IGNORANCE OF NATURE'S CHEMISTRY. 17 



ignorant even of the composition or mode of 

 formation of a drop of dew. For a very long 

 time, even after chemistry was pursued scien- 

 tifically, the most fascinating of all its depart- 

 ments the Chemistry of Nature was totally 

 neglected. Dr. Priestley and Sir Humphry 

 Davy almost alone seem to have caught sight 

 of its interest and importance. And almost 

 all the knowledge we now possess of this 

 subject has been brought to light exclusively 

 during the last few years. As may therefore 

 be imagined, our information upon this point, 

 although of great extent, is still very imper- 

 fect ; and we require many experiments, and 

 much labour of investigation, to clear up our 

 present difficulties. If, then, instead of vainly 

 groping after gold, or gasping after an elixir 

 of life, or indulging in such-like dreams and 

 abstractions, the early chemists had but applied 

 themselves to the study of the chemistry of the 

 humblest objects in nature : if they had only 

 tried to solve the problem, How does a flower 

 spring up ? how far advanced might we not at 

 this time have been ! Instead of occupying a 

 place at the threshold, we might almost have 

 reached the goal. Let us be thankful, how- 

 ever, that a brighter time in the history of the 

 science has arrived; and let us look hopefully 

 forward for the day when the chemistry of 

 nature will be as well understood as that of the 

 ordinary substances which find a place in the 

 laboratory of the experimenter, or in the shop of 

 the chemist. 



It is the intention of this work to explain 

 the leading chemical phenomena observed in 



c 



