The Quiet Revolution "nsd0e6089"

9— The Great Break

1. Data for this table are taken from the numbers and information in Christoph Meinel, Die Chemie an der Universität Marburg seit Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts (Marburg: Elwert, 1978), pp. 471-472 and 522-525.

2. This does not refer to the number of papers authored by Praktikanten, but rather is simply the total number of papers per year produced by the institute as a whole, divided by the average number of Praktikanten. This manner of accounting sidesteps the tricky question of authorship and suggests at least a rough intensive measure of research productivity.

3. Kolbe to Vieweg, 24 and 29 December 1858 and 5 January 1859, VA 145, 146, and 147; Annalen , 109 (1859), 257-304.

4. Kolbe to Vieweg, 15 March 1860 (incorrectly dated 15 March 1856) and 16 October 1860, VA 116 and 160; Meinel, Chemie , p. 472.

5. The following information is based on a variety of direct and indirect sources, including Kolbe correspondence, publications, standard biographical reference works, and records in the Hessisches Staatsarchiv (especially 305a. A IV, b. 2, Nr. 65 and 68; 305a . II, Nr. 11; and acc. 1902/8).

6. G. N. Vis, "Adolph Claus," JpC , 170 (1900), 127-133.

7. Kolbe to Vieweg, 23 June 1858, VA 139; cf. also 9 and 29 May 1858, VA 137 and 138.

8. Kolbe to Vieweg, 15 and 24 October 1859, 3 and 9 April 1860, 16 and 22 October 1860, 8 and 15 July 1861, VA 152, 153, 156, 157, 160, 161, 170, and 172; Kolbe to Liebig, 16 April 1860, Liebigiana IIB. See chap. 5 for details on these events.

9. Kolbe to Vieweg, 29 May 1858, VA 138.

10. Wurtz, "Mémoire sur la constitution et sur la vrai formule de l'acide oxalique," C.r. , 44 (1857), 1306-1310. In this paper, Wurtz' formulas were written with conventional equivalents and brackets separating "typical" atoms. His groupings showed slightly more structural detail than is indicated here.

11. Wurtz, "Sur la propylglycol," C.r. , 45 (1857), 306-309. Nicholas Fisher, "Wislicenus and Lactic Acid," in O. B. Ramsay, ed., van't Hoff-Le Bel Centennial (Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1975), pp. 33-54, provides details on the development of our understanding of this curious and chemically problematical substance.

12. Wurtz, "Recherches sur l'acide lactique" and "Sur un nouvel acide lactique," C.r. , 45 (1857), pp. 1228-1232 and 1232-1234.

13. H. Debus, "On the Oxidation of Glycol, and on Some Salts of Glyoxylic Acid," Proceedings of the Royal Society , 9 (1859), 711-716; R. Hoffmann, "Über Monochloressigsäure," Annalen , 102 (1857), 1-20; A. Kekulé, "Bildung von Glycolsäure aus Essigsäure," Annalen , 105 (1858), 286-292; A. Strecker, "Über die künstliche Bildung der Milchsäure und einen neuen, dem Glycocoll homologen Körper," Annalen , 75 (1850), 27-45.

14. Kolbe, Lehrbuch , 1 , 672-688 and 733-740.

15. Kolbe, "Über die chemische Constitution der Milchsäure," Annalen , 109 (1859), 257-268 (on p. 259).

16. A. Crum Brown, "On the Theory of Isomeric Compounds," Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 23 (1864), 707-719 (on p. 711). This was probably the first positive assertion of the existence of carbon-carbon double bonds. Erlenmeyer, Kekulé, and Loschmidt had all made hints in that direction, but none had clearly asserted it.

17. C. Ulrich, "Umwandlung der Milchsäure in Propionsäure," Annalen , 109 (1859), 268-272.

18. Kolbe, "Constitution der Milchsäure."

19. Wurtz, "Mémoire sur les glycols ou alcools diatomiques," Ann. chim. , [3] 55 (1859), 400-478.

20. Ibid., pp. 401, 438, and 474; quote from p. 463; use of term "structure

moléculaire" on p. 478.

