the Franklin Institute Committee on Science and the Arts were of his writing. In co-operation with Campbell Morfit he prepared a report on Recent Improvements in the Chemical Arts, which was published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1852. The conservative, practical spirit that presided over the composition of this work is illustrated in the preface, where the authors say: "We have freely exercised discrimination in the selection of subjects, and have omitted much that we found in applied chemistry, because novel views need, in many cases, further confirmation to render them reliable in practice, and, if presented too early to the artisan, may be productive of more evil than good. We have kept in view the benefit of the practical man, the manufacturer or worker, and, while we have not avoided scientific terms where they were more convenient, we have generally used words of description intelligible to every one. We have confined ourselves to such foreign improvements in the chemical arts, whether patented or not, as we believed the American artisan might avail himself of, frequently offering critical remarks on them, and sometimes pointing out where improvements were likely to be made."
In the Journal of the American Chemical Society are papers on some methods of toughening gold and silver (September, 1884): A General Method of toughening Gold and Silver in the Melting Crucible (June, 1884); and The Smelting Furnace of the U. S. Mint (June, 1885), from which we have quoted. Other papers, the media of publication of which are not given by Mr, Dubois, are: On Beet-root Sugars (1842); Chrome Iron Analysis (1842); Constitution of Glycerin and Oily Acids (1848); and a Report on the Water-supply of Philadelphia (1862). His most conspicuous effort in literature was the Encyclopædia of Chemistry published in Philadelphia in 1850, which was written chiefly by him, but on the last half of which Dr. Campbell Morfit assisted.
Prof. Booth received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Lewisburg in 1867, and that of Ph. D. from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1884. He was made a member of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in 1842; of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences in 1852; of the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts in 1853; of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture about 1859; and of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1884. He was President of the American Chemical Society in 1883 and 1884, and declined re-election for a third term; and was interested in the diocesan work of the Protestant Episcopal Church and in various philanthropies. He is described as having been personally a gentleman of refined manners, pleasing address, and a cheerful disposition, which was often obscured, however, by his nervous intensity.
