LIEBIG, (1803-183773), was born at Darmstadt
in 1803. His father carried on business as a drysalter and
dealer in dye-stuffs, and made various experiments with a view
to improved methods of preparing and purifying his wares. These led the son to take an interest in chemistry, and to seek for knowledge in the chemical books and periodicals in the grand-ducal library, which is rich in scientific works. At home he employed his time in repeating, as far as the means at his command admitted, the experiments he found described in books, and thus while still a boy attained a theoretical and practical knowledge of chemistry comparable with that of many full-grown professors of the science. He determined to be a chemist, to devote his life to the pursuit of science. The only kind of chemist available for teaching purposes was the chemist and druggist, and accordingly Liebig, at the age of fifteen, entered the shop of an apothecary at Heppenheim near Darmstadt to study chemistry. He soon found out how great is the difference between practical pharmacy and scientific chemistry, and returned to Darmstadt, after ten months, to look for another and more likely way of attaining his object. After some months spent in study at home he entered the university of Bonn, which he soon left for Erlangen. There he attended the lectures of Kastner on chemistry, and, besides the study of allied sciences, devoted some time to make up for the almost total neglect of school work caused by his early love of chemistry. He was much influenced by the metaphysical speculations of Schelling, and in after life referred to this influence as injurious to him as a scientific investigator. In those days there were no laboratories accessible to ordinary students, and Liebig had to content himself with what the university could give him in the lecture-room and in the library. Both at Bonn and at Erlangen he formed a students' chemical and physical society for the discussion of new discoveries and speculations as these appeared in scientific books or periodicals. In 1822 he left Erlangen with the degree of Ph.D. By means of the liberality of Louis I., grand-duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, Liebig was enabled to continue his chemical studies in Paris. There he mile the acquaintance of Runge, Mitscherlich, and Gustav Rose. He attended the lectures of Gay-Lussac, Thenard, and Dulong, and, while carrying on the investigation into the composition and properties of the fulminates which he had already partly published, he attempted, as at Erlangen, to work up his neglected school studies. The results of his work on the fulminates were communicated to the Academy of Sciences, and attracted the favourable attention of Humboldt. who was at that time in Paris. Humboldt introduced Liebig to Gay-Lussac, who admitted him into his private laboratory as a pupil. Here he had opportunities of learning all the mysteries of the art from