Jii'Ji
THE Iff
Of THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILUNOIS
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
PROFESSOR ARTHUR W. PALMER
MEMORIAL CONVOCATION
THE LIRRARY OF THE
APR 6 -1937
* i^'^'VERS/Ty OF ILLINOIS
HELD IN
THE CHAPEL
FEBRUARY 7
1904
ARTHUR WILLIAM PALMER
1861-1904
Borii, London^ England^ February //, 1861.
B. 6*., University of Illinois, i8Sj.
Sc.D., Harvard University, iSSd.
Student in Berlin and Goettingen, j8SS-iS8g.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of Illinois, i8Sg-i8go.
Professor of Chemistry, iSgo-igo^..
c
coo .-?
s>^z
ORDER OF SERVICE
Lead, Kindly Light Choir
Scriptures, Psalm xxii., vers. 1-14; John xiv.; Revelation
xxii., 1-5 . . . . . . . Dean Burrill
Address Dean Clark
Address Professor Parr
Address Professor Breckenridge
Crossing the Bar Professor Breneman
Address Dean Davenport
Address Dean Forbes
Address President Draper
The Homeland Choir
Prayer . . Dean Burrill
ARTHUR WILLIAM PALMER, 1861-1904.
Address by Dean T. A. Clark.
It is very fitting that we should hold this service today in
memory of Professor Palmer, for all our minds are turned to
what his life and his work have meant to this University. It
is not unfitting that we should hold it in this room; for it was
here that as a young student he used daily to come, it was here
that he received his first ideas of University life, and it was upon
this platform as a young instructor that some of us first came
to know him.
It was always an inspiration to me as a student, as I am
sure it has been to many others, — it was no less an inspiration
when I came to be a teacher, — to remember that he was a son
of the University of Illinois, and that much of the training he
had, he received here. It is a source of pride to all of us today,
to know that his few years of work — work that has been
recognized everywhere in this country — were given to further
the growth and to increase the efficiency of the institution that
gave him his undergraduate training.
We may well consider for a few moments some of the
characteristics which have tended to make him an unusual man
among the men with whom he was associated here. First of
all he was a scholar. Whatever scientific work he undertook he
went to the bottom of. Those who knew him well knew how
wide was his knowledge, how reliable his judgment, how thor-
oughly credible all the statements that he made. I have heard
it said by those who are better able to judge than I, that no
one ever went to him for information on any subject connected
with the subject of chemistry without receiving the informa-
tion that he desired. He was a master of the subject he taught,
6
He was more than a scholar, however; he was a man who
could do things. Not every man who has theory at his tongue's
end is able to put that theory into practice, but everyone who
was associated with Professor Palmer knows that what was
given him to do was done rapidly and done well. No one ever
found him off his guard ; he was always active, alert, able at
any time to summon all his powers and to direct them toward
the accomplishment of whatever purpose he might have in
mind. He was a man to be trusted, to be given responsibility,
to be relied upon to accomplish whatever task was given into
his hands.
He was an eminently successful instructor. Only this morn-
ing I was talking with a man whose special interest is in no
way scientific, and yet he spoke with feeling of the work he
had taken under Professor Palmer's instruction,— of the clear-
ness of his presentation, of the interest he aroused in his sub-
ject, of the love for his science which was all the time evident
to those who listened to him. He was a man to mould men and
to leave his imprint upon them as few teachers are able to do
He was, perhaps, a severe teacher, who made his students
understand how little they really knew and how wide the range of
knowledge really is. He set himself a high standard in thor-
oughness and exactness, and he tried to hold his students up
to that standard. He was not unsympathetic, however. I have
been more and more impressed during the last two or three
years as I have come to know him better and have had occa-
sion frequently to talk to him about students who were not
strong in their work, how reasonable and fair he was in his judg-
ment. He was unusually sympathetic and charitable when
discussing men who had failed, and no one was more helpful
and suggestive in giving advice to those who came to him in
trouble. The man who would not work he had no patience
with, but any other man could easily find in him a friend.
I think the characteristic that impressed me most, and
which helped most to make him the man that he was, was his
singleness of purpose. He was in no sense a narrow man; for
his training had been broad, and his interests were numerous
Few men could talk more intelligently on general topics than
he, and few had a wider range of information. But these
things were to him only incidental. His one idea was to ad-
vance the interests of his science and his department, and this
idea he never forgot. It was upon his mind during the day and
too often perhaps far into the night; it was the thing for which
he planned and worked and gave his chief'energies. It was this
oneness of purpose coupled with his strong intellect that
brought success to him when he was still a young man and has
made his department one of the best in this country.
