The Evolution of the Sciences 



weight of the order of millionths. Our views 

 have, however, been shaken chiefly by the 

 experiments of Curie and Ramsay; the multi- 

 plicity of radio-active bodies and of their 

 metamorphoses, the transformation of radium, 

 a well-defined element, into helium, another 

 element, and finally the other transformations 

 carried out by Ramsay, suggest that we may not 

 have reached the end of our surprises. 



But does it follow that because modern 

 chemistry can no longer define its purpose, 

 its means, or its principles, it has disappeared 

 from the number of the sciences? Far from it. 

 Every science at its beginnings naturally at- 

 tains, by rough means, simple results, which form 

 the inducement to more complete investigation. 

 The astronomy of Kepler and Newton was more 

 simple than the astronomy of to-day, but the 

 object of science is not simplicity. 



Nature requires science to be one like herself ; 

 she denies us the right to pour our knowledge 

 into separate vessels. The evolution we are 

 witnessing is therefore logical and necessary, 

 but the infirmity of our minds compels us, 



notwithstanding, to retain classifications; but 



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