Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/47

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CHEVREUL AT A HUNDRED.
35

missioned to pay their respects to M.Chevreul, were introduced to Lira: M.Van Beneden, from Belgium; M.Broch, from Norway; M. Bosscha, from the Netherlands; and M.Govi, from Italy. A congratulatory telegram, expressing a warm wish for health, rigor, and force, "to that remarkable patriarch of the world," was read from the University of Kazan, in Russia.

M.Pasteur, who was absent in the Jura, sent his compliments to the veteran, who, he said, while he modestly called himself the dean of students, ought to be styled the master of masters.

The Academy of Sciences of Berlin sent a congratulatory commumcation which, after reference severally to the more important results of M.Chevreul's principal researches, concluded: "Having thus represented in all its extent the activity that you have shown throughout your long life, we hold that your name should be inscribed in one of the first places on the list of the great men who have carried the scientific glory of France to the extremities of the earth."

In the evening M.Chevreul attended the opera, to witness a special performance in his honor.

The anniversary day itself was signalized by the unveiling, amid considerable pomp and ceremony, of a statue of M.Chevreul by M.Guillaume, in the hall of the new museum at the Jardin des Plantes. M.Chevreul entered the room leaning upon the arms of M.Bourlois, aged ninety-four, an old soldier of the empire, and of M. Frémy, the director of the museum. M.Frémy delivered the presentation address, a glowing eulogy of M. Chevreul's work. M.Zeller, President of the Five Academies, followed him, and expressed his satisfaction that in that magnificent hall, in which so many friends and foreigners had met, the French "Grand Old Man," who had modestly called himself the decanus of the French students, had been promoted by acclamation as the decanus of the students and savants of the universities and academies of the whole civilized world. M.Goblet, Minister of Public Instruction, spoke next, and, after referring to the fitness of the place for the statue, said M.Chevreul's life "has been one of incessant labor. He has loved work for its own sake, with a conscientious and disinterested affection; and by a just return he has obtained from it all the satisfaction which it could give—health, peace of mind, honor, and the delight of making great discoveries."

M.Janssen delivered the form.al address of the Academy at the Odeon. He said, "It belongs to the Academy to tell you that if Science to-day lifts you upon that beautiful pedestal, it is because you have constantly loved her for herself, and have never thought of making of her a stepping-stone for your own advantage."

In the evening M.Chevreul attended a banquet which was given in his honor at the Hôtel-de-Ville.

Various testimonials were presented to the centenarian during the days of the festivities. Among them was a volume published