380 MEMOIR OF LOUIS JACQUES THENARD. 



dissolved witliout sensible efFervescencc. So anomalous a fact could not fail 

 to arrest attention. When I returned for my following lecture, I perceived 

 small globules attached to the sides of the vessel, like those -which arc seen in 

 a glass filled Avilh champagne wine ; bubbles of gas were escaping from the 

 liquid, though quite slowly. I then took a tube closed with the lamp at one 

 of its extremities, and, pouring in some of the liquid, heated it. The bubbles 

 were now rapidly disengaged and gas accumulated in the part of the tube 

 which remained free ; I introduced a match and it l^indled — there was oxygen 

 present. The hour for my lecture had arrived and I went through with it, but 

 the preoccupation of my mind must have been deplorably apparent." 



Thenard had f illeu on the traces of a new fact ; at first he Avas disposed to 

 believe that he had made the discovery of suroxygenated acids, but he soon 

 satisfied himself that these acids had no existence. Was it, then, water itself, 

 simple water, which was oxygenized 1 The idea had scarcely entered his 

 mind before it Avas proved by experiment, and oxygenated water was thus 

 added to the acquisitions of chemistry. 



A new and suggestive fact had been reached by Thenard, the report of 

 which soon spread through scientific Europe. Foreign chemists came to assist 

 in the experiments, and the arrival of Bcrzelius, at this time, in the French 

 capital, seemed appropriately to welcome the recent discovery. Calling with- 

 out form on Thenard, the Scandinavian philosopher saw him for the first time ; 

 yet these eminent men at once recognize each other, and find themselves, as if 

 in virtue of the law of affinities, converted on the instant into old friends. "T 

 come," said Berzelius, " to gather ideas in the domain of French chemistry, 

 which you have so much aggrandized and enriched. You will, of course, let me 

 seethe oxygenated water." The conversation turned on Gay Lussac and his 

 iodine, the new element which that chemist had so distinctly identified ; as 

 Avcll as on his cyanogen, a compound substance which affects, in its combina- 

 tions, all the characters of simple bodies. " We must not forget," said The- 

 nard, " the admirable theory of definite proportions which we owe to you, and 

 which, revealing the immutable laws by which bodies combine, has become the 

 torch of chemistry." " I admit," rejoined Berzelius, " that I have been fortu- 

 nate. Do yoir know," he added, " that your recent labors and those of your 

 friend liaAx given Davy occasion to say, ' Thenard and Gay Lussac apart are 

 stronger than Thenard and Gay Lussac united? ' " From this conference The- 

 nard proceeded directly to the Sorbonne, and Avas conducting his lecture Avith 

 his usual facility, Avhen his eyes casually Avandered to a corner of the apart- 

 ment, and he immediately shoAved signs of discomposure. The audience, in 

 turn, became uneasy, but Thenard, promptly recovering himself, exclaims : 

 " Gentlemen, you have a right to know the cause of my embarrassment ^^ and, 

 pointing to a remote part of the amphitheatre, " Gentlemen, there is Berzelius." 

 At once the crowd rises, and a respectful circle surrounds the illustrious 

 stranger Avith long and rapturous applause. MoA^ed by such proofs of enthu- 

 siasm, and forgetting his usual phlegm, the SAvede exclaims, as he is borne 

 unresistingly to a seat near the chair : " With such pupils it is impossible to 

 be other than a good professor." He afterAvards obscrAxd to Thenard, " I had 

 promised myself to A'erify, in entire secrecy, Avhether all that fame had taught 

 me respecting your talents as a professor Avere exact. I find it even below 

 your real merit." 



Thenard Avas noAv iuA'estigating the properties of oxygenated Avater. One 

 of them is extremely singular ; Berzelius named it the catalytic force. Many 

 bodies decompose oxygenated AvaterAvithout undergoing any chemical alteration, 

 without seeming to act otherAvise than simply by their presence. The phe- 

 nomenon, therefore, depends not on the ordinary affinities ; nor yet on electricity, 



