Justus von Liebig : his life and work (1803-1873) / by W.A. Shenstone.

  • William Ashwell Shenstone
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Justus von Liebig : his life and work (1803-1873) / by W.A. Shenstone. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    This idea of compound radicles was not, it is true, entirely new when Liebig and Wohler applied it in the above case, for Berzelius had, as early as in 1820, attempted to compare the constitutions of organic substances with those of inorganic compounds by the use of such a conception, whilst it was known from the researches of Gay-Lussac that cyanogen, a com- pound of nitrogen and carbon, acts very much hke an element. But a real appreciation of the existence of a con- nection between the properties of substances and the radicles they contain was mainly brought about, in the first instance, by this memorable research “ upon the radicle of benzoic acid.” Well might these investigators modestly congratu- late themselves on this achievement. They had discovered a true path into the almost unknown regions of organic chemistry by thew “Benzoyl Theory.” But Liebig and WGhler did not stay their hands at this point. It was known that oil of bitter almonds does not exist ready formed in the almonds them- selves, and that the almonds contain a beautifully- crystalline substance—amyedalin. In 1836 Wohler was selected to succeed Stromeyer as Professor of Chemistry at Gottingen. The choice lay between Liebig and Wohler on this occasion. As soon as he was ready for fresh work, he wrote to Liebig :—“ I am like a hen which has laid an egg and straightway sets up a great cackling. I have this morning found how bitter oil of almonds containing prussic acid may be obtained from amygdalin, and would propose that we jointly undertake the further investigation of the matter, as it is intimately related to the benzoyl
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