed, there was no equivalent in any language; but within a few years many manuals appeared which were intended to promote the same laboratory method of instruction in chemistry. A few years after its first appearance, one of the authors was one day visiting Rugby School in England, and found that the Master who taught chemistry at that famous School was using it in the laboratory which he had set up for the teaching of chemistry. He accounted for the presence of this American text-book in the School by frankly saying that he had not been able to find an English book which answered the same purpose, or was conceived in the same spirit. In 1869 Eliot became President of Harvard University, and thereafter Storer made all the revisions of the two manuals he and Eliot had written together.1

Judging from his "Cyclopedia of Quantitative Chemical Analysis," prepared during his stay at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it is evident that the mind of Professor Storer was an extremely practical one. This book is a silent witness to the work of a pioneer, and from the preface we note that the object of writing it was "not only to provide the student and working chemist with a comprehensive dictionary of quantitative processes, but to call the attention of the chemical fraternity to the question of the possibility of presenting this branch of chemical art in a more serviceable and manageable form than has been customary hitherto. The experiment is certainly worth the trying whether a definite system of classifying substances in alphabetical order, and of referring each and every process to the fundamental fact or principle upon which it depends, will not greatly facilitate both the study and the practice of analysis. The tendency of all the works recently published (1869) on quantitative analysis is towards condensation and ab

..

breviation, while the aim of the present book is to show that perspicuity can be best gained by amplification, if need be, and methodical arrangement."

Thus, for example, in the case of aluminum acetate we find, first, the principles (underlying the method); second, applications (of the method); third, the various methods; and fourth, the precautions (to be observed). Truly a noble viewpoint, and one which undoubtedly called for many sacrifices.

As a bibliographer Storer had few equals. One is especially impressed with this fact when examining "The First Outlines of a Dictionary of Solubilities," prefaced in 1862 and published in 1864. This work, probably the only one of its kind in the English language at the time, and today still a veritable mine of information, surely was a labor of love, and a monument to one who deemed it a pleasure to lessen the burden of others.

When the Bussey Institution, a School of Agriculture and Horticulture, was finally organized in 1870, Francis Humphreys Storer was chosen on November 25, 1870, to be its Professor of Agricultural Chemistry, and in 1871 he became Dean. In this capacity Storer was at his best and it marked the beginning of an era of much fruitful and fundamental agricultural research. The founding of the Bussey Institution was, to Storer, "the nearest thing to agricultural experiment station in Massachusetts."

an a

2

The status of Professor S. W. Johnson of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, was very similar to that of ProfesSor Storer at Harvard. Many of the ideas of the two savants were alike. Thus in 1878, under date of April 26, Storer writes: "I noted (even before you wrote) what you say of Miller's cows vs. meal. 'Tis just what I would have said myself." Again, in a letter dated April 3, 1880, to Samuel W. Johnson, we note the following: "I am glad you hold your 'luff' in respect to the conventional method of stating analyses of fodder. There is no sense in trying to refine this thing beyond the possibly practical. We are hardly more ripe than Einhof and Sprengel were for the complete

analysis

of rough fodders, and there is a semblance of (let us say

= See "From the Letter Files of S. W. Johnson," by Elizabeth A. Osborne, Yale University Press, 1913.

ignorance) in holding up the names of too many chemicals to the gaze of the great and unsoaked public. It is bad enough to have to report the 'fat' of hay as if it were really oil. What we really need is a critical sifting of all the analyses with the view of discovering the best possible means, in the light of existing knowledge. The question is one of chemistry far more than of arithmetic. There are manifold instances of 'maxima' and 'minima' which could be thrown out at once, for cause."

The first results of Storer's labors were published in 1874, which was during pre-experiment station (federal) days, in the Bussey Bulletin. The first bulletin emanating from an experiment station in the United States was published in August 1877, by Samuel W. Johnson. The first Bussey Bulletin was entitled "A report of the results obtained on examining some commercial fertilizers, by way of analysis," by F. H. Storer (in 1874).

