xxvi Presidential Address. 



Chemistry may still be defined as the study, in the widest sense, of the 

 properties of substances, and the foundations upon which modern chemistry 

 has risen must have been laid in a period of remote antiquity. The pursuit 

 of the discovery of the philosopher's stone and of the elixir vitae made 

 alchemists and iatro-chemists acquainted with the properties of substances 

 which otherwise might have been ignored, and even the art of the poisoner 

 must have extended knowledge in a like direction. 



Illuminating as is the study of the old-time knowledge, it seems to teach 

 that the principles of scientific inquiry were understood by very few of 

 the ancient observers. Such ingrained ideas as that astronomy is insepa- 

 rable from astrology, or chemistry from witchcraft, or, again, that nature's 

 riddles may be solved by ingenious argument without appeal to observation 

 or experiment, militated greatly against the development of accurate know- 

 ledge. Only after the arrival of that indefinite period of transition known 

 as the Renaissance would it appear that the pursuit of knowledge for its 

 own sake became common — or, indeed, that such pursuit was regarded as 

 legitimate. Even amongst civilized peoples of the present day the pro- 

 portion of persons who show any real desire to learn more of the laws of 

 nature than is already known is not very large, and the announcement 

 of some important discovery in physics, chemistry, or biology receives but 

 little notice from the general public. It may be that the desire for 

 knowledge is latent in every human being, but that owing to our so-called 

 civilization, or to some failure in our systems of education, the smouldering- 

 fire is seldom fanned into burning flame. Possibly the extension of those 

 very clever researches in education which have been so energetically carried 

 out in America during recent years may show us how to make every pupil 

 interested in at least one branch of knowledge, and thus materially change 

 the attitude of the public towards science and scientific research. 



The sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries provided an ever- 

 increasing number of intellectual workers prepared to devote time and 

 labour to exact scientific investigation. The idea of quantitative measure- 

 ment became more general ; new instruments were invented, such as the 

 microscope and telescope, the thermometer and barometer, and these 

 assisted greatly in further discovery and in the elaboration of a new 

 technique. The establishment of botanic gardens assisted and stimulated 

 the systematic study of plants. The seventeenth century saw the founda- 

 tion of the Royal Society of London, and of the Academies of Science 

 in Rome, Florence, Paris, and Berlin. This period also marked the 

 triumphs of William Harvey, Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, 

 Descartes, Huygens, Malpighi, and Leeuwenhoek. 



The eighteenth century was very prolific not only in scientific discovery, 

 but also in its technical applications. Linnaeus and de Jussieu published 

 their botanical systems ; John Hunter raised surgery to the rank of a 

 scientific profession ; James Hutton founded the science of geology, Werner 

 and William Smith the cognate science of palaeontology; Joseph Priestley 

 discovered oxygen and ammonia, whilst Scheele, the brilliant Swedish 

 apothecary, prepared chlorine and glycerine, citric, tartaric, oxalic, lactic, 

 prussic, and uric acids ; Henry Cavendish showed the chemical nature of 

 water, and determined the mass of the earth ; Lavoisier explained clearly 

 the nature of combustion ; John Robison and Volta observed the pheno- 

 menon of the electric current, and William Nicholson that of electrolysis. 



Amongst the technical applications of this period John Roebuck and 

 Le Blanc respectively established the manufacture of sulphuric acid and 

 soda, the key industries of the heavy chemical trade. James Watt revo- 

 lutionized all manufactures by giving a practical form to the steam-engine 