I cannot end the few words I am to speak without at least
referring to my estimate of him as a personal friend. Sincere,
loyal, true, he bound us all to him with cords that will not soon
be loosed.
The years that were given him to finish his work were not
many. He has gone from us at an age when most men feel
that their best years are yet before them. And yet how much
he has accomplished in inspiring his fellow-workers in the fur-
thering of chemical science, and in the development of scien-
tific education! When the history of this University is written,
among the names of her sons who have done most for her de-
velopment and her honor will be the name of Arthur William
Palmer.
Address by Professor Parr.
Arthur Palmer entered the University as a chemical stu-
dent in the fall of 1879.
He brought to his chosen work a very considerable amount
of manipulative skill, acquired in practical work at the watch
factory of his home city, in the electro-plating and gilding de-
partment. This was further augmented along more general
chemical lines by experiments conducted at home on the fam-
ily range.
He certainly brought with him all his avidity for chemical
work. During his first year, besides disposing of a number of
8
preparatory conditions, he obtained five term-credits in chem-
istry, the three hi^rhest grades for which were 100, and for the
other two 98. Tt is not strange therefore that at thel)eginning of
his sopliomore year he was permitted to assist in the hiljoratory
supervision of the beginning course in chemistry, and in his
senior year he was given the reguhir appointment of second as-
sistant in chemistry.
For one year following his graduation in 1883 he served as
first assistant, ])ut a more appropriate title would have been
that of chief operating engineer of the department. Entering
Harvard in 1884, he was granted a fellowship which was con-
tinued for two years, thus enabling him to complete his work,
and obtain the degree of Doctor of Science. After two more
years at Illinois without any advance in appointment over
that which he had received at graduation, he left for
study abroad. His first semester was spent in Gottingen,
where, because of the crowded condition of the laboratory
and because also of his strong endorsements from Harvard,
he was given a place in the private laboratory of Victor Meyer,
whose standing in the chemical world was second only
to that of the professor under whom he spent his second se-
mester, the great Hoffman, at that time dean of the chemical
world and director of the laboratory at Berlin. Here he began
his work on the arsines, which culminated three years after his
return to Illinois in establishing the existenceof that series, un-
til then described in the books as not existing, — certainly a
notable piece of work.
But time does not permit of a detailed account of his ac-
plishments in these lines. I prefer to turn for a moment to his
student and post-graduate days.
He must certainly stand out with marked distinction in the
minds of those who worked with him in those years. A radical
change had just been made throughout the teaching force of
the department, and the new order of things required a little
time for smooth adjustment. How much we depended on Dr.
Palmer for help, and how able he was to meet the denumd !
9
I recall hearing a student say, and his statement was not
overdrawn, "If you have any question about any difficulty in
any part of any process in any course in this building, between
cellar and attic, ask Palmer and he will know at once just what
you are talking about and just what is the matter." I wish to
couple with this another statement which at hrst glance may
seem to be contradictory, but which in truth throws a side light
upon professional habits which make the first statement credi-
ble. It was made by a student of recent years, and he said,
"If in the intricate and involved discussions that sometimes
arise, it ever happens that a point is brought up about which
Dr. Palmer is uncertain, he will say he doesn't know; but I note
that after 24 hours, if the topic arises again, he will be able to
carry you to the utmost detail of possible information upon the
point in question."
In his chemical tasks as a student he was continually over-
running the prescribed work and indulging as a pastime for fill-
ing in the remaining hours, the preparation of rare and difficult
salts. Many of these, as cabinet specimens, I regret to say,
have disappeared in the laboratory fire. It was this habit, no
doubt, coupled with the ever present desire to conquer new
fields, that led him, in his senior year into his first real work in
organic chemistry. The evidences and relics of that work
could be seen for a long time in the basement of the old build-
ing, in the shape of beakers and stills with asphaltum residues
and tarry coatings from materials obtained at the city gas
works, impossible to clean up, yet too interesting to throw
away.
It may be in place to note how advanced at this time were
his ideals as to methods of teaching chemistry. It is difficult
now to realize what was the procedure then and how great the
change has been ,■ — due almost, if not entirely, to his efforts.
First, the recitation work in all chemical courses did not
extend beyond one-half of . the first year. Three and a half
years were therefore devoted to laboratory work exclusively,
without lecture or quiz accompaniment. The reverse of this is
10
now true. Second, beginners in chemistry had text-book work
only. There was no experimental development of the science. At
the student's first introduction to the laboratory work he was
given a desk, an analytical table, and an unknown substance, and
was told to work out his own salvation. At the end he knew a few
facts but, if possible, less of the science than at the ])eginning.
