CHEVREUL, MICHEL EUGENE French chemist, was born, on Aug. 31, 1786, in Angers, where his father was a physician. At about the age of 17 he went to Paris and entered L. N. Vauquelin's chemical laboratory, afterwards becom ing his assistant at the natural history museum in the Jardin des Plantes. In 1813 he was appointed professor of chemistry at the Lycee Charlemagne, and subsequently undertook the director ship of the Gobelins tapestry works, where he carried out his researches on colour contrasts (De la loi du contraste simultane des couleurs, 1839). In 1826 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences, and in the same year was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society of London, whose Copley medal he was awarded in 1857. He succeeded his master, Vauquelin, as pro fessor of organic chemistry at the natural history museum in 1830, and was its director (186o-79). He died in Paris on April 9, 1889, at the age of 103. Chevreul's name is best remembered for the classical researches he carried out on animal fats, published in 1823 (Recherches sur les corps Bras d'origine animale). He deter mined the composition of stearin and olefin, and isolated stearic and oleic acids. This work led to important improvements in the processes of soap and candle manufacture.