60 Mr. W. Crookes on Genesis of the Elements. [Feb. 18, 



point of assuming a direct character. Led by the great law of con- 

 tinuity I have ventured to suggest a process by which our elements 

 may have been originated. I dare not say must have been originated, 

 for no one can be better aware than I am how much remains to be 

 done before this great, this fundamental question can be finally 

 solved. I earnestly hope that others will take up the task, and that 

 chemistry, like biology, may find its Darwin. 



If we consider the position we occupy with reference to the 

 primary questions of chemistry, we might compare research to a 

 game of chess. Man, the investigator, is playing, not with Satan for 

 his soul, but with Nature for knowledge and power. Each element 

 has its allotted moves on the great board of the universe ; some of 

 them dependent solely on themselves, and others on the interaction 

 of the adjacent elements. Some of our elements may be compared to 

 pawns, others to knights, bishops, or castles. The game is fearfully 

 unequal. Our antagonist knows the power and the limitations of 

 every piece, all the laws of the game, all possible moves, and is 

 merciless in exacting j)enalty for errors. We experimentalists know 

 nothing but Ts^hat we have learned in countless losing games. But 

 our knowledge is increasing. Nature no longer gives us fool's 

 mate. The struggle becomes more obstinate, more exciting, we come 

 upon new gambits, new combinations, and though still checkmated 

 at the last, we take a few pawns, jierhaps even a piece or two. Such 

 partial successes were achieved when Lavoisier introduced the use of 

 the balance and developed the theory of combustion ; when Dalton 

 put forward the atomic theory ; when Davy decomposed the alkalies ; 

 when Wohler effected the synthesis of urea ; and when Faraday first 

 liquefied a gas. On such and many similar occasions I can imagine 

 our antagonist becoming thoughtful. 



But suj)pose we one day win the game ; that we find out what 

 these obstinate elements really are, that we learn how they came 

 into being, and wherefore their number, their j^roperties, and their 

 mutual relations are such as we find them ? We shall then know, 

 a priori, what w^e have now to find out by special experiment ; we 

 shall foresee the results of every conceivable reaction, and our 

 theories will legitimate themselves by the power of prediction. To 

 attain such knowledge seems to me the grand task of the chemistry 

 of the coming age. 



If you think I have given too free rein to the " scientific imagina- 

 tion " you will, I hope, forgive me as one who at least does not 

 despair of the future of our Science. 



[W. C] 



