Many of the active chemists
of the present day have enjoyed the advantages of Woehler's instruction,
and many can trace their success to the impulse gathered in the
laboratory at Goettingen. The hand of the old master appears in
investigations carried on to-day by his pupils.
Woehler's was not a speculative mind. He took very little part in the
many important discussions on chemical theories which engaged the
attention of such men as Dumas, Gerhardt, Berzelius, and Liebig, during
the active period of his life. He preferred to deal with the facts as
such; and no one ever dealt with the facts of chemistry more
successfully. He had a genius for methods which has never been equaled.
The obstacles which had baffled his predecessors were surmounted by him
with ease. He was in this respect a truly great man.
Personally, Woehler was modest and retiring. His life was simple and
unostentatious. He had a kindly disposition, which endeared him to his
students, to which fact many American chemists who were students at
Goettingen during the time of Woehler's activity can cordially testify. In
short, it may be said deliberately that Woehler, as a chemist and as a
man, was a fit model for all of us and for those who will come after us.
Though he has gone, his methods live in every laboratory. His spirit
reigns in many; could it reign in all, the chemical world would be the
better for it.
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