The chemical students can better understand what a change
has been brought about in this regard, a change to be credit-
ed to Dr. Palmer.
In these two marked departures in instructional methods,
there is illustrated the dominant characteristic of all his work,
that of thoroughness.
As a student he was far from being a recluse. He was ac-
tive in all student affairs. He entered heartily into the work
of his literary society and was for two years a member of the
Philomathean sextette, a musical organization of no mean rep-
utation. He engaged in all forms of athletic sport, and there
were but few of his associates who enjoyed the distinction of
being able to walk with him without breaking the regulations
as to a genuine "heel and toe" gait. The strenuous character
of his mental make-up found its greatest delight in the game
of chess.
Student activities and proclivities of his day were not with-
out their serious lapses of conduct. Indeed there are some
chapters that we might wish to see blotted out beyond all pos-
sibility of decipherment. But I can freely say that I never
knew a student whose discernment between right and wrong
w^as keener, whose scorn of a mean act was more profound, or
whose conduct at all times conformed more finely to the old
motto, "Preserve thine integrity of character, and in doing it
never reckon the cost."
My acquaintance with Arthur Palmer exceeds by but a few
days the 22-year mark. It has been 22 years of unbroken
friendship.
It is a poor tribute at best that mere words can pay, but in
the name of student associates of other daj's, and of student
followers of the years between, I offer here our tender appre-
11
elation of the constancy of his friendship, the example of his
manliness, and the inspiration of his enthusiasm. How strong-
ly hast thon entered into the current of our lives ! How sadly
shall we miss the impulse of thy brave heart ! — Farewell.
Address by Professor L. P. Breckenridge.
It is a privilege to be permitted to say a few words on this
occasion and to acknowledge the admiration with which I have
always held my friend.
The relation we hold to any individual, the position from
which we view any object of interest, so modifies our final opin-
ion and conclusions that it is fortunate when we may have the
advantage of several points of view. So it will be today.
In the affairs of the University my knowledge of the work
of Dr. Palmer has not been that obtained from intimate and
close contact, neither is my knowledge of the fundamental sci-
ence of which he was the efficient leader at Illinois, sufficiently
extensive to enable me to judge his work. I have had the pos-
itive advantage of that point of view which is located at the
focus of University opinion and sentiment, and to which come
the composite conclusions of both students and teachers. From
no other place can more correct judgment be formed concern-
ing the value of the work of the individual teacher ; here the
prejudice of friendship or of spite is completely obliterated by
an accumulating wave of solid, persistent, and reliable college
opinion.
Dr. Palmer was an eminent scientist as well as an able lec-
turer and teacher. His ability was recognized by all connected
with the University. Many have been the words of commenda-
tion that have come to me from our engineering students con-
cerning the lectures in elementary chemistry. They have said,
"We understand what he is talking about"— "We hear what
he says" — "Professor Palmer does not waste words" — "We feel
that we are learning something." Homely expressions some
of them, but they mean much in the life of the student, and no
12
words that I could frame would convey so much meaning to
you as students, or be cherished more by us as teachers, could
they be said of us.
With what enthusiasm has his work been done! With
what arduous zeal has he pushed forward his plans! As a
student at Illinois, then at Harvard University, and then abroad,
he always attracted the attention of his instructors, and he ac-
complished early in life more than many with equal opportuni-
ties are able to accomplish in a lifetime.
Here atHlinoishas fortunately l)een completed a perpetu-
al memorial to him who has gone. We are glad that he lived
to see his cherished plans in brick and mortar finished. I shall
always remember the beaming and delighted expression of his
face when the money for the Chemical Laboratory was really
appropriated. "It hardly seems possible that it is true," he said.
And then how he worked building his laboratory, watching
every detail by day, and while the laborers slept he planned and
thought by night.
The Inilliant light from his study window at his home was
always streaming forth at night. I could easily see it from my
bed-room window, and many times it was the last thing I saw
shining through the darkness as I pulled down my curtains for
the night. Now that light has gone out. Many of us will long
remember it, and many of us realize, perhaps more now than
ever, what it meant. Quiet thought must precede intelligent
action, and so it seems sure that near that light originated and
developed what we recognize today as the important products
of his busy brain.
What we may say here today will soon be forgotten, but
many thing that he did will endure for years to come. He
taught the science of chemistry to many students. It seems
to me that this was his greatest work. He contributed to the
fund of knowledge in the realm of chemical science. He serv-
ed the people of Illinois by the application of his science to the
needs, comforts, the very life of her citizens. He built the
Chemical Laboratory. These were his ])ublic services.
