JOHANN GEORG

FORCHHAMMER (1794—1865)  , Danish mineralc;;ist and geologist, was born at Husum, Schleswig, on the 24th of July 1794, and died at Copenhagen on the 14th of December 1865 . After studying at Kiel and Copenhagen from 1815 to 1818, he joined Oersted and Lauritz Esmarch in their mineralogical exploration of Bornholm, and took a considerable share in the labours of the expedition . In 1820 he obtained his doctor's degree by a chemical treatise De mangano, and immediately after set out on a journey through England, Scotland and the Faeroe Islands . In 1823 he was appointed lecturer at Copenhagen University on chemistry and mineralogy; in 1829 he obtained a similar post in the newly established poly-technic school; and in 1831 he was appointed professor of mineralogy in the university, and in 1848 became curator of the geological museum . From 1835 to 1837 he made many contributions to the geological survey of Denmark . On the death of H . C . Oersted in 1851, he succeeded him as director of the polytechnic school and secretary of the Academy of Sciences . In 185o he began with J . Steenstrup and Worsaae various anthropological publications which gained a high reputation . As a public instructor Forchhammer held a high place and contributed potently to the progress of his favourite studies in his native country . He interested himself in such practical questions as the introduction of gas into Copenhagen, the establishment of the fire-brigade at Rosenberg and the boring of artesian wells .

Among his more important

works are=Loerebog i de enkelte Radicalers Chemi (1842); Danmarks geognostiske Forhold (1835); Om de Bornholmske Kulformationer (1836) ; Dit myere Kridt i Dan-mark (1847) ; Bidrag til Skildringen of Danmarks geographiske Forhold (1858) . A list of his contributions to scientific periodicals, Danish, English and German, will be found in the Catalogue of Scientific Papers published by the Royal Society of London . One of the most interesting and most recent is " On the Constitution of Sea Water at Different Depths and in Different Latitudes," in the Proceedings of the Roy . Soc. xii . (1862-1863) .