lii REPORT — 1856. 



pound radicals in organic chemistry more lately, naturally suggest the idea, 

 that many of the so-called elements of inorganic matter may likewise be 

 compounds, differing from the organic radicals above mentioned merely in 

 their constituents being bound together by a closer affinity. 



And this conjecture is confirmed by the curious numerical relations sub- 

 sisting between the atomic weights of several of these supposed elements ; 

 as, for example, between chlorine, bromine and iodine ; an extension of the 

 grand generalization of Dalton, which, although it was unforeseen by the 

 Founder of the system, and therefore, like Gay-Lussac's theory of volumes, 

 raio-ht very possibly have been repudiated by him, had it been proposed tor 

 his\cceptance, will be regarded by others as establishing, in a manner more 

 conclusive than before, the soundness of his antecedent deductions. 



What, indeed, can be a greater triumph for the theorist, than to hnd that 

 a law of nature which he has had the glory of establishing by a long and 

 painful process of induction, not only accommodates itself to all the new 

 facts which the progress of discovery has since brought to light, but is itselt 

 the consequence of a still more general and comprehensive pnncip e, which 

 philosophers, even at this distance of time, are still engaged ;n unfolding ;- 



It is also curious to reflect, that whilst the bold speculations of Democntus 

 have been realized by the Manchester philosopher, the reveries of the 

 alchemists derive something like solid support from the minute investigations 



Ol Ills SLlCCGSSOVS* 



We may remark indeed as not a little remarkable, how frequently the 

 discoveries of modern days have served to redeem the fancies of medieval 

 times from the charge of absurdity. r- i 



If the direction of a bit of steel suspended near the earth can, as General 

 Sabine has proved, be influenced by the position of a body like the moon, 

 situated at a distance from it of more than 200,000 miles, who shall say that 

 there was anything preposterously extravagant in the conception, however 

 little support it may derive from experience, that the stars might exert an 

 influence over the destinies of man 1 and when we observe a series of bodies, 

 exhibiting, as it would seem, a gradation of properties, and, although as yet 

 undecompounded, possessing a common numerical relation one to the other, 

 who will deny the probability, that they are composed of the same consti- 

 tuents, however little approach we may have as yet made towards the art ot 

 resolving them into their elements, or of forming them anew ? 



Organic chemistry has also considerably modified our views with respect 



to chemical affinity. , , r i ^ -^u 



According to one view, indeed, which has been supported of late with con- 

 siderable talent and ingenuity, the law of elective attraction, to which we 

 ha-e been in the habit of referring all the changes that are brought about 

 by chemical means, is a mere figment of the imagination ; and decomposition 

 may be accounted for, without the interference of any such force, by re- 

 garding it simply as the result of that constant interchange which is supposed 

 to be Soing on between the particles of matter —the atoms even of a solid 

 body being, according to this hypothesis, in a state of intessant motion. 



But passing over these and other speculations which have not as yet re- 

 ceived the general assent of chemists, let me advert to others of an older date, 

 possessing, as I conceive, the strongest internal evidence in their favour, which 

 the case admits, from the harmony they tend to introduce into the chaos ot 

 facts which the late discoveries in organic chemistry have brought to light. 



Amongst these, one of the most generally received, and at the same time 

 one of the most universal application, is that which represents the several 

 combinations resulting from organic forces, as being put together according 