Dr. Palmer carried the same enthusiasm into his play that
13
he did into his work. It was among his friends that he was at
his best,— quick of thought, brilliant in speech, sympathetic in
feeling.
He was not always understood, nor was he easily won; but
once his friendship was yours, the more it was prized and the
stronger it became.
After all, how much that we think and feel must we leave
unspoken; the sympathy for the family, the sister, the friends;
what words mean enough ? To him who has gone we gladly and
honestly acknowledge our respect, our admiration, our love-
And now after a few sad days gone by since the news of his
death came to me over the wire, days of thoughtful, keenly-
felt sorrow, I still feel as I said: He was a scientist of marked
ability, a man of unusual enthusiasm, a delightful companion,
and a true friend.
Address by Dean Eugene Davenport.
For a little more than nine years I have been associated
with Professsor Palmer in this University, and yet I cannot say
that I knew him well. It is one of the misfortunes of universi-
ty life that we come close enough to many a man to know and
feel that a great soul is there, and yet from the very exigencies
of duty little or no opportunity is given to come into its full
beneficence. In other words we are surrounded by more person-
alities than we can utilize, and we lose much of personal privi-
lege that might be enjoyed were the world less busy and were
our lines less definitely cast.
It was so in this case. Though working in buildings but a
few feet apart, we seldom met except in faculty meeting or up-
on appointment in matters of routine. I knew Professor Pal-
mer best, therefore, in his business relations, but one could not
meet him even here and infrequently without feeling the touch
of a strong personality that one would be glad to know better.
Professor Palmer was a born chemist, and I should say that
all his ambitions lay in the line of pure science. And yet he
14
was neither blind nor unfeeling to the applications of science,
even in lines that did not personally appeal to him. He was
always fair, open, and generous in his relations with other in-
terests. With students he was exact and exacting; yet he
was full of the milk of human kindness, and no student so far
as I ever knew could complain of Professor Palmer's final treat-
ment; if a student failed, it was because he deserved to fail. He
never spared himself. Head of a busy department and l)eset
by a multitude of exacting duties and harrowing details, he
thought of himself, if at all, after the demands of duty were
fully met. Always ambitious for the progress of his department,
especially along the lines of pure chemistry, he yet met all the
duties of the department with hdelity and with patience.
There is a peculiarly pathetic side to this case, and it is only
just to him that we note it in his passing, even if we somewhat
overlooked it in his life. A decade ago the department enjoy-
ed an enviable reputation. Its fame was not limited to the
natural constituency of this University, but it was widely and
favorably known among universities everywhere, and it did not
seem too much to look forward to the time when it should oc-
cupy front rank among the leading departments of chemistry
in this country.
Then came the burning of the chemical ])uilding. Because
of scarcity of funds, and l)ecause a new and more commodious
structure was to be asked for, the laboratories were never com-
pletely restored. The ruin was roofed over, and the work rein-
stalled, but in a temporary and exceedingly inadequate man-
ner. The building needed was not provided, and for four years
this department marked time and struggled for existence.
This condition of things was at the threshold of the great-
est period of general growth ever experienced by the Univer-
sity. Students rapidly increased in numbers in all the colleges,
and the old laboratories already overcrowded were flooded be-
yond their capacity with students seeking elementary instruc-
tion. Here for more than four years the resources of the de-
partment were taxed to the utmost to meet the increasing de-
mands on the part of the University for elementary chemistry.
15
General prosperity was a fact, but it brought about conditions
doubly hard upon this department laboring to sustain its repu-
tation among more fortunate neighbors in other institutions.
Then came the final struggle when the building was won;
though the amount granted was insufficient, and those who knew
Professor Palmer in those dark days when the chemical build-
ing for the third time hung in the balance — those only knew
what the issue meant to him. Yet he never neglected his duty
to the department or to students dependent upon it. These are
conditions that try the souls of men; and though I never passed
a word with him upon the subject, I knew what Professor Palmer
lived through for some five years, and I honor his memory for
his fortitude and his courage under circumstances more trying
than most men are called upon to endure.
He lived to see the building erected. For this we are glad.
I wish he might have lived to see it completely equipped. I
wish his dream might have been fully realized on this campus
and in his lifetime. According to his allotted time he
should have had a good quarter of a century yet in which to
bring about his ideals. It is said of some men that their glory
is brighter and their fame more lasting for a sudden and tragic
taking off. This cannot be true of Professor Palmer. He would
have won more laurels for himself and more credit for the Uni-
versity he loved so well. It is good for most men to die in the
harness. He was of the kind to go that way, and yet we can-
not but wish that he might have worn the harness longer. By
all human standards he had earned the right to do so; and had
he been spared, he would have added yet new honors to the
name to which we now pay our last tribute of respect and love.
