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Out of these efforts the Julius Stieglitz Memorial Lectureship developed, for we felt that in no other way could we as adequately preserve the spirit of the man than by the annual presentation to the Section and to the University of a discussion of some topic in which he might himself have been interested.

Although the breadth of his interests assured us that in the years to come these lectures would touch on most aspects of fundamental chemistry, I must confess that the topic I have chosen for my talk tonight is a far-cry from Professor Stieglitz's own work. Nevertheless it reflects his teaching, and his point of view toward his students. For, when I returned to Chicago from studies abroad, to begin my independent professional career, he urged me to seek a field of research not too closely related to that of my studies as a student. Under Dr. Stieglitz I had worked on a problem in physico-organic chemistry; after receiving my degree I went to Berlin to study physical chemistry under Nernst and then spent a semester with Thiele in the Strassburg department of organic chemistry. The last stage of my training was as Abel's research assistant in physiological chemistry. You will see that I took Dr. Stieglitz's advice very seriously, because my topic tonight, as is true of most of my own research, is one of pure inorganic chemistry.