THE ATOMIC VIEW OF NATURE. 453 



even a name for the thing implied did not exist before 

 the middle of the century. How both were gradually intro- 

 duced will be shown in another of the following chapters. 



The atomic view or theory which gave such good help 

 in classifying and in studying the characteristic feature 

 of all chemical processes the fact that they take place 

 according to definite proportions of weight had also the 

 effect of promoting a somewhat one-sided habit of thought 

 in the domain of chemical science itself. 



The search for the elements, the fixing of their com- 

 bining weights and properties, absorbed a great deal of 

 time, labour, and ability. 



The practical demands of the arts stimulated the pre- 51. 



Practical 



paration of metals, of acids, and of alkalies, all of which influences, 

 possessed useful properties in their isolated, as distin- 

 guished from their natural, condition. This gave a stimu- 

 lus in practice to the invention of processes of disintegration, 

 and in reasoning to processes of analysis. The synthesis or 

 putting together was expected to take place easily, if once 

 the elements or constituent parts were got. In mineral 

 chemistry and metallurgy this is indeed very frequently 

 the case. It was soon found that it is not so in organic 

 chemistry, and that when in organic chemistry a synthesis 

 is effected, the product is frequently unlike that original 

 natural substance from the analysis or disintegration of 

 which the constituents or elements were procured. 



It soon became evident that synthesis does not mean 

 merely addition. A certain order had to be observed in 

 the way of putting together, and this led to the introduc- 

 tion of structural, further of geometrical, formula?. Even 

 then, however, it was found that if a synthesis succeeded, 



