4 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



tion than we now possess. Whether that should be done by 

 purchasing or renting will be a matter for consideration, al- 

 though I am inclined to think, judging from my own experi- 

 ence, which has been tolerably extensive in these matters, 

 that the former would be the cheaper and more preferable plan. 



Almost incredible as it may seem, to those, at all events, 

 who have not paid much attention to the subject, the science 

 of chemistry, which is, at least in respect of number of workers 

 and rate of advancement, the leading science of the present 

 day, was a little more than a hundred years ago hardly even 

 deserving of the name of science, and was, indeed, as generally 

 studied, little more than a species of black art, the majority 

 of the men who were the representatives of chemistry in the 

 earlier years of last century, being more unmethodical experi- 

 menters than anything else, and who could not in strictness 

 be called men of science. The principal if not the sole 

 object of their most unscientifically conducted researches, 

 was the unscientific one of discovering the so-called philo- 

 sopher's stone. As we understand it now, one of the essentials 

 of the true mode of conducting scientific research is to let 

 our results have all possible publicity — to the end that others 

 may not only have the benefit of our labours to assist them 

 in their work, but also that they may be warned from spend- 

 ing time on ground which has already been worked out. The 

 very name of chemistry, however, shows that this scientific 

 spirit did not prevail with these early cultivators of our science. 

 The word chemistry, regarding the derivation of which so 

 many conflicting opinions have been expressed, is now gener- 

 ally admitted to be of Egyptian origin. According to Plu- 

 tarch, Egypt, in consequence of the black appearance of the 

 soil, was called Chemia, and the same term was applied to 

 the black of the eye, the very symbol of what is hidden and 

 obscure. This fact of secret working, and also that of con- 

 fining attention to the attempt to discover that which could 

 never be discovered, no doubt exercised a most retarding 

 influence on the progress of chemistry, and makes the extra- 

 ordinary rapid rise of the science in later years the more 

 wonderful. 



The year 1774 may be looked upon as the date of the 



