148 BIOGRAPHIES OF SCIENTIFIC MEN 



pounds, and the investigation of the laws of dynamical 

 chemistry. Probably the most important syntheses of 

 his are the production of acetylene from carbon and 

 hydrogen, and methane or marsh gas, by means of the 

 well-known Berthelot's reaction ; and of dynamical 

 chemistry, his most important discovery is " the law 

 of maximum work." His scientific labours were immense, 

 and he completely revolutionized chemistry in more 

 departments than one. He transformed agriculture ; 

 proved that inorganic and organic bodies obey the same 

 laws; established "la the"orie des affiniteV'; and invented 

 thermo-chemistry. 



In 1861 he was awarded the Jecker prize by the 

 Academie des Sciences for his researches on the syntheses 

 of organic compounds. The first half of the nineteenth 

 century was devoted to analytical chemistry this being 

 due to the great work of Berzelius. The second half, 

 however, was the era of Berthelot or synthetical 

 chemistry. Since his discovery of the synthesis of 

 acetylene, a vast number of organic bodies have been 

 discovered by the aid of synthesis ; and there is no limit 

 to these discoveries in organic chemistry. Tartaric acid, 

 citric acid, alcohol, lactic acid, and a host of other 

 compounds, both vegetable and animal, have been 

 synthetized. It is not improbable that even albumen 

 or protoplasm will yield to synthetical methods. It is 

 quite within the bounds of possibility that chemistry 



