I3ERTHELOT, Pierre Eugene Marcellin, French chemist and politician: b. Paris, 25 Oct. 1827; d. there, 18 March 1907. He early studied chemistry, and was brought into notice in 1854 by his thesis for a doctor's degree, in which he gave an account of his arti ficial reproduction of natural fats. In 1859 he was appointed professor of organic chemistry in the Superior School of Pharmacy; and in 1865 a new chair of organic chemistry was organized for him in the College of France. In 1870 he was elected president of the scien tific committee of defense, and during the siege of Paris was entrusted with the manufacture of ammunition and guns, and especially dyna mite and nitro-glycerine. In 1873 he became a member of the Institute, and in 1878 he became president of the committee on explosives, which introduced smokeless powder. His labors also led to the discovery of dyes extracted from coal tar. He received the decoration of the Legion of Honor in 1861; was made com tnander in 1879, and grand officer in 1886. In 1889 he was elected permanent secretary of the Academy of Sciences. He contributed to the
knowledge of synthetical processes and to the relations between the phenomena of heat and of chemistry, and may be regarded as the founder of synthetic chemistry and therino chemistry. In public life he held a prominent place, became in 1876 inspector-general of edu cation, in 1:::1 a life member of the Senate,, in 1836-87 was minister of public instruction and in 1895-96 foreign secretary. His works include Thimie organique fond& sur la (1860) ; 'Lecons sur les prin apes (1862); Lecons sur (1865) ; 'Trait e elementaire de chimie organi que' and 'Sur la force de la poudre et des matieres explosives' (1872 and 1889) ; Essai de micanique chimique) (1879) ; 'Les origines de l'alchimie' (1885) ; 'Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs' (1888) ; 'Chimie des anciens) (1889) ; 'Traite pratique de calorimetric chimique' (1893); 'Recherches experimentales) (1901).