cided in 1889 upon a reissue of M. Zola's works in a slightly altered form, the work of expurgation being entrusted to his son, Mr. Ernest Alfred Vizetelly. On 30 May 1889 he was again charged at the Old Bailey with publishing obscene libels. By the advice of his counsel, Alfred Cock, Q.C., he pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment as a first-class misdemeanant, his recognisances of 200l. being at the same time estreated. He was already sixty-nine years old, and far from being strong, and his confinement told severely upon his health. He was fortunately not deterred from publishing in 1893 his bright, unguarded, and gaily discursive ‘Glances back through Seventy Years: Autobiographical and other Reminiscences’—anecdotal records of literary Bohemia in London and Paris between 1840 and 1870. In 1890 he had produced a readable little narrative of ‘Count Königsmark and Tom of Ten Thousand’ [see Thynne, Thomas] for a series of eccentric memoirs. Vizetelly died at Heatherlands, Farnham, on 1 Jan. 1894, aged 73. He was twice married: first, to Elizabeth Pollard; and, secondly, in 1861, to Annie Ansell, and left issue by both marriages.
A younger brother, Frank Vizetelly (1830–1883?), born in Fleet Street on 26 Sept. 1830, and educated at Boulogne, along with Gustave Doré and Blanchard Jerrold, obtained by his brother's influence employment as travelling correspondent and draughtsman for the ‘Pictorial Times.’ Later on, in 1857, he helped to found the ‘Monde Illustré’ at Paris, and acted as editor until 1859, when he took service as war correspondent to the ‘Illustrated London News.’ This paper published a vast number of engravings from his sketches despatched from the battlefield of Solferino, from Sicily during Garibaldi's expedition in 1860, from Spain and America during the civil wars, from Sadowa, and from Egypt, where Frank Vizetelly was either enslaved or perished upon the massacre of Hicks Pasha's army near Kashgil, Sudan, on 5 Nov. 1883. His name figures upon the memorial to the war correspondents in St. Paul's Cathedral, the date of his death being left blank.
[Times, 2 Jan. 1894, 25 Oct. 1897, 1 Nov. 1888, and 31 May 1889; Athenæum, 1894, i. 19; Sun, 30 Sept. 1893; Sherrard's Life of Zola, pp. 228; Tovey's Wine and Wine Countries, 1862; Sala's Life and Adventures; Yates's Recollections and Experiences, i. 278; Fox-Bourne's English Newspapers, ii. 251; Vizetelly's Glances Back (with portrait), 1893; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
VOELCKER, JOHN CHRISTOPHER AUGUSTUS (1822–1884), agricultural chemist, was born on 24 Sept. 1822 at Frankfort-on-Main, the fifth son of Frederick Adolphus Voelcker, a merchant of that city. Ill-health during childhood postponed the commencement of his education until he was twelve years old, but by persevering energy he was able at the age of sixteen to earn his own living as a pharmacist's assistant at Frankfort. After a four years' course in that capacity he went in 1842 as manager of a similar business at Schaffhausen. In 1844 he entered the university of Göttingen, where he studied chemistry under Professor Wöhler. During his college career he also attended Justus von Liebig's lectures on agricultural chemistry at Giessen. He took his degree of doctor of philosophy at Göttingen in 1846. His earlier work was directed to researches in general mineral and organic chemistry, and he published several papers in German and Dutch scientific periodicals.
He left Göttingen to take up the post of principal assistant to Professor Gerrit Jan Mulder at Utrecht, aiding him in preparing his ‘Chemische Untersuchungen’ (Frankfort, 1852, 8vo). Mulder devoted much attention to the study of physiological chemistry, especially in its relation to vegetable and animal production. Though Voelcker's stay at Utrecht was short, his work there fixed the ultimate bent of his researches. In February 1847 he went to Edinburgh to be assistant to James Finlay Weir Johnston [q. v.], then chemist to the Agricultural Chemistry Association of Scotland. While assistant to Johnston he lectured on his behalf at Durham University, and he formed an intimate friendship with George Wilson (1818–1859) [q. v.], the regius professor of technology at Edinburgh. This friendship had a marked influence on Voelcker's subsequent career. It was during the two years he spent at Edinburgh that he first came into touch with practical farmers and gained experience of their requirements.
In August 1849 Voelcker was appointed professor of chemistry at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. Here he found his opportunity. By carrying out practical field experiments, in combination with scientific work in the laboratory, he was able to put to the test matters of agricultural practice and to study their scientific import.
In 1855 Voelcker was appointed consulting chemist to the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society, and in 1857 to the Royal Agricultural Society of England. He continued to hold both positions till his death. In 1863 he resigned his professorship at Cirencester, and, coming to London established a laboratory in Salisbury Square, and commenced a private practice as consulting chemist. In 1870 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society; he was one of
