Bull. Hist. Chem.,
VOLUME 27, Number 1 (2002)
29
of technology, a position that was also vacant. The cu-
rator thus arranged for Zinin to remain abroad for an
additional year in order to study technology and to visit
sites of industrial importance (15). Zinin did not object
to this change in plans. Indeed, he submitted a detailed
description of his intended activities–mainly concern-
ing technology–if granted an extension by the Ministry
of Education, perhaps because it would afford him ex-
tra time abroad and thus would enable him to spend more
time in Giessen with Liebig (16).
Technology had been taught at Russian universi-
ties from the creation of the university system in the
early nineteenth century. The original educational stat-
ute in 1804, which provided a blueprint for many edu-
cational developments up to 1917, included the teach-
ing of technology at all educational levels and was
greatly influenced by Marquis de Condorcet’s essay on
public instruction (17). For the universities, a kafedra
(chair) of “Technology with Application to Trade and
Industry” was to be included in the physics-mathemat-
ics faculty (18). This utilitarian impulse received greater
emphasis during the reign of Nicholas I (1825-1855),
particularly during the years when Count Sergei
Semenovich Uvarov was the Minister of Education
(1833-1848). Uvarov hoped to stimulate the develop-
ment of agriculture and industry throughout Russia by
means of instruction and public lectures, and he greatly
increased the number of teaching positions and resources
for technology (19). Thus Curator Musin-Pushkin was
responding to this increased emphasis on technology
when he decided that Zinin should occupy the kafedra
of technology at Kazan’ University instead of that of
chemistry.
Ending his first stay in Giessen in January 1839,
Zinin returned to Berlin to continue his studies there.
However, he soon fell in with a group of Russian stu-
dents, who were in Berlin studying medicine. Zinin was
so influenced by these fellow Russians that he began
studying medical subjects and almost decided to become
a physician himself (20). This incident has drawn fleet-
ing attention from Zinin’s biographers, but they do not
note its implications. It is possible that Zinin was not
happy with the idea of concentrating on teaching “tech-
nology and analytical chemistry” as he was beginning
to center his chemical interests on organic chemistry
under Liebig’s influence. Becoming a physician may
have been a way for Zinin to avoid the concentration on
technology. It is also possible that Zinin’s attachment
to any one particular field of study was not yet settled.
Remember, at this time it was less than a scant four years
since Zinin had switched from astronomy and mathemat-
ics into chemistry, a move that also was not of his own
choosing. Contacts with enthusiastic disciples of an-
other field of science might have swayed Zinin’s ideas
about his future.
Whatever the case, Zinin did not continue with the
study of medicine and instead returned to Giessen in
the summer of 1839, at which time he was finally able
to work in Liebig’s laboratory. He focused on experi-
ments concerning the benzoyl radical, which was one
of the primary topics of interest in Liebig’s laboratory
at the time (21). Liebig gave Zinin the problem of ob-
taining benzoin, benzil, and their products, using oil of
bitter almonds, which contained benzaldehyde, as the
starting material. This research formed the basis for two
articles published by Zinin in Liebig’s Annalen in 1839
and 1840 (22). The first article briefly describes a new
method of preparing benzoin from oil of bitter almonds
with potassium cyanide as a catalyst. Zinin treated
amygdalin, a glucoside of bitter almonds, with emulsin
in the presence of potassium cyanide to produce a mix-
ture of products, including benzaldehyde and benzoin.
The second article gave a detailed description of this
new method as well as methods for producing benzil
from benzoin with nitric acid, benzilic acid from benzil,
and several other products. Zinin demonstrated that one
of these compounds was identical with “Benzamid” pro-
duced by Laurent. The two articles are straightforward
descriptions of Zinin’s methods and contain no discus-
sion of any possible theoretical significance of the reac-
tions.
In September 1839, Zinin left Giessen and went to
Paris, where he attended lectures of Joseph Louis Gay-
Lussac and Jean Baptiste André Dumas on organic chem-
istry and of Theophile Jules Pelouze on analytical chem-
istry. He was able to work in the laboratory of Pelouze,
continuing his investigations of the benzoyl radical. In
addition, he visited mines, factories, and other sites of
interest for chemical technology. Finally, in June 1840,
Zinin went to England for three weeks and then returned
to Russia.
Zinin arrived in St. Petersburg in September 1840.
However, instead of returning immediately to Kazan’,
as would be expected, he sent a letter to the Ministry of
Education requesting permission “to undertake the ex-
aminations for the doctoral degree at St. Petersburg
University” (23). In this petition Zinin stated that he
was an adjunct of chemistry, had been sent abroad for
advanced training in chemistry, had spent three years