EARLY AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETIES. 825 



\r\^ whicli lie cites an admirable passage from Dr. Bostock: 

 " Physiologists have in general been more inclined to form hypoth- 

 eses than to execute experiments, and it has necessarily ensued 

 from this unfortunate propensity that their science has advanced 

 more slowly than perhaps any other department of natural phi- 

 losophy." Unfortunately, this truth was not fully recognized by 

 the members of the Columbian Chemical Society. 



A contemporary journal (New York Medical Repository) re- 

 views the Memoirs in the following quaint style: " It is highly 

 gratifying to behold a band of worthies like those before us labor- 

 ing to analyze the compounds which they find ready made, to 

 form by synthesis new combinations in the laboratory, and there- 

 by to deduce correct doctrines from the facts which are disclosed. 

 We cordially congratulate them on their noble occupation and 

 on the progress they have made. We hope they will be persever- 

 ing and undaunted ; and if from this beginning there shall arise 

 great improvements in theoretical disquisition, as well as in eco- 

 nomical exercise, we shall rejoice with a mingled glow of amica- 

 ble and patriotic sentiment." 



3. The Delaware Chemical and Geological Society was organ- 

 ized at Delhi, Delaware County, New York State, September 6, 

 1821. The first meeting was held at the hotel of G. H. Edgerton, 

 in the village. The president was Charles A. Foote, and the vice- 

 president the Rev. James P. F. Clark. The society was composed 

 of " between forty and fifty well-informed and respectable inhab- 

 itants of the county." It had for its object the improvement of 

 the members in literature and science, especially in mineralogy 

 and chemistry. The members planned to form a library, and 

 they made a collection of the minerals and rocks of the region, 

 but the society was not long sustained. 



In reviewing the condition of chemical science in the United 

 States as indicated by the membership and achievements of these 

 early societies, we note that those who held the most prominent 

 places were handicapped by the necessity of devoting a large part 

 of their intellectual energy to topics quite outside of the domain 

 of chemistry itself. The active members were either busy with 

 the art of healing or with teaching several branches of the phys- 

 ical and natural sciences, and too often chemistry was regarded 

 in the colleges as a kind of side iv'^sue or appendix to the more im- 

 portant subjects of instruction. This was caused by the necessity 

 of earning a competence at a time when there was no opportunity 

 of reaping pecuniary rewards by skill as an analyst or by the 

 application of science to the manufacture of products involving 

 chemical knowledge. Indeed, in default of this stimulus to labo- 

 ratory work it is not surprising that the papers read to the socie- 

 ties were largely either reviews of the grand discoveries made by 