19. Wurtz, "Mémoire sur les glycols ou alcools diatomiques," Ann. chim. , [3] 55 (1859), 400-478.

20. Ibid., pp. 401, 438, and 474; quote from p. 463; use of term "structure

moléculaire" on p. 478.

21. Wurtz, "Sur l'oxyde d'éthylène," C.r. , 48 (1859), 101-105 (on p. 104).

22. Wurtz, "Glycols," p. 478.

23. From Wurtz' review of Couper's paper on structure theory, in Répertoire de chimie pure , 1 (1858), 49-52.

24. Wurtz, "Glycols," pp. 474-475.

25. Wurtz, "Recherches sur la constitution de l'acide lactique," BSC , 1 (1859), 36-46; "Sur la basicité des acides," Ann. chim. , [3] 56 (1859), 342-349; "Nouvelles recherches sur l'acide lactique," C.r. , 48 (1859), 1092-1094.

26. Kekulé, "Bildung von Glycolsäure."

27. Wurtz, "Recherches sur la constitution," pp. 45-46.

28. Kekulé to L. Meyer, 23 October 1860, printed in R. Anschütz, August Kekulé , 2 vols. (Berlin: Verlag Chemie, 1929), 1 , 205.

29. Kekulé, Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie , 2 vols. (Erlangen: Enke, 1859-1867), 1 , 129-131, 174-175 (1859), and 524 (1861).

30. Ibid., pp. 524 and 729-741 (1861); Kekulé, "Note sur les acides itaconique et pyrotartrique," Bulletin de l'Académie Royale de Belge , [2] 11 (1861), 662-677; W. H. Perkin, "On the Molecular Constitution of Glycollic and Lactic Acids," Chemical News , 3 (1861), 81-83; A. Crum Brown, "On the Theory of Chemical Combination," M.D. dissertation (Univ. of Edinburgh, 1861; printed 1879), p. 23.

29. Kekulé, Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie , 2 vols. (Erlangen: Enke, 1859-1867), 1 , 129-131, 174-175 (1859), and 524 (1861).

31. E. Lautemann, "Über direkte Umwandlung der Milchsäure in Propionsäure," Annalen , 113 (1860), 217-220; Kolbe, "Über die Rückbildung des Alanins aus Milchsäure," Annalen , 113 (1860), 220-223; Kolbe, "Über die Constitution und Basicität der Milchsäure," Annalen , 113 (1860), pp. 223-238.

32. Kolbe, "Über die chemische Constitution der Isäthionsäure und des Taurins," Annalen , 112 (1859), 241-243 (on p. 241).

33. Kolbe, "Constitution und Basicität der Milchsäure," pp. 227-236 (on pp. 225-226).

34. Wurtz, "Recherches sur l'acide lactique," Ann. chim. , [3] 59 (1860), 161-191 (on pp. 182-187).

35. Wurtz and C. Friedel, "Mémoire sur l'acide lactique," Ann. chim. , [3] 63 (1861), 101-124.

36. Kolbe and Lautemann, "Über die Constitution und Basicität der Salicylsäure," Annalen , 115 (1860), 157-206 (on p. 161).

37. Five years later he repudiated the general implication of the derogatory statement, while reaffirming the specifics: Kolbe, Das chemische Laboratorium der Universität Marburg (Braunschweig: Vieweg, 1865), p. 152n.

38. H. Debus, "Bemerkungen zu Kolbe's und Lautemann's Ansichten über die Natur des Glycols und Glyoxals," Annalen , 118 (1861), 253-256.

39. E. Drechsel, "Beobachtungen über die Glycolsäure," Annalen , 127 (1863), 150-158; Kolbe, "Bemerkungen zu vorstehenden Abhandlung," Annalen , 127 (1863), pp. 159-161; Kolbe to Frankland, [early] October 1863, Frankland Archive 01.04.69; Kolbe to Erlenmeyer, 30 October, 23 November, and 6 and 17 December 1863, Dingler Nachlass.