Address by Dean S. A. Forbes.
After the various appreciations of Dr. Palmer — unusually full
and fair, as it seems to me — which have been given by those
who have preceded me, I may speak perhaps of a few less obvi-
ous, less conspicuous matters, which I think are not less signifi-
16
cant as clues to his character and helps to an understanding of
his life. And first, in this connection, I think of the breadth
and liberality of his intellectual sympathies and interests. We
have heard of him here today as a chemical specialist, im-
mersed in the work of his department, closely concentrated on
his special subjects; but there was another side to him not
nearly so evident or so well known. He was a chemist, indeed,
from the ground up, one might almost say from the heart out,
but when he was free from the harness of technical and ))usi-
ness routine, when he could cast off his responsibilities for a
little time and follow the lead that pleased him, it was not more
chemistry that he seemed to want, it was not to chemistry that
he turned for stimulus and refreshment, it was to almost any-
thing else. 1 belonged, with him, to a little study club which
met once a week; and when it came to the selection of a subject
for reading and discussion. Dr. Palmer's choice never once
turned to chemistry or to any allied subject, but to philosophy,
or ethics, or economics, or sociology, or theoretical history, or
biology, — to almost anything, indeed, except chemistry, which
had a content of substantial and interesting thought, so pre-
sented as to stimulate reflection and to provoke discussion. It
was with these things that he sought to broaden his thinking and
to refresh his mind.
The scope of his intelligence, and the variety of his ability,
were sometimes strikingly shown to us when it fell to him to
abstract, for the general benefit, some article or some chap-
ter on a subject so far removed from his personal studies that
we would doulit, perhaps, whether he could do what was called
for; whether, indeed, he could really understand the subject
himself. But his presentation of the matter would neverthe-
less come in as clear, as accurate, as complete, as fluent, as one
of his lectures in elementary chemistry. This same ready,
thoroughly-trained ability was shown also by the finish and
skill with which he would do a new, difficult, and wholly unfa-
miliar thing the first time trying. 1 turn aside a moment to
give you an instance which came under my own observation.
It became his duty, one legislative session, to present to an im-
17
portaiit committee at Springfield the reasons for establishing
the Chemical Water Survey of the state, which has now been
going on under his direction for several years. This he did with
his characteristic clearness and method, consulting no one be-
forehand, asking no one's advice as to what he should say or
how he should say it, and with the result that the bill was
unanimously approved by the committee, if I remember right-
ly, at its first vote. One of the most experienced members of
the House expressed his admiration to me afterwards by saying
that Dr. Palmer had made the clearest and most interesting ar-
gument that had been presented to his committee that winter.
When I repeated this comment presently to Dr. Palmer him-
self, he replied, "Nonsense ! What does the man mean? I
never did such a thing before in my life." That was just it.
He did the thing the very first time just as well as it could be
done. That was what it meant to have his versatile, well-
trained mind.
His desire, to which I have referred, to avoid or correct the
effects of close specialization, showed itself also in his adminis-
tration of his department. It is true that the course in chem-
istry, the requirements of which have been gradually estab-
lished under his lead and in accordance with his ideas, is one
of the most highly specialized in the University, surpassed in
that respect, I think, by only one other in our whole organiza-
tion, but this is not because of his deliberate preference. He
thought it the necessary consequence of the industrial demand
upon his department, of the fact that his courses w^ere so largely
taken as a preparation for industrial life. He often talked with
me about these matters. There was a conflict in his mind be-
tween these tendencies towards specialization, and his appreci-
ation of liberal study as a preparation for a cultivated and ef-
fective life. He really wished to turn out not merely well-
trained chemists, but broadly educated men. By that I do not
mean, of course, to imply that there is not much breadth in a
comprehensive chemical education ; but nevertheless, as an ed-
ucation, it undoubtedly needs broadening and balancing up,
and Dr. Palmer often influenced young men to liberalize their
18
elections to this end. Indeed, one of his latest official acts was
to send me, from his sick-])ed, a new catalo}? statement of the
requirements for graduation in clicmistry, nmended l»y the ad-
dition of two new liberal courses.
