Chemical Evidence on a late Trial. 317 



Chief Justice Dallas, and a special Jury, in the Court of Com- 

 mon Pleas, at Guildhall, in the month of April last, the Lord 

 Chief Justice, in summing up, made the following observations : 

 " We have been now employed in the examination during two 

 days, of a great number of the most intelligent persons, tliat 

 this country or Europe can produce. I am myself, more or 

 less, acquainted with all the writings of every one of these 

 gentlemen : from this I know their information, I know their 

 talents ; and whether my time has been well or ill employed, 

 I will not say, but I am proud to acknowledge, that from 

 their labours, I have received at times a considerable degree 

 of pleasure,; but I must add, that these two days, thus em- 

 ployed, are not days of triumph, but days of humiliation for 

 science ; for when I find that their science ends in this degree 

 of uncertainty and doubt, and when I observe they are drawn 

 up in martial and hostile array against each other, how is it 

 possible for me to form, at a moment, an opinion upon such 

 contradictory evidence ? You will not, therefore, expect any 

 opinion upon this part of the case from me ; I can form none : 

 volumes have been spoken upon it, and I foresee, without being 

 blessed with the spirit of prophecy, that volumes will be written 

 upon it, and so they ought, for the elucidation of science, and 

 the enlightening of mankind." 



In consequence of the impression which these observations 

 have made upon the public, and of the active part which I 

 have been called upon to take in the investigation of the ques- 

 tion at issue between the parties, I have felt myself bound to 

 attempt to explain to the chemical world, the reasons upon 

 which my own opinions were founded, and also to endeavour to 

 account for the origin of those conclusions, which were 

 adopted by the practical chemists who appeared in behalf of 

 the defendants. 



The plaintiiTs in these actions, Messrs. Severn, King, and 

 Company, are very considerable sugar-refiners, carrying on their 

 business at the works they possess in the neighbourhood of 

 Whitechapel. These gentlemen who have been proprietors of 

 this concern for many years past, effected at different times 



