56 THE ERRORS OF PRECISION. 



Louis Henry of Louvain. 



How the reputation of the work of Stas is now being 

 kept up, we must show by one of the most notorious exam- 

 ples, which also will show, how miserable the case must be 

 when such methods are resorted to. 



The school of Stas has wrapped this part of our science 

 in a dense cloud, and kept the atomic weights of the elements 

 in u muddle. 



The great authorities who admired the show of decimals 

 and the system of calculation aped after mathematical 

 patterns have continued to point with pride to the "scien- 

 tific work of Stas," of the Academy of Brussels. 



The Academy of Sciences of Brussels in public session 

 (Dec. 17, 1899) listened with admiration to an address by its 

 member Louis Henry of Louvain, who glorified his boyhood 

 fellow townsman and repeated silly criticisms of my True 

 Atomic Weights second hand. 



This address was published by the Belgian Academy in 

 elegant form, and circulated with great diligence. Comptes 

 Rendus, T. 130, p. 691. 



Upon request I received a copy from the author, Professor 

 Louis Henry, in the summer of 1900. 



In his letter of transmission he disclaims all personal 

 knowledge about the branch of chemistry in question. He 

 also states that he had not read my work himself. 



Having read his address, so highly applauded by the 

 Academy of Sciences of Brussels, I am personally convinced 

 of the absolute truth of his statement in his letter to me, 

 namely that he does not personally understand the subject 

 of atomic weights he discusses, nor had any personal knowl- 

 edge of my book which he condemns. 



If Louis Henry were simply a professor of chemistry of 

 the Stasian school, I would take such an occurrence as a 

 matter of course. 



But Louis Henry is Professor of Chemistry at the Jesuit 

 University of Louvain. 



