286 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS About this time Ernest started to work on the revision and compilation of his numerous monographs and articles into book form which he had pub- lished over a period of some fifteen years. He did not seem to realize at first that he set himself a task of truly herculean proportions. When it dawned on him what he tackled, he felt like a swimmer who trying to cross a river finds himself unaccountably in the middle of an ocean. At any rate, for over ten years he worked with a devotion and a persistence which must arouse the boundless admiration and intense gratitude of all those who are now enjoying the fruits of his labors. He sacrificed Sundays and holi- days as well as his vacations to this task. He worked every day until mid- night or even later. He is convinced that he could not have done it had he been married. With this I most certainly disagree. An understanding wife would have been to him a source of helpful comfort and solicitude. Besides, it is too bad that some good girl has been deprived of the op- portunity of getting a husband of Ernest's sterling qualities. However, I do not wish to imply that Ernest should be canonized as a saint. I am not losing sight of his essential realism. This is why I hasten to assure you that Ernest is by no means immune to feminine charm, or that, in turn, he is not eminently attractive to the fair sex. But beyond all this, Ernest loves humanity in general. His is the quality of empathy, the ability to feel with people, to share their problems and pleasures by identifying himself with them. Ernest has a gentle sense of humor which makes him laugh with those he meets, but never at their ex- pense. Above all, Ernest is a sympatico, a man supremely considerate, who never holds a grudge, who does not even hunt or fish because he would not want to hurt another living creature. In spite of the specialization in his chosen field, Ernest's is certainly not a one-track mind. Far from it! He is constitutionally unable to be indif- ferent about anything, be it politics or archeology, languages or history, fine food or feminine pulchritude. Yet he is never dogmatic willing as he is to express his own opinions, he invites and respects those of others. Ernest is a marvelously vital person. It is this vitality which stood him in such good stead on his many journeys to the remotest corners of the world. I only hope that someone will persuade him to write his autobi- ography some day. Judging by the very few examples of his experiences with which I am familiar, such a book would make fascinating reading. Generous to a fault as he is, Ernest delights in acknowledging whole- heartedly the devotion and cooperation of the special staff which was as- sembled to aid him with his monumental work, "The Essential Oils." With this as a premise we, too, owe a debt of gratitude to this small group of dedicated people. And last, but not least, we appreciate and admire the generous understanding with which the management of Fritzsche Brothers treated the project from its inception to its execution. Without such an

ERNEST GUENTHER, THE SCIENTIST 287 understanding and without the continuous encouragement and moral support on the part of Mr. Leonhardt and his associates, the completion of the great work might have been delayed by many years, if not vitiated altogether. In concluding this all too inadequate statement, I cannot help returning to Ernest's humanistic and classical background which is so manifest in his outstanding personality and in his scientific writings, and of which he is so proudly conscious. And this is why I deem it only fitting to suggest that our contemporary, Ernest Guenther, the author of "The Essential Oils," can justly say of his accomplishment at least as much as Horace said of his own work (in the thirtieth ode of the third book): "Exegi monumentum aere perennius regalique situ pyramidum altius, quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens possit diruere aut innumerabilis anncrum series et fuga temporum. Non omnis moriar multaque pars mei vitabit Libitinam .... " "I have erected a monument more enduring than bronze, of regal pro- portions and higher than the pyramids, one that no wasting rain, no powerless north wind could destroy, nor the countless number of years and the flight of the ages. I shall not die completely, since a great part of me will remain immortal .... " ERNEST GUENTHER, THE SCIENTIST By EDWAKD E. LANGENAU THE CONTRIBUTIONS of Dr. Ernest Guenther to the field of essential oils and to the related fields of perfumery and cosmetics cannot be over- emphasized. Unfortunately, the scope of this address permits me to touch but briefly upon his training and upon his important contributions to this field. The formal education of Ernest Guenther included study at the Tech- nische Hochschule of Munich and Zurich. His chemical training was con- tinued at the University of Zurich under the Nobel prize winner, Professor Paul Karrer. Here he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1920 upon completion of a scholarly inaugural dissertation entitled, "Thioglu- koside." Subsequently he was associated closely with Prof. A. Hesse, of Berlin the well known authority on natural flower oils. Thus the course of Dr. Guenther's lifework had already been set at an early date.