46 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS—SECTION B. 
Observations and discoveries were, no doubt, made, but their 
value and import were unsuspected, and, unless they appeared 
to bear directly on the attainment of the object immediately in 
view, they were looked upon as meaningless. 
Our comparatively recent and wonderful progress in chemical 
knowledge dates from the recognition of the fundamental idea 
that the aim of the chemist is the study of the constitution of 
matter, and that this aim is to be pursued by experiment and by 
induction from experiment. 
CHEMISTRY AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 
From the earliest times mankind has found an interest in 
speculating upon the nature of his surroundings, and the history 
of chemistry may be said to date from the first unrecorded specu- 
lations as to the nature of the materials of which the universe is 
composed. 
We know, however, nothing of the speculations of the earlier 
races of mankind. The earliest people of whom records are left 
who interested themselves with chemical questions were the 
Egyptians. The name itself is probably of Kgyptian origin. 
The records of the Egyptians, Israelites, and Phoenicians, show 
that they were well acquainted with the art of metal work- 
ing, and of other technical applications. The Egyptians pos- 
sessed considerable technical knowledge and skill, especially in 
the working of metals and alloys, and appear to have brought 
this art to a high state of perfection. 
The art of dyeing was well understood by them, highly prized, 
and jealously kept secret. They also excelled in the manufac- 
ture of pharmaceutical preparations, drugs, perfumery, oint- 
ments, soap, &c. 
The art of embalming, which was purely a chemical one, was 
brought to the highest possible state of perfection by them. 
From the Egyptians a knowledge of chemistry was spread to 
the Phoenicians and Israelites. 
But with neither of these races was there any considerable 
advance in chemical science. The Phoenicians, who were a com- 
mercial people, are known to have excelled in many of the arts 
involving chemical processes, notably those of dyeing and glass- 
making. They are credited with having been the first to manu- 
facture glass. 
The Greeks inherited the chemical knowledge of the Egyptians, 
but made, it may be asserted, no advance in technical processes. 
So little is this the case that we find that metals such as iron, 
which present some difficulties in their extraction, were regarded 
as being rarer than the readily smelted gold and silver, at least, 
in Homer’s time. We owe to them a better understanding of the 
general characteristics of the metals, and they were, indeed, the 
