OUR DEMONSTRATION. 211 



Having mislaid the original, I beg the readers to be 

 satisfied with the translation. For a while I studied the 

 Chinese language seriously. 



The only modification we have to make to this excellent 

 maxim to fit it exactly to this chemical question, is in regard 

 to the precise number of corners. 



Modern chemists, being all infected by the tetrahedral 

 bacillus (Gen. Chem. 86, 1-6; 1897) will require six corners 

 of the full form, the octahedron. 



We have only presented one of these corners in the 

 atomic weights of the thirteen elements considered. 



But there are probably six times that many elements. 



In other words, we have only described one corner, out 

 of the six of the chemical octahedron. 



Is Our Demonstration General? 



Is our demonstration, given for 13 elements, sufficient to 

 cover six times that number, or all the chemical elements 

 known, and even all not yet known? 



Let us examine this question with such care as it deserves. 

 Those versed in the remarkable accumulation of evidence 

 by compliance with a most special condition, imposed upon 

 each one of a number of individuals, such as we have 

 discovered in the cases examined, need no further demon- 

 stration. 



However, it may even to these readers prove interesting 

 to obtain a numerical valuation of the force of this evidence. 



The elements made use of so far, are the following 13, 

 comprising the most important and best investigated of all : 



Lead, Iron, Mercury, Sulphur, Chlorine, Carbon, Cal- 

 cium, Magnesium, Platinum, Thallium, Boron, Sodium, 

 Nitrogen. 



The experimental data used in our determination were 

 furnished by the following eminent chemists in the order of 

 time: 



Berzelius, 1810-1830; Pb. Turner, 1833; Cl. Dumas, 

 1840; C. Erdmann and Marchand, 1844; Hg, S, also Ca. 

 Svanberg, 1844; Fe. Scheerer, 1850-57 ; Mg. Crookes, 