40. Kolbe, "Ist die Oxalsäure eine zweibasische Säure," paper draft dated 23 December 1866, SSDM 3810.

41. F. Guthrie and Kolbe, "Über die Verbindungen des Valerals mit Säuren," Annalen , 109 (1859), 296-300.

42. Kolbe, Das Laboratorium , p. 101n.

43. Kolbe, JpC , 131 (1881), 322-323; idem, "Ist die Oxalsäure eine zweibasische Säure."

44. ibid. Kolbe, JpC , 130 , (1880), 156 ("Ich gait damals . . . als Sonderling"); ibid., 131 (1881), 310; ibid., 136 (1883), 371-372.

43. Kolbe, JpC , 131 (1881), 322-323; idem, "Ist die Oxalsäure eine zweibasische Säure."

44. ibid. Kolbe, JpC , 130 , (1880), 156 ("Ich gait damals . . . als Sonderling"); ibid., 131 (1881), 310; ibid., 136 (1883), 371-372.

45. Kolbe, "Über den natürlichen Zusammenhang der organischen mit den unorganischen Verbindungen," Annalen , 113 (1860), 293-332 (on pp. 313-316).

46. R. Schmitt, "Über die Umwandlung der Weinsäure und Apfelsäure in Bernsteinsäure," Annalen , 114 (1860), 106-111.

47. Liebig, "Über die Bildung von Weinsäure aus Milchzucker in Gummi," Annalen , 113 (1860), 1-19.

48. Liebig to Kolbe, 3 April 1860, SSDM 3603.

49. Kolbe to Vieweg, 9 March 1856, 29 December 1858, and 5 January 1859, VA 115, 145, and 147; Liebig to Vieweg, 28 March 1855, in M. and W. Schneider, eds., Justus von Liebig: Briefe an Vieweg (Braunschweig: Vieweg, 1986), p. 288.

50. Kolbe to Liebig, 16 April 1860, Liebigiana IIB; Kolbe to Vieweg, 9 April 1860, VA 157.

51. Kolbe to Vieweg, 9 April (quoted) and 15 April 1860, VA 157-158.

52. Liebig to Kolbe, 2 December 1860 and 15 July 1861, SSDM 3604 and 3606.

53. Liebig to Vieweg, 17 May 1860, in M. and W. Schneider, Briefe an Vieweg , p. 335; Liebig to H. von Fehling, 19 May 1860, Liebigiana IIB (I thank Dr. Elisabeth Vaupel for drawing my attention to this letter); Liebig to Volhard, 2 July 1862, cited in D. Vorländer, "Jakob Volhard," Berichte 45 (1912), 1855-1902 (on p. 1866).

54. Liebig, Annalen , 121 (1862), 163-164n.; Liebig to Kolbe, 30 October 1861, SSDM 3607; Kopp to Kolbe, 4 December 1861, SSDM 3608; Kolbe to Liebig, 30 December 1861 and 10 December 1862, Liebigiana IIB; Kolbe to Vieweg, 11 July 1860 and 30 December 1861, VA 171 and 177.

55. Liebig to Fehling, 19 May 1860, Liebigiana IIB.

56. Ibid.; Liebig, Annalen , 121 (1862), 163-164n.; Liebig to Erlenmeyer, 27 March 1861, in Emil Heuser, ed., Justus von Liebig und Emil Erlenmeyer in ihren Briefen von 1861-1872 (Mannheim: Bionomica, 1988), p. 11; Liebig to Kolbe, 16 March 1870, SSDM 3612.

55. Liebig to Fehling, 19 May 1860, Liebigiana IIB.

57. Kolbe, "Natürlicher Zusammenhang" (1860), p. 307; also in his Lehrbuch , 1 , 569, written in 1857 and in print by the beginning of 1858.

