University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - Yackety Yack Yearbook (Chapel Hill, NC)

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YA.C;tVlLl Y TAC TW€W fT ' - M FRANCIS PRESTON VENABLE ' PON assuming the taxing duties of the presidency of this institution in 1900, the distinguished scholar to whom this volume is fittingly dedicated, bodied an image of the University in words eloquent of the ideals which have animated him in its direction: A shining light in the darkness, clearly and patiently directing the course of those who would travel the pathway to knowledge and the higher life; a center of gracious and helpful influence streaming out into the whole land; a strong foundation unmoved by frenzied passion, by the shifting sands of political change, by the bigotry of ignorance, or the selfish bias of wealth; a treasure which cannot be bought or sold away from the people, by whom and for whom it was created; a loving mother of many noble sons, whom it is her pride to help and nourish and lead upwards to the light. The son of a father, distinguished like himself for scientific attainment and executive skill. Colonel Charles S. Venable, Aide to General R. E. Lee in the Confederate Army, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Virginia and sometime Chairman of the Faculty, he was born in Prince Edward County, Va., November 17, 1856. Shortly after his graduation from the University of Virginia in 1877, he exhibited that inclination to the study of science which has marked his entire career. Following a year ' s work of grad- uate study at his Alma Mater in chemistry, natural philosophy, and mineralogy, he pur- sued studies in chemistry abroad at Bonn, at Gottingen, where he received the degrees of M.A. and Ph.D., and later at Berlin. At the age of twenty-three, while still a student at Bonn, he was called to take charge of the school of chemistry at this university which then boasted a faculty of only seven professors, two instructors, and some one hundred and fifty students. During the two decades of his service in this capacity, he built up, through the sheer force of personality and the volume and excellence of creative contributions to science, the strongest depart- ment of chemistry in any Southern university. During this period he published more than three score papers in the chief scientific journals; and won high repute for his pub- lished books — Qualitative Analysis, Short History of Chemistry, The History of the Periodic Law, with which his name is particularly associated. Inorganic Chemistry According to the Periodic Law (in conjunction with Professor J. L. Howe), and A Study of the Atom. Rec- ognition of his contributions to science in the field of chemistry came in the form of elec- tions to various high posts in scientific societies — in this country and abroad. Succes- sively Councilor of the American Chemical Society, fellow of the London Chemical So- ciety and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, member of the Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft and the American Philosophical Society, he was in 1905 elected to the post of highest honor in his profession in this country. President of the