

DETERMINATION BY CHEMICAL MEANS. 169 



B. THE FOLLY AND FRAUD OF STAS AND 

 HIS SCHOOL. 



Determination by Chemical Means. 



The atomic weight of nitrogen, established upon the 

 density determinations of Lord Rayleigh, is 14 exactly. 



This result is confirmed by the later weighings of Leduc. 



Hence the true atomic weight of nitrogen is 14 exactly. 



But these determinations are not strictly chemical ones. 

 The Stasian will say so and demand such. 



We have already given a most exquisite chemical deter- 

 mination of the atomic weight of nitrogen, according to 

 which it is 14 exactly; the actual precision being as high 

 as o.ooi. 



We refer to the Synthesis of thallium nitrate by 

 Crookes, having now the perfectly satisfactory determina- 

 tions by Lepierre of Tl =. 204. 



The question of the true atomic weight of nitrogen is 

 therefore settled, both by the physical (Lord Rayleigh) and 

 by the chemical (Crookes) determinations. 



But here is the dominant School of Stas. It has put off 

 my True Atomic Weights of 1894, with extrapolation (p. 71), 

 foolish impudence (p. 56), and kindred tricks and bluffs. 



I shall, therefore, in this final exposition, neither presume 

 on their honor nor on their scientific intelligence. I shall 

 simply handle the facts in the interest of scientific truth. 



I shall wield the facts just as they are, and treat the 

 Stasians exactly as they have shown they must be treated. 



My object is not to convince them for I am sorry to say, 

 that most of them really do not seem to have any convic- 

 tions, either scientific or moral. 



Why was the statement, by Lemoine, in the Academy 

 of Sciences of Paris, so remarkable? (See p. 157.) 



Would Lemoine have accentuated the character of Friedel 

 in the manner he did, if such a character were the rule and 

 not the exception among the scientific men in some regions? 



