vi PREFACE 



progress of discovery in this field must be held responsible for what 

 might be regarded as many anachronisms of treatment in the text 

 of the work. 



It was my ambition at the outset to have kept pace with the 

 extension of our knowledge up to the completion of the whole work, 

 but the ever-increasing demands upon my time and energies have 

 compelled me to abandon this project and to consider the literature 

 as closed at the end of 1902. An Appendix comprises the more 

 important syntheses which have been effected during the printing 

 of this volume. In order to avoid unnecessary delay it has also 

 been, decided to issue the work in two volumes. The second of these 

 is in rough draft, and will be completed for publication as soon as 

 practicable. 



If asked, as I frequently have been during the progress of the work, 

 what position synthetical chemistry occupies with respect to the 

 doctrines of Vitalism or Neovitalism, I think it advisable to place 

 upon record the opinion that the present achievements in the domain 

 of chemical synthesis furnish no warrant for the belief that the 

 chemical processes of the living organism are in any sense transcen- 

 dental, or that they must be regarded as belonging to a class of special 

 material transformations which human science will never be able to 

 reproduce. Such an admission as the latter would be tantamount to 

 a proclamation of Neovitalism ; but the whole history of organic 

 synthesis, from the time when it was declared that organic com- 

 pounds could be obtained only by living agency, is opposed to any 

 such conclusion 1 . But although the doctrine of a special ' vital 

 force ' has received its deathblow at the hands of modern science, 

 and although there is no warrant for the belief that the physics or 

 chemistry of animals and plants is ultra-scientific, yet it must not 

 be lost sight of that the synthetical possibilities of the living organism 

 have brought us face to face with modes of chemical action of which 

 we are as yet profoundly ignorant. 



Those Who consider that the triumphs of chemical synthesis have 

 finally disposed of Vitalism in any form will do well to bear in mind 

 that, until the chemist has shown that his synthetical methods are 

 identical with Nature's methods, there is just as much scope for 

 endeavouring to penetrate the chemical vital mysteries as there was 

 in the days when it was believed that every ' organic ' compound 



1 See on the other hand Dr. Lionel S Beale's Introductory Lecture on 'The Founda- 

 tions of Medical Science,' delivered at King's College on Oct. 4, 1895. 'The Lancet,' 

 Oct. 19, 1895. 



