THE PRESENT PROBLEMS OF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 



BY SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY 



[Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., Professor of Chemistry, University College, Lon- 

 don, since June, 1887. b. October 2, 1852, Glasgow, Scotland. Ph.D. Tubingen, 

 Wiirtemberg, 1872; LL.D. Glasgow; Sc.D. Dublin, Cambridge, England, and 

 New York; Ph.D. Cracow; M. D. Heidelberg; Officier de la L4gion d'Honneur, 

 France; winner of Davy Medal, 1897; Nobel Prize, 1904; Grande Me'daille of 

 H. I. M. the German Emperor, 1904, and many others. Professor of Chemistry, 

 University College, Bristol, 1880-87; Principal, ibid. 1881-87. Fellow of Royal, 

 Chemical, and Physical Societies, and of Society of Chemical Industry, London; 

 Honorary Member of Academies of Ireland, America, Berlin, Vienna, St. Peters- 

 burg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Paris (Institute), and of Societies of Vienna, 

 Turin, Mexico, Philadelphia, Bohemia, Hungary, Frankfort, Geneva, Glasgow, 

 Manchester, Bristol, etc. Author of many books on Chemistry; editor of text- 

 books on Physical Chemistry.] 



To discuss the "present problems of inorganic chemistry" is by no 

 means an easy task. The expression might be taken to mean an 

 account of what is being actually done at present by those engaged 

 in inorganic research; or it might be taken to relate to what needs 

 doing - - to the direction in which research is required. To summarize 

 what is being done in an intelligible manner in the time at my disposal 

 would be an almost impossible task; hence I will choose the latter 

 interpretation of the title of my address. Now, a considerable expe- 

 rience in attempting to unveil the secrets of nature has convinced 

 me that a deliberate effort to discover some new law or fact seldom 

 succeeds. The investigator generally begins unmethodically, by ran- 

 dom and chance experiments; or perhaps he is guided by some indi- 

 cation which has struck his attention during some previous research; 

 and he is often the plaything of circumstances in his choice. Expe- 

 rience leads him to choose problems which most readily admit of 

 solution, or which appear likely to lead to the most interesting re- 

 sults. If I may be excused the egotism of referring to my own work, 

 I may illustrate what I mean by relating the following curious coin- 

 cidence: After Lord Rayleigh had announced his discovery that 

 "atmospheric nitrogen" was denser than "chemical nitrogen," I 

 referred to Cavendish's celebrated paper on the combination of the 

 nitrogen and the oxygen of the air by means of electric sparks. 

 Fortified by what I read, and by the knowledge gained during the 

 performance of lecture-experiments that red-hot magnesium is a 

 good and fairly rapid absorbent of nitrogen, it was not long before 

 a considerable quantity of nearly pure argon had been separated 

 from atmospheric nitrogen. Now it happens that I possess two 

 copies of Cavendish's works; and some months afterwards I con- 

 sulted the other copy and found penciled on the margin the words 



