permanent memorial to his name in Hofmann House, the home of the German
Chemical Society (of which he was the founder), which was formally
opened in 1900, appropriately enough with an account of that great
triumph of German chemical enterprise, the industrial manufacture of
synthetical indigo.
Hofmann's work covered a wide range of organic chemistry, though with
inorganic bodies he did but little. His first research, carried out in
Liebig's laboratory at Giessen, was on coal-tar, and his investigation
of the organic bases in coal-gas naphtha established the nature of
aniline. This substance he used to refer to as his first love, and it
was a love to which he remained faithful throughout his life. His
perception of the analogy between it and ammonia led to his famous work
on the amines and ammonium bases and the allied organic phosphorus
compounds, while his researches on rosaniline, which he first prepared
in 1858, formed the first of a series of investigations on colouring
matters which only ended with quinoline red in 1887. But in addition to
these and numberless other investigations for which he was responsible
the influence he exercised through his pupils must also be taken into
account. As a teacher, besides the power of accurately gauging the
character and capabilities of those who studied under him, he had the
faculty of infecting them with his own enthusiasm, and thus of
stimulating them to put forward their best efforts. In the lecture-room
he laid great stress on the importance of experimental demonstrations,
paying particular attention to their selection and arrangement, though,
since he himself was a somewhat clumsy manipulator, their actual
exhibition was generally entrusted to his assistants. He was the
possessor of a clear and graceful, if somewhat florid, style, which
showed to special advantage in his numerous obituary notices or
encomiums (collected and published in three volumes _Zur Erinnerung an
vorangegangene Freunde_, 1888). He also excelled as a speaker,
particularly at gatherings of an international character, for in
addition to his native German he could speak English, French and Italian
with fluency.
See _Memorial Lectures delivered before the Chemical Society,
1893-1900_ (London, 1901).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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