JOURNAL 
OF THE 
Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 
SIXTEENTH YEAR—PART FIRST 
1899 
' 
THE DEFINITION OF THE ELEMENT. 
F. P. VENABLE. 
It is with hesitation that I enter upon so speculative a dis- 
cussion as the nature of the elements, and yet there are rea- 
sons why it should prove of great profit to draw the attention 
of this representative gathering of the chemists of America 
to this subject. We have nearly reached the close of the first 
century in which these elements have been the subject of ex- 
perimental research. The ingenuity and the patient labor of 
an army of workers have been directed toward the solution of the 
many problems connected with these elementary substances, 
and the ultimate aim, the goal, of all their striving has been 
the discovery of the properties and the nature of the atom. 
It is eminently fitting that, as we stand at the threshold of 
the new century, we glance back along the road we have al- 
ready come and take some account of the progress we have 
made. ‘The quicksands of mere speculation must be avoided, 
and yet the mental vision, the ‘scientific imagination,’ must 
be called into service in considering that which so far tran- 
scends our cruder actual vision as the incomparable atom it- 
self. There is another reason for considering the nature of 
Nan address delivered as Vice President before the Chemical Section 
Anierican Association for the Advancement of Science—Columbus, O., 
1899, 
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