58. Friedel, "Transformation des aldéhydes et des acétones en alcools," C.r. , 55 (1862), 53-58.

59. Kolbe to Erlenmeyer, 13 November 1862, Dingler Nachlass.

60. Kolbe, "Über die chemische Constitution des aus dem Aceton durch nascirenden Wasserstoff erzeugten Alkohols," ZfC , 5 (1862), 687-690; Kolbe to Erlenmeyer, 16 November 1862, Dingler Nachlass.

61. Friedel, "Sur l'alcool dérivé de l'acétone par l'action de l'hydrogène

naissant," BSC , 2 (1863), 247-248; Kolbe, "Nachtrag," ZfC , 7 (1864), 38-40. Kolbe's rebuttal was six months late, since he continued to ignore the French literature. Erlenmeyer told him of Friedel's second paper on a visit to Marburg in October 1863: Kolbe to Erlenmeyer, 25 and 30 October 1863, Dingier Nachlass.

62. Butlerov, "Studien über die einfachsten Verbindungen der organischen Chemie," ZfC 6 (1863), 484-497 (on pp. 490-495); idem, "Über den tertiären Pseudobutylalkohol (den trimethylirten Methylalkohol)," ZfC , 7 (1864), 385-402 (on pp. 394-395); idem, "Berichtigung zur Abhandlung, 'Über den tertiären Pseudobutylalkohol,'" ZfC , 7 (1864), p. 702; idem, "Über die tertiären Alkohole," ZfC , 8 (1865), 614-618. Butlerov identified his new tertiary alcohol in a letter to Wurtz, ca. March 1864, in G. V. Bykov and J. Jacques, "Deux pionniers de la chimie moderne, Adolphe Wurtz et Alexandre M. Boutlerov, d'après une correspondance inédite,'' Revue d'histoire des sciences , 13 (1960), 115-134 (on p. 125).

63. V. H. de Luynes, "Recherches sur l'érythrite et ses dérivés," Ann. chim. , [4] 2 (1864), 385-429 (on p. 422); Lieben and Rossi, "Sur l'alcool butylique primaire et normal," C.r. , 68 (1869), 1561-1564.

64. Wurtz, "Sur l'alcool butylique," C.r. , 35 (1852), 310-312.

65. Kolbe, "Prognose neuer Isomerien," ZfC , 7 (1864), 30-40 (on pp. 36-37).

66. Kolbe to Erlenmeyer, 6 December 1863 and 20 October 1864, Dingler Nachlass; Erlenmeyer, "Studien über das Glycerin in seiner Eigenschaft als mehratomiger Alkohol," ZfC , 7 (1864), 642-653 (on pp. 651-653); idem, "Über die relative Constitution des Gährungs-, Butyl- und Amylalkohols und des Amylenhydrats," ZfC , 10 (1867), 117-118 (also published in slightly revised form in Annalen , Supplementband 5 [1867], 337-339); V. V. Markovnikov, "Über die Isobuttersäure," ZfC , 8 (1865), 107-110; idem, "Über die Isobuttersäure und den Pseudopropyl-Aethyl-Aether," Annalen , 138 (1866), 361-375.

67. Frankland and B. F. Duppa, "Synthetical Researches on Ethers. No. 2. Action of Sodium and Isopropylic Iodide upon Ethylic Acetate," JCS , 20 , (1867), 102-116.

68. Wurtz, "Sur un isomère de l'alcool amylique," C.r. , 55 (1862), 370-375; idem, "Sur les hydrates des hydrogènes carbonées," C.r. , 56 (1863), 715-718; idem, "Note sur l'hydrate d'amylène," C.r. , 56 (1863), pp. 793-796; idem, "Sur quelques dérivés de l'hydrate d'amylène," C.r. , 57 (1863), 479-482; idem, "Sur les produits d'oxydation de l'hydrate d'amylène et sur l'isomérie dans les alcools," C.r. , 58 (1864), 971-974; idem, "Mémoire sur l'isomérie dans les alcools et dans les glycols," Ann. chim. , [4] 3 (1864), 129-186.

