THE 

 LONDON, EDINBURGH and DUBLIN 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[THIRD SERIES.] 



AUGUST 1842. 



XV. On the Scientific Labours o/*Jeremias Benjamin Richter. 

 Addressed to the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Peters- 

 burg, at the public sitting of Dec. 29, 1840, by M. Hess, 

 Member of the Academy*. 



Gentlemen, 



THERE is perhaps no one here present who does not 

 reckon amongst the fairest enjoyments of thought those 

 moments which from time to time he is able to devote to the 

 remembrance of men of genius who have bequeathed to us 

 important truths. And when I proceed to show that the veil 

 which obscures the memory of one of these has yet to be 

 torn away, — that the labours of twenty years employed in ren- 

 dering a truth evident to the eyes of the most incredulous, are 

 not yet appreciated, — you will then, I cannot doubt, grant me 

 a moment of the attention which your kindness would not 

 have refused to a cause less disinterested. 



In the exact sciences, as in all other cases, nature does not 

 allow us to proceed per saltum ; it is necessary that every thing 

 should be unfolded gradually. It is the most simple phaeno- 

 menon which first takes its place in the domain of intelligence ; 

 the most complicated — themostdifficull, is that which comesthe 

 last. Thus when at the beginning of the eighteenth century, 

 astronomy, thanks to the numerous labours summed up by the 

 mind of one great man, thanks to the simplicity of his prin- 

 ciple, assume'd the rank of a science almost perfect, about that 

 time did chemistry, with difficulty, attempt to assume a sci- 

 entific form. You will perhaps suppose that this is to be at- 

 tributed to the men who were engaged in it; but you will 

 soon abandon this idea when I tell you that Newton, who dis- 

 covered the law of gravitation, also applied himself to che- 

 mistry, that he decomposed the subtile matter of light, whilst 



* From the Recueil des Actes de la Seance Publique, Dec. 29, 1 840. 



Phil. Mag, S. 3. Vol. 21. No. 136. Aug. 1 842. G 



