OBITARY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13857, 21 March 1907, Page 7

OBITARY.

ffiIFA'MOUS IRiENCH SCIENTIST. • Br «* ■ AMjcatica-Bj Telepiph-Copyiisht. , PARIS, March 19. M. Marcelin TSerthelot, the famous French suvoui, died of heart failure. A fow moments afterwards Lis' wife succumbed. March 20. (Received' March 20, at 9.51 p.m.) A st-ato funeral will bo accordcd to 11, Berthelot. The French Chambers adjourned as a mark of icspcct. COUNT LAMSDORFF. LONDON, March 20. (Received March 20, at 10.37 p.m.) Count Lamsdortf is dead. A cablegram published yesterday announced that it was stated that an attempt had ben made at St. Petersburg to poison Count LunisdoifT, and that he was at ban Reino in a critical state. Count Vladimir Lamsdorff was n "reatgrandson of the Lamsdovlf who was a, tutor io Paul >1, and played an important part during the reign of Alexander I. Ho was born in 1842. It, 1866 ho entered tho llomo Office, in 1872 ho was Sccond Secre- , T of ihc . Foreign Office, and in 1875 lio bcoamo First Secrctarv. In 1878 ho accompanied Princo Gortechakoft to tho" Berlin Congress, and for some years artorwards was ulniost constantly in attendatico iifxm Alexander 11. Aftor accession of Alexander 111 ho was appointed Director of tho 'Clianodlerio at ' tho Foreign Office, and again was m constant attendance on his bo\oroign. When Count MuraviefV became Minister of Foreign Air,airs, Count Liunsoorff was appointed Assistant Minister, and when his chief died in 1900 ho sucoeedetl him, He nccompanied tho Czar to trance in 1901, M d in 1902 made a lour of Ihc Near East in connection with the Macedonian question. In 1906 ho was suoceedcd by M. Izvolsky.

Pierre Eugene Marcelin Bertholof. the son of a physician, was born at Paris; October 25, 1827. From a. very carlv ago ho dovoted Imnsolf lo scientific studies, and mado special researches into the synthesis of fatty bodies and alcohol, and into tnermo-uhemistry. The degree of Doctor a ~C 10" C 03 WIIS conferred upon him in April, 1854, ajid in ]061 tho Acadeuiv of Sciences awarded him the sum of 3508 francs for his researches. In 1859 lie was appointed Profesor of Organic Chemistry Superior School of Pharmacy, and iit 1865, at tho request, of the Academy of ocicnces, a new chair of organic chemistry was erectcd for him at tho College do trance. Ho was elected a. member' of io£7 " i" 1 " 1 ( ' l! M«decine iji February, IoW, and entered tho Academic des Sciences, March 3, 1873, in tlio place of jJuhamel. He was afterwards elected Foreign Momber of tlio Royal Society of London, and of most of Mio Academies of Europe anil the /Jnitcd States. On Sentember 2, 1870, /it> was clected president! of tho SoiontilW Committoe of Defence and during Ihqf siege of Paris was ongaged in tho manufacture of guns and ammunition, f.nd especially of nitroglycerine and dynamite. S'inco 1878 he was president, of the Committco on Explosives, .to which body the new smokeless powder is due. On April 6, 1876, ho was named Inspector-general of Higher Education. lhe labours of >M. Berthelot had for their object, principally, the reproduction, ot the substances which enter into the composition of organised beings, and his labours opened a new field foe science, which, up to his time, had limited itself almost entirely to analysis. The dyeing trade benefited largely by. his discoveries ill extracting dyes from coal tar. For 40 years lie contributed extensively to tho Annates do Chimio ofc dc Physique, of which lie was editor, ami wrote a nurabor of hooks oh scientific subjects, besides iiumo* I oils scientific and p!iiloiophic<i I articles for tlio Revue <tes Deux Mondea. the Revue des Cours Soiontifiques, Lo Temps, etc., whibh have been collectively published under the titlo "Science et Pliilosophie. Ho was one of tho foundera and the director of the "Grartde Encyclopedic." of which the first volume was published in 1885. ■ M. Bcrtlielot. *was decorated with the Legion of Honour in 1861, made au Offioer iu 1867, Commander ill 1879, and Grand Oflioer in 1886. in which year he bccame, for a short time, a member of tlio French Cabinet. In 1889 lie was elected Secretaire Porpetuel do 1 Academic ilea Sciences tie Paris.