172 STASIAN FOLLY AND FRAUD. 



istry as Stas knew of mathematics has quoted the precise 

 transcendental formula giving the ii probability y " as a 

 function of the " error *." 



Not wishing to shine with mathematical formulae, I shall 

 not copy it here ; the formula is printed in the entire quota- 

 tion from Stas on this subject, p. 33 of my True Atomic 

 Weights. 



Stas gives (also by the aid of that mathematical friend, 

 for Stas himself could neither do that, nor did he ever learn 

 to understand the result he states), the probability calcu- 

 lated from that formula for the different values 14.040, 

 14.030, 14.020, 14.010 and finally 14.000. 



He declares that the value 14.040 (instead of his 14.044) 

 is possible , its chances being 3 in 10; that is, its probability 

 was found to be 0.31278. Of these five decimals, four are 

 transparent moonshine. See p. 19. 



The probability of N being 14.000 is stated to be 



y = o.o . . . .o (370 ciphers) 879 

 and is accordingly declared to be entirely impossible. 



He berates chemists for using 14, which he has proved to 

 be in error to the extent of * 3 \-^. 



See complete translation on p. 33 of my True Atomic 

 Weights of the famous passage of Stas in Aronstein's Trans- 

 lation, pp. 322-323, and the original reprinted in the final 

 Oeuvres of Stas, vol. I, p. 731 ; 1894. 



Relying on this mathematical result, Stas finally added 

 to his paper here considered, first published by the Belgian 

 Academy of Sciences in the 35th Volume of their Memoirs, 

 issued in 1865, the famous Challenge to the Chemists of the 

 World, present and to come. See Oeuvres I, p. 749; also 

 Aronstein's Translation, p. 347; (published Leipzig, 1867) 



This challenge Stas repeated in his last work on Atomic 

 Weights, issued from 1876 to 1881. See Oeuvres, I, p. 814; 

 1894. See also, True Atomic Weights, p. 34. 



The gist of this challenge is the request to repeat his syn- 

 thesis of silver nitrate, which he, therefore, considered the 

 most conclusive of all his determinations of the atomic 

 weight of nitrogen. 



* Leduc quite recently made this identical discovery, see p. 168. 



