THEORY OF DEFINITE PROPORTIONS. 2S\) 



As AVolIaston and Dalton were thus arriving independently at the 

 same result in England, other chemists, in other countries, were, un- 

 known to each other, travelling towards the same point. 



In 1SOY, Berzelius, 7 intending to publish a system of chemistry, 

 went through several works little read, and amono; others the treatises 



o * o 



of Richter. He was astonished, he tells us, at the light which was 

 there thrown upon composition and decomposition, and which had 

 never been turned to profit. He was led to a long train of experi- 

 mental research, and, when he received information of Dalton's ideas 

 concerning multiple proportions, he found, in his own collection of 

 analyses, a fall confirmation of this theory. 



Some of the Germans, indeed, appear discontented with the parti- 

 tion of reputation which has taken place with respect to the Theory 

 of Definite Proportions. One 8 of them says, " Dalton has only done 

 this ; he has wrapt up the- good Richter (whom he knew ; compare 

 Schweigger, T, older series, vol. x., p. 381 ;) in a ragged suit, patched 

 together of atoms ; and now poor Richter comes back to his own 

 country in such a garb, like Ulysses, and is not recognized." It is to 

 be recollected, however, that Richter says nothing of multiple pro- 

 portions. 



The general doctrine of the atomic theory is now firmly established 

 over the whole of the chemical world. There remain still several 

 controverted points, as, for instance, whether the atomic weights of 

 all elements are exact multiples of the atomic weight of hydrogen. 

 Dr. Prout advanced several instances in which this appeared to be 

 true, and Dr. Thomson has asserted the law to be of universal appli- 

 cation. But, on the other hand, Berzelius and Dr. Turner declare 

 that this hypothesis is at variance with the results of the best analyses. 

 Such controverted points do not belong to our history, which treats 

 only of the progress of scientific truths already recognized by all com- 

 petent judges. 



Though Dalton's discovery was soon generally employed, and uni- 

 versally spoken of with admiration, it did not bring to him anything 

 but barren praise, and he continued in the humble employment of 

 which we have spoken, when his fame had filled Europe, and his 

 name become a household word in the laboratory. After some years 

 he was appointed a corresponding member of the Institute of France;, 

 which may be considered as a European recognition of the importance 



T Berz. Clem. B. iii. p. 27. e Marx. Gesch. der Cryst. p. 202 



VOL. II 19 



