Abstract
THE death occurred on December 19 last of Prof. H. L. Wells, and we are indebted to the American Journal of Science for the following details of his life and scientific career. Horace Lemuel Wells was born on October 5, 1855, in New Britain, Connecticut, and went to Yale University in 1884 as instructor in analytical chemistry in the Sheffield Scientific School, and eventually was appointed professor of analytical chemistry and metallurgy. This post he held from 1893 until 1923, when he was made professor emeritus. Prof. Wells devoted much attention to the analysis of minerals; he determined the composition of a number of minerals from Branchville, described with E. S. Dana the new mineral beryllonite, and analysed a new platinum mineral which he called sperrylite. In 1891 he obtained a supply of the rare mineral pollucite from which a quantity of caesium salts, hitherto only known in small quantities, was extracted. This furnished material for a series of investigations on caesium compounds which covered more than thirty years. About one-half of his published work relates to these substances. Beginning with the perhalides of caesium, he investigated systematically the double salts of this element, and later discovered a series of triple salts, notably triple thiocyanates. In 1897 Prof. Wells translated Fresenius's “Qualitative Analysis,” and he also published works on chemical calculations. In 1904 he became an associate-editor of the American Journal of Science. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1903.
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[Obituaries]. Nature 115, 612 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/115612b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/115612b0