The Tendencies of Chemistry 



by a number. But among these pioneers 

 Berthollet, a contemporary of Lavoisier, deserves 

 a distinguished place. During the Egyptian 

 expedition, on which he accompanied Bona- 

 parte, Berthollet conceived the plan of his 

 Chemical Statics, a work in which are to be found 

 the first sound ideas on chemical reaction and 

 the origin of modern chemistry. Berthollet's 

 only mistake was to arrive too early on the 

 scene. Classical chemistry, firmly wedded to 

 the idea of definite combinations, was then 

 in process of development; it could not, with- 

 out risk, abandon the solid ground on which 

 Lavoisier had placed it; that is why sixty 

 years passed before it was possible for the 

 ideas of Berthollet, in their turn, to take root 

 and grow. 



The study of chemical reaction is a necessity; 

 but how is it to be attacked? From what side 

 are we to approach the problem? Two paths 

 were open to the investigator; the first, in- 

 dicated by Bergmann, was followed in 1854 by 

 the Danish chemist, Julius Thomsen, and 

 broadly marked out by Berthollet and his 

 followers of the French thermo-chemical school. 



B 37 



