126 An Address to Chemists. [Feb, 



as imperfect, and as clogged with difficulties, till it give us satis- 

 factory explanations of all the phenomena relative to the chemical 

 ])roportions. I do not think that we are very far from this expla- 

 nation, but this is not the place to dilate upon the subject. 



Mr. Dalton continues to observe, that the difficulty presented by 

 the new oxide of iron of Gay-Lussac has been employed by me 

 in a manner " particularly unfortunate." Had not Mr. JJalton 

 thought it of importance to the science to express his opinion of 

 the first pages of my memoir, before he was acquainted with its 

 general tenour and termination, he' might have seen how 1 myself 

 removed the difficulty in question, both in the memoir itself, and 

 by my analysis of the magnetic iron ores, where I have shown that 

 the numbers given by Gay-Lussac are inaccurate. (Forsak til et 

 System for Mineralogien. Stockholm, 1814. p. I)/.*) As to the 

 expression which Mr. Dalton has employed, " particularly unfor- 

 tunate," I should have been glad to be deceived respecting it, by 

 too little knowledge of the exact meaning of the phrase. 



Mr. Dalton finishes his observations by endeavouring to remove 

 the diff.culties which the composition of organic bodies presents, 

 in which the number of elementary atoms is often very great. I 

 had instanced the atom of oxalic acid as an example of the compo- 

 sition of organic bodies. The method employed by Mr. Dalton to 

 remove that difficulty deserves attention. " Were it," says he, 

 *' a matter of necessity, an anatomist might conceive one atom of 

 hydrogen surrounded by nine of carbon, and the compound globule 

 to have 18 of carbonic oxide adhering to it. But this would be an 

 atom truly formidable in every sense of the word, as the least 

 friction must be supposed capable of producing a violent explosion 

 of such a mass of elasticity. I cannot, however, doubt that Dr. 

 Bcrzelius having resumed the consideration, will very soon discover 

 and acknowledge that his analysis is incorrect. In the mean time, 

 I shall give my reasons for believing it to be so." 



The tone of confidence with which Mr. Dalton finds me in the 

 \vrong in this passage has surprised me a little, and so much the more, 

 that " any chemist is competent to satisfy himself on tliis head with- 

 out appealing to authorities." As to the organic atoms, and the diffi- 

 culties which they present, it would be too long to discuss them here. 

 1 therefore refer the reader to a set of experiments on the subject, 

 which I am at present publishing in the Annals of Philosophy. As to 

 my experiments on oxalic acid and oxalate of lead, I acknowledge 

 that on repeating them 1 have found slight inaccuracies ; but none 

 of these have been in favour of Mr. Dalton's opinion. I have 

 found that the oxalate of lead had given me rather too little oxide 

 of lead, and oxalic acid rather too much hydrogen. Mr. Dalton 

 has candidly stated his manner of analyzing the oxalate in question, 

 and the result which he obtained. I shall likewise state mine. I 



• An English tran>.lation of this interesting work has been published, to which 

 ihe reader is referred. T. 



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