'I'lien, as I came to know Professor Palmer. I discerned in
him a trait which exijlained to me some things alxnit him
which I could not otherwise have understood, and that trait
was his essential idealism. He was a strenuous, practical ideal-
ist. We usually thought of him, it is true, as one of the
mosiy practical of men, so intense was the steady energy with
which he pushed toward the accomplishment of his purpose*:;
but he nevertheless seemed alwaysto carry with him a vision as
clear as the sight of his eye, of things as they ought to be, with-
in the sphere of his responsil)ility and interests, and he strove
constantly with all his might to l)ring the system of things as
they are into conformity with his ideals. It is in this fact that
we find an exi)lanation of a certain severe intolerance of poor
work, and even impatience with the poor worker. He saw so
clearly how the thing should be, that any falling short of his
high standard and expectation jarred upon his sensibilities like
a false note on the ear of a musician.
The world is not always an easy place for such men to live
in, and they do not always make it an easy place for those as-
sociated with them, in whatever capacity. Their highest ideals
are often criticised as visionary, and their best-matured and most
carefully considered plans are likely to be rejected as impracti-
cable. If Professor Palmer had been content to undertake the
merely probable, he would neve have accomi)lished the utmost
possible; and that, 1 think, we would all of us say he always
did.
I must not close without saying something of what 1 found
him as a friend. 1 first l)egan really to know him personally
about two years after his return from Germany, when we came
together one winter as members of a club organized under the
leadership of one of the professors in the University, for a line
of study undertaken with reference to the Columl)ia Exposi-
tion, which was to open the following year. There it was that
19
1 first learned of his keen wit, of his contagions gaietj% of his
careful, considerate, neverfailing courtesy, of his fondness for
the society of his intimates, of that inimitable, indescribable
quality which we call personality, which made him so fascinat-
ing a companion. Later it was my good fortune to spend some
weeks of a summer vacation on the shores of Lake Michigan in
his company, and to my surprise I found that this hitherto in-
cessant worker could also really rest; that an idle dog dozing in
the sun was not more idle than he might be if he chose. And
yet, even then, some hours of every day w^ere set aside for his
departmental correspondence, which he had forwarded regu-
larly to him from his laboratory; and if a contest were started
as a pastime, if a competition of any kind sprang up, he dashed
into it as if great issues were at stake, and no one ever beat him
who was not his superior at a game.
I learned, however, to know him best when we met, with
a very few" others, one evening a week, each week in a year, for
several years in succession, in a club of University men formed
for reading and discussion. It was not long before he became,
I am sure I may say, a favorite with every one of us. The eve-
ning did not really begin until Palmer came, and those meet-
ings at which he was not present could scarcely be said to
count our list; and so he slowly wound himself into all our
hearts. And now he has gone. That little circle is broken at
its brightest link. We shall never see his like again. May his
memoi-y remain green as long as there are good, and able, and
devoted men and women at this University of Illinois.
Address by President A. S. Draper.
We are quite willing that the public shall take the words
which we speak today as our testimonial to the splendid quali-
ties of one of our number gone before us over the river which
parts earth and heaven. But we are not met merely to give
him formal public honor. To him it matters not what we do
or w^hat we say. And the throbbing w^orld cares little. But it
20
matters much to us. How we who are left feel and what we
say when one is taken has much to do with ourselves now and
hereafter. Realizing that, and having beliefs about death and
the hereafter, we are met under our own roof, around our own
heartstone, to release our pent up feelings in words spoken to
each other, to assuage the common grief through the pledge
of the common support in bearing it, and to bring consolation
to our own souls through the contemplation of the qualities
which made us honor and regard the one who filled the vacant
chair.
My colleagues have spoken of the personal qualities and
characteristics of Professor Palmer. I need not dwell upon
them, biit I cannot be satisfied to pass them by, lest I repeat.
Nor need I, for we each saw him at a different angle and I
stood, not in a closer, but in a different relation to him
from all the rest. In body and spirit he had individuality
which was strong and so deeply impresssed upon each of us as
to make it wholly impossilile that we shall ever forget it.
In person he was of fair complexion, and attractive mould.
His eye was clear and his face winsome. None of us surpassed
him in physical and nervous energy of action. But his carriage
was manful and his every movement was expressive of deter-
mination and force.
