THE AMERICAN CHEMIST.* 



By I'rof. G. C. Caldwell. 



I have chosen for the subject of my address as retiring president of 

 this society, one that seems appropriate to this occasion of the tirst 

 gathering of a representation of American cliemists on a fully organ- 

 ized basis as an American Chemical Society. My topic is the "Ameri- 

 can Chemist; his Past and Present;" and if I were but a prophet I 

 would venture to add, his future. Even as a historian I can claim 

 neither special gifts nor training, and what I may have to say must be 

 regarded only as a contribution to the treatment of so large a subject. 



The earlier records of the work of the American chemist are to be 

 found only in periodu-als of a general scientific character; for it is only 

 within comparatively recent years, as we know, that he has been fortu 

 nate enough to have journals dev^oted exclusively to his own science. 

 Before theestabUshment of these chemical journals, the, American Jour- 

 nal of Scieriee and Arts, better known as ISillitnan''s Journal, contained 

 almost the entire record of his work. Besides and before this were only 

 Transactions of scientitlc societies, to which, however, he was but a 

 meager contributor, with a few notable exceptions. 



The oldest of these Transactions were those of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society of Philadelphia; contemporaneous therewith was the 

 New Yorl- Medical Repository. My history begins with what 1 can find 

 in these periodicals or Transactions Believing that the whole history 

 can be presented in a more interesting manner if I divide the period 

 over which it extends into distinct subi)eriods, T will give my account 

 of it by decades after and inclusive of the year 1800. What little there 

 is on record of the American chemist's work prior to that year may be 

 included in one period and set forth in a few words. 



Of that time, just at the close of the last century, Dr. Priestly was 

 the most prominent figure in chemical science. Indeed, if it had not 

 been for his coming to this country, and his persistent devotion to the 

 doctrine of phlogiston, and the opponents whom he aroused, there 

 would have been exceedingly little to note of chemical work of any 



•An iiddress delivered by the retirinoj presideut of the American Chemical Society 

 at the sixth general meeting, Pittsburg, Pa., December 28, 1892. — From Journal of 

 the American Chemical Society, December, 1892, vol. xiv, pp. 331-349. 



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