6 Meldrum, Dcvelopincut of the Atomic Theory. 



he maintained his point with great conviction and 

 persistence.'' 



The historians of chemistry have not been well inspired 

 in their estimates of the meaning and the result of this 

 controversy." They convey the impression that Berthollet 

 was a person who had " preposterous notions " about the 

 chemical composition of substances and was "deservedly 

 annihilated " ''' by Proust. Ladenburg''' says the controversy 

 was settled by the year 1809, Kopp'" and Clarke'" in 1808, 



"^^ Proust's principal memoirs on tlie subject are : 



(1) Recherclies sur le cuivre. Ann. dc C/iini., vol. 32, pp. 



26-54, 1799. 



(2) Sur quelques sulfures metalli<iues. /onr. dc Phrs. ,\o\. 53, 



pp. 89—97, 1801. 

 {3) Memoir pour servir a Thistoire de rantimoine. Op. cit., 

 vol. 55, pp. 325—344, 1802. 



(4) Sur les sulfures metallif|ues. Op. ciL, vol. 59, pp. 260 — 265, 



1S04. 



(5) Sur les sulfures alcalins. C/. r//., vol. 59, pp. 265 — 273, 1S04. 



(6) Sur les oxidations melalliques. Op. cil., vol. 59, pp. 321 — 



343. 1804. 



(7) Sur les muriates de cuivre verd et blanc. Op. ci!., vol.59, 



PP- 350—354, 1804. 

 (S) Fails pour I'histoire du cobalt. Op. ciL, vul. 63, pp. 421 — 

 442, 1806. 

 In all probaljility Berthollet's ideas on afiinity and chemical composition 

 were first made known through his lectures at the Ecole Norniale and the 

 Ecoh Polytcchnique. In 1799, before the " Recherches sur les lois de 

 I'affinite '" had appeare I, Thenard published a paper in support of Berthollet, 

 and Proust- one against him. For Berthollet in rejily to Proust, see the 

 "Recherches"' and the " Statique Chimique,"' and also "Observations 

 relatives a differens memoires de VxowsX,'^ Jour, de Pliys., vol. 60, pp. 284 — 

 290, 347—351. 1805 ; vol. 61, pp. 352—362, 1805. 



'^ I'^rom these strictures I must except P. J. Ilartog, who has given in 

 brief a perfectly just statement of the question at issue, see Nalure, vol. 50, 

 p. 149, 1894, and also/^V//. Ass. Rep.,^. 61S, 1S94. 



^^ See Huxley on Descartes and Newton. 

 ^^ "Hist, of Chem.," Eng. trans., p. 45, 1900. 

 ■"' " Geschichte der Chem.," vol. 2, p. 369, 1844. 

 ^■'' RIanchesler Meuioirs, vol. 47, No. II, p. 9, 1903. 



