Obituaries

Abstract

THE Chemiker Zeitung of November 4 records the death, on October 25, at the age of seventy-two, of Dr. Carl Huggenberg, one of the pioneers among German public analysts. Huggenberg's name is associated with the well-known Analytical Institute founded by him at Chemnitz, where most of his public work was carried out. Born of Swiss parentage at Winterthur, he studied first at Zurich and later at Wiirzburg, where he became assistant to J. Wislicenus, and graduated in 1876. During the following three years he held an official appointment as analyst of foodstuffs in the Canton of Zurich. This special branch of applied chemistry was still in its infancy at that time, but in all the German towns, associations were being formed with the object of fighting against the adulteration of food. In 1882, the association which had been founded five years previously at Chemnitz by L. Friedrich, offered Huggenberg the direction of its laboratory. Here he found full scope for the development of his natural powers. His analytical skill, his comprehensive knowledge of chemistry, and his practical insight into the needs of industry and commerce were invaluable assets to him, and his opinion on technical matters was soon widely sought. His interest in technology led him to make numerous valuable investigations in oils, fats, and soaps, and he made numerous contributions to scientific literature on the refractometrv of soap-fats, the recovery of waste fat, and on soap analysis. Until 1902 he also held the post of food controller at Chemnitz. In 1910 he retired to Zurich.