MancJiester Memoirs, Vol. liv. (1910), No. X 13 



addition to Gay-Lussac and Murra}-, who, as already 

 explained, adhered in the year 1809 to the doctrine of 

 combination in variable proportion, Friedrich Stromeyer^" 

 in 1808, and Amadeo Avogadro'''^ in 181 1, showed them- 

 selves under the sway and influence of Berthollet. What is 

 more, even after Dalton's doctrine of definite proportion 

 had become the foundation of chemistry, Berthollet's 

 main ideas were still held by chemists in the greatest 

 respect. The very opposite of this might be inferred from 

 E. von Meyer's statement that " his principles were held 



to be totally erroneous the revival of his 



principles was reserved for quite modern times,"'* and 

 Sir William Ramsay's conjectural remark that the " Essai 

 de Statique Chimique " was soon forgotten."^-' 



Berzelius's " Essai sur la Theorie des Proportions 

 Chimiques," published in 18 19, contains an exposition of 

 mass-action and chemical equilibrium,*" and is dedicated 

 " a I'auteur de ' L'essai de statique chimique.' " Perhaps 

 the most interesting testimony of this kind is borne by 

 J. B. Dumas, who in his lectures on chemical philosophy, 

 delivered in the year 1836, expressed the highest admira- 

 tion for the " Statique Chimique." " It engrossed my 

 whole time for three or four years; from the age of 17 



to 21 I read it, re-read it, and pondered it I 



read it pen in hand, making extracts and reflections and 

 comments ; these efforts have been of the highest value 

 to me. As a student of chemistry I formed myself on 

 Berthollet .... and whatever right I have to raise 



"*■' " Grundriss der Theorelischen Chemie," pp. 66, So. 



"" Jour, ae ritys.. vol. 73, p. 76. 



^=* Op. d(., p. 551. 



■•» " Introduction to the Study of Phys'cal Chemistry," p. 43, 1904. 



■'*' Op. ciL, pp 7 — II, 106 — 109. 