The analyses reported were incidental to field experiments undertaken by the Bussey Institution in behalf of the trustees of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. The field tests were made for the purpose of testing the efficiency of a variety of substances sold in Boston and supposed to possess fertilizing power. The early bulletins on agricultural subjects are not mere reports of analyses, but worthy discussions of the topics and they are easily comparable with the ones issued by the best agricultural experiment stations of today. Thus in Bussey Bulletin No. 2 we find the following: "As regards the item 'cellulose,' for example, the table shows conclusively that while hay contains 30 percent of woody fiber, so compact that it can withstand the tolerably longcontinued action of dilute acid and alkali; that while oats contain 10 and one-third per cent, brewers' grains 6.2 per cent (in a total of only 22 and one-quarter per cent of dry organic matter), and dry whiteweed 31 per cent of this resisting substance, bran yields no more than eight and one-third per cent of it when exposed to precisely similar treatment, and maize only about three per cent. The method ordinarily used for determining cellulose is undoubtedly far from being perfect, as I may have occasion to show in a future communication."

Professor Storer had a profound respect for the work done by others. This fact is indelibly recorded in the Bussey Bulletins, which, in almost all cases contain an account of the literature pertaining to the subject under discussion. The work of the Bussey Institution included some of the earliest well-planned and systematic experiments on the field valuation of fertilizers, and in which chemical analysis played an important but subordinate part. This is clearly shown by the results reported in Bulletin No. 7, entitled "А record of trials of various fertilizers upon the plain-field of the Bussey Institution." This third report gives the results obtained in 1873 and also reviews the three-year course of experiments.

I doubt very much if the Bulletins of the Bussey Institution have been read or consulted to the extent that they should have been by agriculturists-they contain much that affects agricultural conditions today.

The financial condition of the Bussey Institution was affected considerably by the Boston fire and the financial crisis in 1873. From these inroads into the Bussey fund the Institution never recovered. Despite these setbacks, Professor Storer kept on with his investigations and teaching, often receiving no salary for his services, or an amount so small that it was in no way commensurate with his ability and the services he rendered. To what extent Professor Storer's financial condition suffered by his interest in agriculture I am unable to say, but a reply to a letter sent to Storer by Johnson from New Haven, Conn., December 15, 1879,

Professor

may give us some light on the subject.

..

"NEW HAVEN, CT., Dec. 15, 1879.

My dear Storer: I am most profoundly sorry at the state of Bussey in general and in particular. As to the questions-I only know what I got or rather I know nothing beyond that. I can't certainly say whether it was $35 per column that I first worked for, for the not, but I think it was that. I struck for $50 per column,

Tribune,

or

...

had it for 6 months, then declined to go on. I shall at once see if I can't suggest to some good parties that they may get you to write for their papers, etc.

Yours most faithfully."

See footnote, page 5.

The Bussey Institution closed its doors in 1907 to those for whom it was intended, i. e., first, young men who intended to become practical farmers, gardeners, florists, or landscape gardeners; second, young men who would naturally be called upon to manage large estates or who would make good stewards or overseers of gentlemen's estates; and third, persons who wished to study some special branch of agriculture, horticulture, botany, or applied zoology.

Professor Storer's three-volume work on "Agriculture in some of its relations with chemistry" was probably the crowning success of his literary and agricultural career. It has passed through seven editions. The esteem in which this authentic treatise was held after its issue can best be gleaned from the following statement taken from the Harvard University Report of 1889, "The work combines very happily the statement of scientific principles with due regard for financial and other practical considerations; and it is written in an easy, popular style that should render its perusal most pleasurable for any intelligent agriculturist, however slight his acquaintance with chemical terminology. His new work is a splendid contribution to agricultural science, is in fact almost monumental in character, and it must be many years before it can possibly be superseded by anything better."

One who knew him intimately has said that all his life Storer was an omnivorous reader; and as he had a very retentive memory and an unusual alertness and vivacity in conversation, he was a very instructive and inspiring companion for his intimates, of whom, however, there were but few. He gradually ceased to attend the scientific societies of which he was a member, withdrew more and more from society, and lived in his books, and in the circle of his immediate relatives. His habits were always simple and abstemious; so that he lived to be eighty-two years of age with unimpaired mental interests and powers, though with some bodily infirmities and limitations. His conscience was quick, his intelligence keen and rapid, and his temperament sensitive and impetuous, but not sanguine and serene enough for steady happiness. As a man of science he was spotless-a candid, devout, lover and seeker of truth.