by his views on the famous periodic law, and he says in the preface to The Principles of Chemistry, "that the entire scheme of the work is subjected to the law of periodicity."
Such is a short account of Russia's greatest chemist.
•••••••
The rivers of Siberia, the native country of Mendeléeff, even in their lower latitudes, are ice-bound from the beginning of November to the beginning of May; and during the winter the smaller tributaries freeze to the bottom. … The grim story of political persecution and astounding cruelties as practised in "Holy Russia" revolt against humanity. The fiendish cruelty of the Russian soldier in flogging, kicking, and torturing prisoners is proverbial. The officer in charge of a convoy of prisoners on their way to Siberia "expresses the hope that the prisoners may suffer all the tortures of Hades for ever, and taste a fair sample of them even upon this earth."
And don't you whine, that in your youth
You had to bear the cold;
For, when you go to hell, forsooth,
You get it hot, I'm told.
This is the country where Mendeléeff was born, and lived the earlier portion of his existence. It may have had something to do in moulding his character—"dediscit animus sero quod didicit diu."