69. Erlenmeyer and Wanklyn, "Über Hexylverbindungen," ZfC , 6 (1863), 564-575; Erlenmeyer, "Relative Constitution," pp. 117-118.

70. Erlenmeyer and Wanklyn, "Über Hexylverbindungen," ZfC , 6 (1863), p. 574; Kolbe, "Über die sekundären Alkohole," Annalen , 132 (1864), 102-117.

71. Kolbe to Erlenmeyer, 6 and 11 December 1863, 12 February and 31

July 1864, Dingler Nachlass; Kolbe to Liebig, 7 February 1864, Liebigiana IIB; Kolbe to Frankland, 18 January and 24 February 1864, Frankland Archive 01.02.1493 and 01.02.1511; Kolbe, "Sekundäre Alkohole."

72. Wurtz, "Sur les produits d'oxydation," p. 972; "Mémoire sur l'isomèrie," p. 144. The chemistry of these reactions is complex.

73. Kolbe to Frankland, [early] October 1863 and 27 May 1866, Frankland Archive 01.04.69 and 01.02.1558; Frankland, "On the Synthesis of Leucic Acid," Proceedings of the Royal Society , 12 (1863), 396-398; Frankland and Duppa, "Notes of Researches on the Acids of the Lactic Series—No. 1.," Proceedings of the Royal Society , 13 (1864), 140-142; idem, ''Researches on Acids of the Lactic Series—No. 1. Synthesis of Acids of the Lactic Series," PTRS , 156 (1866), 309-359 (on p. 312).

74. Hans Hübner, "Über Cyanacetyl," Annalen , 124 (1862), 315-324; M. Simpson, "On Cyanide of Ethylene and Succinic Acid," Proceedings of the Royal Society , 10 (1860), 574-576; idem, "Synthesis of Tribasic Acids," Proceedings of the Royal Society , 12 (1863), 236-239; idem, "On the Synthesis of Succinic and Pyrotartaric Acids," PTRS , 151 (1861), 61-67.

75. Kolbe to Frankland, 9 July and [early] October 1863, 18 January and 5 and 12 February 1864, Frankland Archive 01.03.431, 01.04.69, 01.02.1493, 01.02.1497, and 01.02.1501; Kolbe to Erlenmeyer, 12 February 1864, Dingler Nachlass; Kolbe to Liebig, 7 February 1864, Liebigiana IIB; and Kolbe to Volhard, 7 February 1864, SSDM 3653.

76. Kolbe, "Umwandlung der Monocarbonsäuren in die zugehörenden kohlenstoffreicheren Dicarbonsäuren," Annalen , 131 (1864), 348-349; "Conversion of Monocarbon-Acids into the Corresponding More Highly Carbonated Dicarbon-Acids," JCS , 17 (1864), 109.

77. Beilstein to Kekulé, 21 February 1864, August-Kekulé-Sammlung; a similar but complementary account is related in Beilstein to Baeyer, 4 June 1864, Baeyer Collection.

78. Müller to Kekulé, 28 February 1864, Kekulé-Sammlung.

79. Kolbe to Frankland, 24 February 1864, Frankland Archive 01.02.1511.

80. Frankland to Kolbe, 22 February 1864, SSDM 3563; Kolbe to Erlenmeyer, 6 March 1864, Dingler Nachlass (reporting on a later letter from Frankland to Kolbe received that day); Müller to Kekulé, 22 April and 9 July 1864, Kekulé-Sammlung; Müller, "On a New Formation of Malonic and Succinic Acids," JCS , 17 (1864), 109-111; idem, "Über eine neue Bildungsweise der Malonsäure und der Bernsteinsäure," ZfC , 7 (1864), 146-148.

