212 CONCLUSION. 



18735X1. Seubert, 1881 ; Pt. Ramsay and Aston, 1893; 

 Bo, Na. Lord Rajleigh, 1895 ; N. 



This list of names comprises none but first-class chemical 

 analysts and experimental philosophers. The period of time 

 actually covered is 85 years, from Berzelius, 1810, to Lord 

 Rayleigh, 1895. 



The Work of Four Generations of Chemists. 



Some of the biggest fools put by mysterious powers into 

 positions of influence for bad as well as for good have exhib- 

 ited with glee the enormous dimensions of their ears and 

 enjoyed the echo of their bray, saying: " Hinrichs has not 

 made any new experimental determinations." 



Could any one individual do the work here required that 

 has been done by four generations? Compare True Atomic 

 Weights, 1894, pp. 201-204. 



It is true, Stas and his school, have studiously and 

 steadily created the opinion that these great chemists were 

 mere Tyros compared to Stas; but we have shown how 

 false this opinion is. 



The great work done by these Master Chemists has, 

 however, thus far, not become properly useful to science, 

 because it has not not been properly reduced. 



The present condition of this great experimental work is 

 worse than that of the observations of Tycho Brahe, made at 

 Uraniborg, at the time he was driven out of Denmark. True 

 Atomic Weights, p. 54. 



The reduction by Kepler made the observations of Tycho 

 most useful to astronomy. 



It is that work it has been my ambition to do for chem- 

 istry in regard to the atomic weight determinations of the 

 last century. 



The Probability of our Conclusion. 



The limit of precision or accuracy, for a number of these 

 determinations is as high as o.ooi at least. Such are the 

 atomic weights of Bo, C, Tl, N. For less than this number 

 the limit attained does not quite reach o.oi. 