Nor was there a keener or more virile mind among us. We
are proud to say that he was a product of this University, and we
may well add that it has not developed a more serious or ag-
gressive student. He shrank from no intellectual undertaking
and he accomplished completely whatever he undertook. He
was practical nuister of our Department of Chemistry when it
was yet in its infancy and he in his undergraduate work. When
he came to see that this University could not satisfy his pur-
purposes in life, he went to America's oldest university and
then to the strongest in the Old World for his training and
when he had secured it he turned back to the University of
his fondest hopes and his deepest love to develop a Department
of Chemistry which should he one of our chief glories and of
which all the world should know. Of chemistry he became as
21
thoroughly a master as any of his age in America. He was not
immodest, but he had no occasion to avoid, and he did not
avoid, measuring with the foremost. His love for chemical ana-
lysis wa,s consuming; his capacity for scientific detail was pro-
digious; his confidence in his results and in his opinions was
absolute. His work upon the waters of Illinois was wholly un-
parallelled and the great report which his unyielding purpose
got through the press l)efore he could surrender even to the
Angel of Death is likely to be the reference book of investiga-
tors for a generation. As a teacher he was exact and efficient. He
quickened minds and interested them in a science, difficult of
mastery and not ordinarily attractive. His lectures lightened
and brightened a hard theme; he was not only master of chem-
istry but he came pretty near being a master of good English
style; he never hesitated' for a word and he seldom used any
other than the one which could serve his purpose to the utmost.
In a University conference he was always ready with an opin-
ion and if the matter in hand deserved it, it was a good opinion.
If it seemed to him unimportant, he was likely to toy with it
for the relaxation he found in it, but if it was of moment he went
closely to the heart of it over very strong ground and l)y very
direct roads. When the time came for University action he was
read to lead it or fall in anywhere else, and whatever place he
held he put all of his strength and his resources into the move-
ment. With all this, he was an alert and persistent leader of a
department. He was yet more than an administrator; he was a
builder. He was never content with what had been gained. He
would enlarge his domain and his opportunities. Men who
could help him to accomplish his purposes might not see things
just as he did, but they could not resist him, they were obliged
to help him. If his report upon the potable waters of Illinois
is to be an enduring monument to his scientific genius and his
capacity for unparalled detail, the fine, new Chemical Labora-
tory over there will express his administrative power and his
constructive creativeness through the long life of this Univer-
sity.
His learning and his administrative efficiency attracted the
2'J
attention of others and opportunities to go to w liiit seemed to he'
or were likely in time to prove to he, more conspicioiis places
were not wanting. Any university in the country would have
heen glad to secure him for the headship of its department of
Chemistry. It was not much known, l»ut the way once opened
for him to go to the presidency of one of the state universities.
His attachments to his own University led him to put these
things away, and happily time justified his determination very
amply. It was fortunate for us; 1 am glad to believe it was
well for him. This was his place: it was the place which he
had largely created; he fitted it and filled it; it was the place
in which he could make the most of himself because it was the
place of greatest usefulness.
Very naturally there was another side to his nature which
this appi-eciation of him does not necessarily disclose, and to
which I should not allude if it did not throw a stronger liglit
upon still another and a beautiful phase of his character to
which I shall allude in a moment. Ue was intense, so intense
that it was often felt that he wasted himself unnecessarily, that
he spent himself too freely for the science of his University. He
often worked while others rested. With all the varied inter-
ests which center here and which have to be provided for, it
sometimes seemed as though he persisted for those under his
care till he carried them l)eyond the point of reason. He loved
discussion, for he had the qualities of mind which needed and
sharpened upon it. He was so truly fond of the exhilaration of
intellectual combat that he would spring to his feet at the first
appearance of an opportunity for it. These things were liable
to give a superficial observer the impression that he was given
to stul)bornness and to idle controversy. But the real truth was
that he loved discussion, even idle controversy, when it was
harmless ; he disliked it when it was hurtful. No man liked
to agree with others upon matters of sul)stance more than he.
It is quite possible that at times his strength overshadowed
his urbanity, and that his native force stood in the way of a
difference of opinion affrighting him as quickly as it did weaker
men. Yet no one could say that he was wanting in the refine
23
meots of feeling-, or that he persisted in serious combat for any
end which did not appeal to his sense of right.
Quite the contrar}' was true. His nature was sympathetic.
He was exceedingly kindly. This goes to the matter of char-
acter ; even more than mentality or nervous activity it must
challenge our esteem in such an hour as this. But if all are
centered in the same being it is better still. It is easy for men
to be kindly if they are weak and must depend upon kindness
from others, or if they lack that nervous restlessness and physi-
cal force which may blind them to the need of kindness or stand
in the way of growth in forbearance and graciousness. Pro-
fessor Palmer had a fuller measure of physical energy, or ner-
vous aggressiveness, than we often see in one man ; but still he
was kindly. He stood in a marriage relation which claimed
the utmost of sympathetic love and gentleness, and received
them to the full. He w^as a proud and tender father. Some of
us know what a true and helpful brother he was. Some may
suppose that he was a hard disciplinarian in his department.