81. Beilstein to Baeyer, 4 June 1864, Baeyer Collection.

82. Müller, "Vorläufige Notiz über einen rothen Körper, der sich bei der Einwirkung von Cyankalium auf Chloressigäther als Nebenproduct bildet," ZfC , 7 (1864), 382-383; Kolbe to Erlenmeyer, 2 July 1864, Dingler Nachlass.

83. Müller to Kekulé, 28 February 1864, Kekulé-Sammlung.

84. Kolbe to Erlenmeyer, 2 July 1864, Dingler Nachlass.

85. Beilstein to Butlerov, 30 August 1865, in Bykov and Bekassova, "Beiträge zur Geschichte der Chemie der 60-er Jahre des XIX. Jahrhunderts: II. F. Beilsteins Briefe an A.M. Butlerov," Physis , 8 (1966), 267-285 (on p. 275).

86. Cited by Krätz, in Beilstein-Erlenmeyer Briefe (Munich: Fritsch, 1972), p. 79.

87. Liebig to Hofmann, 24 January 1868, in Emil Heuser and Regine Zott, eds., Justus von Liebig und August Wilhelm Hofmann in ihren Briefen (Mannheim: Bionomica, 1988), p. 45.

88. These numbers are calculated from data given in Meinel, Chemie , p. 472.

89. Kolbe to Vieweg, 31 December 1860, VA 164. He reported the presence of only one foreigner that semester, a Dane. This was Emil Ruge, who (as Kolbe reported in Das Laboratorium , p. 363n.) died in October 1864 in Copenhagen. The previous six semesters he had not had a single non-German foreigner.

90. Meinel, Chemie , p. 472; Elisabeth Vaupel, "Carl Graebe (1841-1927)—Leben, Werk und Wirken," Doctoral dissertation, University of Munich, 1987.

91. Vorländer, "Volhard" (see n. 53); Volhard, "Über Sarkosin," Annalen , 123 (1862), 261-265.

92. J.W., "Alexander Crum Brown," JCS , 123 (1923), 3422-3431.

93. E. Fischer, "Edmund Drechsel," Berichte , 30 (1897), 2168-2173.

94. S. N. Vinogradov, "Chemistry at Kazan University in the Nineteenth Century: A Case History of Intellectual Lineage," Isis , 56 (1965), 168-173; B. Menshutkin, "N. A. Menshutkin," Berichte , 40 (1907), 5087-5098. I gathered the Russian names from the university's Matrikel (HSA, 305a . II, Nr. 11), and then transformed them from German into standard Anglo-American transliterations.

95. Henry James, Charles W. Eliot: President of Harvard University , 2 vols. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930), 1 , 135-137 and 145-147. I thank Dr. Jun Fudano for this reference. As far as I could determine, Eliot's name appears nowhere in the university's records.

96. Kolbe to Vieweg, 9 November 1863, 22 June 1864 and 6 November 1864, VA 197, 206, 211; Kolbe to Frankland, no date (but ca. 27 October 1864) and 12 November 1864, Frankland Archive 01.04.84 and 01.04.89; HSA, 305a . II, Nr. 11.

97. Untitled anonymous review of Kolbe's Das Laboratorium , in Westminster Review , 29 (1866), 548-549.

98. Kolbe to Vieweg, 30 June and 9 November 1863, VA 192 and 197; Kolbe, Das Laboratorium , pp. 8-9.

99. Information in this and the next three paragraphs is derived from Meinel, Chemie , pp. 16-18, 30-31, 51-63, 98-112, and 435-444, and from Kolbe, Das Laboratorium , pp. 1-17.

100. Kolbe lived, as he later commented ( Das neue chemische Laboratorium der Universität Leipzig [Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1868], p. 27n.) "across the street" from the institute. This may have been in Bunsen's old lodgings, on the first floor of the corner house on Elisabethstrasse, but I have not been able to document Kolbe's residence in Marburg.

101. Kolbe to Vieweg, 19 October and 9 November 1863 and 21 February 1864, VA 196, 197, and 199; Meinel, Chemie , p. 111.