The Right Honourable Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe P.C., D.C.L., F.R.S.: A Biographical SketchThorpe, T. E. (Thomas Edward)
Science
The Right Honourable Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe P.C., D.C.L., F.R.S.: A Biographical Sketch
Thorpe, T. E. (Thomas Edward)
Roscoe, Henry E. (Henry Enfield), 1833-1915
That you should have lived to see and enjoy this fruition of
your labours is a matter of special gratification to us, as it
must be to you. Blessed with continuing health and happiness
may you long be spared to witness its growth in prosperity and
usefulness.
To this address he replied:
Of all gratifying and far too flattering addresses which I am
to-day receiving, none come so near my heart as that signed by
three hundred of my former students.
What can a teacher value more than the sympathy and good
opinion of his pupils, and this you have given me in full
measure.
If I succeeded in forming a School of Chemistry at Owens, it
was because, in the first place, I learnt from Bunsen how the
foundations of such a school must be laid; secondly, because I
fortunately secured the co-operation in the task of good men
and true, like Schorlemmer and Dittmar; and last but not least
because I was surrounded by an ever-increasing band of young
men imbued with the true scientific spirit, able and anxious to
devote themselves to the study and to the advancement of their
science.
Well aware of my own deficiencies, and recognizing the gulf
which lies between promise and performance, I yield to none
in the personal interest which I take in your progress and
welfare, and in the affectionate remembrance in which I hold
each and all of you. Many, many thanks.
In his later years, and when the physical disabilities of age kept him
more and more indoors, Roscoe occupied himself in contributing short
articles to the _Deutsche Revue_ on academic or educational subjects.
Thus in his first article he recalls his Heidelberg experiences, and
dwells upon his friendly relations with German men of science, dating
from the early ’fifties of the last century. In a second article he
describes the rise of the English Universities—ancient and modern—their
characteristics and the differences in constitution and methods between
them and the German Universities. In 1908 an article entitled “An English
Man of Science on the Friendship of the German Emperor for England and
upon the relations of England and Germany,” indicates a certain feeling
of anxiety at the growing unrest he perceives in reference to Germany’s
intentions in so rapidly increasing the strength of her fleet. He follows
this up with a longer article on “The Peace Mission of the Sciences,” in
which he expands a favourite theme to which, to our grief, circumstances
have now given the lie direct. In quick succession he writes letters
to the editor on “A few words concerning England and Germany”;
“International Understanding”; “No more War in Europe”—in which he
strives to remove misapprehension, and to make clear to German readers
that there is no widespread feeling of animosity in this country towards
the Fatherland.
The following letter to the writer refers to this matter:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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