SYNTHETIC CHEMISTRY 



Bernard's on the mechanism of sensation, the year 

 following. It was a pregnant time. 



For his fruitful researches, M. Berthelot had 

 been rewarded with a professorship at that same 

 College of Pharmacy where, some years later, M. 

 Moissan was to win a like brilliant reputation for 

 his artificial production of diamonds. This was at 

 thirty-two. At thirty-four came the Joecker prize. 

 Four years after, under the lead of his former chief, 

 M. Balard, the College de France created for M. 

 Berthelot the chair of organic chemistry, which he 

 has continued to hold to this day. 



Meanwhile, his restless spirit was reaching into 

 new fields. He had shown that this mysterious 

 vital force of his predecessors does not exist. The 

 line dividing the domains of organic and mineral 

 chemism is a figment of the mind. The self-same 

 forces rule in each. It was time to show another 

 mystery the door. For these chemical forces, these 

 " affinities of the atoms " what are they ? For the 

 force of gravity we have the balance, for electricity 

 the electroscope and the galvanometer, for light the 

 photometer. A chemometer, a measure of chemical 

 actions, was lacking. For a science of chemical 

 mechanics, not so much as a corner-stone had been 

 laid. This was M. Berthelot's new task. 



D^trines of energy were abroad in the world. 

 The kinetic theory of gases had been worked out 



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