He never spared himself, and he expected healthy men to work
to their limit; but who among us has sacrificed himself more
to develop his subordinates or to save a place for one who was
sick, but true? He was never insipid anywhere. He knew,
better than some of us realize, that exactness is the truest kind-
ness to students. But who among us would be more consider-
ate of any student in whose good purposes he could believe?
Where is there another busy, forceful man in our number who
is bent upon such high professional accomplishments, who
could enter with such enthusiasm into student movements as
he was wont to do? K one of his colleagues was ill or unfortu-
nate his sympathy was as active as his anxiety over a chemical
determination, or his solicitude for a University triumph. Hi
all the relations of life, in all that went to the matter of char-
acter, he was sympathetic, kindly and true. We would rather
say this with entire truth, than anything else we may say of
him today ; and when it may be added that his kindness was
sharpened and given a finer edge by reason of those physical
24
and intellectual forces which were more apparent to the casual
observer, we say all that need be said of any one.
We will try to learn the olnious lesson. All of us, officers,
teachers, students, graduates, friends, who go to make up
the University body, have part in it. We will share each oth-
er's sorrow and support each other's grief. W^e ^\ ill send our
sympathy to all relatives and friends, particularly to a stricken
wife whom we all cherish, and a fatherless boy who cannot
know the measure of his loss, and to all the members of that
prominent family among us with which he was so closely asso-
ciated. But we will go further and apply to ourselves the les-
son of the life that is gone. We will strive to be exact, force-
ful, and in earnest; we will try to gain results and lift human
knowledge to a higher plane ; we will not forget to be more
generous, kindly and true : and we will strive to be ready for
the going in (lod's own time.
Resolutions Adopted by the Board of Trustees.
Whereas, Tlie Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois has
learned with deepest reiiret and sincerest sorrow of the death of Pro-
fessor Arthur William Palmer, Head of the Department of C-hemis-
try of the University. Therefore,
/iVso/iw/, That it is with the largest deji;ree of gratitude that we
place on record our i)roroiiud appreciation of his intense and scholarly
devoti«)n to liis chosen profession; of liis deep scientific knowledge,
as denion*stratedin his invaluable services to the University as direc-
tor and teacher, and of his extended investigation and exhaustive
reports on the potable waters of Illinois, and on nuuiy other mat-
ters correlated with his dei)artment.
licmlved. That, cut oil in his prime, full of ambition and hope,
loyal to tiie University, zealous in his calling, constant in his labor
of research, faitiiful in his daily instruction, he has left a monument
of most intelligent and masterful imlustry, and his loss to the Uni-
versity and to the progress of chemical science seems quite irrepar-
able.
Besolved, That this minute be spread on the records and a copy
be presented to his family, to whom the Board of Trustees extends
its most cordial sympathy in this hour of its deep bereavement.
25
Resolution Adopted by the University Senate.
By tlie death of Professor Arthur W, Palmer in the early prime
of his life and in the midst of his career, the University of Illinois
has lost one of its most distinguished sons, one of its most useful and
devoted servants. Peceiving his formal education first with us and
afterwards in other universities of this country and of the old world,
he spent the whole of his j)roductive life in the development and
maintenance of the work of his department. An expert and learned
scholar, a skilled investigator, a brilliant lecturer, a conscientious
and stimulating instructor, an able executive, and an insi:)iring
leader, he contributed to the progress of the University as but few
of longer life have been able to do. We shall miss him greatly in our
work and in our council ; and we commend his memory to future
generations of students and instructors here as that of one who aid-
ed much to establish and to maintain at this University high stand-
ards of scholarship and high ideals of manly character, and who gave
exceptional talents and his utmost energies to science, to education,
and to the public welfare.
Action of the Faculty of the College of Science.
February 5, 1904.
The Faculty of the College of Science direct us as a Committee to
give on their behalf some public expression of the deep sorrow felt
by all connected with the College and the University because of the
unexpected and lamented death of our colleague Professor Arthur
W. Palmer. This sad loss has cast the deepest gloom upon the Uni-
versity as a whole, but especially upon the College of Science in
the development and management of which his long and efficient ser-
vice made him such an important factor. We but feebly express tiie
feelings shared in common when we say that all of us who have been
thus intimately associated with him in our daily lal)ors are profound-
ly affected by the death of one whom we have always held in the
highest esteem for the wealth and the worth of his personal charac-
ter and for his conspicuous and widely recognized attainments in his
chosen field of science.
T. J. BURRILL,
H. S. Grindley,
E. J. TOWNSEND,
Committee.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA
C IL6UFP C002
PROFESSOR ARTHUR W PALMER. MEMORIAL CON
trriiii
0112
025410603
TVNews
OpenLibrary