On the 7th of last August a century had elapsed since the death of Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, the discoverer of beet root sugar. He was born March 3, 1709, in Berlin, and died August 7, 1782. At that day he ranked among the foremost of the chemists and physicists of his time. At the age of twenty-nine he was elected a member of the "Society of Sciences," at Berlin. In 1744 this society was reorganized under the title of the "Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts," and Marggraf was assigned to the physical section, and in 1760 became the director of that section.

In 1780 the Academy of Sciences, in Paris, nominated him as foreign member.

The domain of chemistry was enriched by him with a large number of important discoveries, and he it was who first appreciated the value of the microscope as an aid in chemical analysis and research. An investigation of the nature of the sap of plants led him to study those constituents to which it owes its sweet taste, and to the discovery of a substance present in different plants and exactly like the sugar obtained from the sugar cane of India. He obtained sugar from different plants, especially from the mangolds, now known and cultivated under the name of sugar beets. He also instituted numerous experiments regarding the best method of preparing pure sugar from these plants. Marggraf was a man of science; he never thought of making any practical use of his discoveries, even when he was convinced of their practical value.

His successor and pupil, Franz Carl Achard, who was born in Berlin, April 28, 1753, and died on his estate in Schlesia, April 20, 1821, converted Marggraf's discovery into a valuable agricultural reality, by devoting his mental and physical strength, as well as his means, to experiments on a large scale. He died before he saw the fruits of his labors ripen. Achard was the founder of the German beet sugar industry.