The Tendencies of Chemistry 



to the products of organic matter that he con- 

 stituted the Unity of Chemistry and expelled 

 " vital force " from the language of science 

 along with the mysterious actions which had 

 concealed our ignorance. At the same time he 

 opened to science a wide avenue, now thronged 

 by a horde of workers. In our day the con- 

 tinuers of his work of synthesis are chiefly to be 

 found in Germany. In another chapter we 

 shall show how we are on the eve of the synthesis 

 of protein bodies, which are not like alcohol 

 or formic acid, waste materials or reserves, but 

 the very substratum of life. In France also, 

 besides the master who provided chemistry with 

 the leading idea, other chemists consolidated 

 the doctrine by contributing new facts; some of 

 them have lessened the distance between organic 

 and inorganic chemistry by adding to the ele- 

 ments of the former silicon, sulphur and the 

 metals ; others, by developing the atomic theory, 

 have shown that the mode of representation 

 which it offers applies equally well to all parts 

 of chemical science. Hence, to-day, chemistry, 

 in all its branches, forms a whole, derives from 

 the same principles and obeys the same laws. 



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