304 DISCOURSE ON THE STUDY 



between chemical composition and crystal- 

 line form, by Haiiy and Vauquelin, with the 

 successive rectifications the statement of that 

 connection has undergone in the hands of 

 Mitscherlich, Rose, and others, with the pro- 

 gress of chemical and crystallographical 

 knowledge. 



(338.) To pursue these several heads into detail 

 would lead us into a treatise on chemistry ; but a 

 few remarks on one or two of them, as they bear 

 upon the general principles of all scientific enquiry, 

 will not be irrelevant. And first, then, with refer- 

 ence to the discovery of new elements, it will be 

 observed, that philosophical chemistry no more aims 

 at determining the one essential element out of which 

 all matter is framed the one ultimate principle of 

 the universe than astronomy at discovering the 

 origin of the planetary movements in the applica- 

 tion of a determinate projectile force in a determin- 

 ate direction, or geology at ascending to the creation 

 of the earth. There may be such an element. Some 

 singular relations which have been pointed out in 

 the atomic weights of bodies seem to suggest to 

 minds fond of speculation that there is ; but philoso- 

 phical chemistry is content to wait for some striking 

 fact, which may either occur unexpectedly or be led 

 to by the slow progress of enlarged views, to disclose 

 to us its existence. Still, the multiplication of so- 

 considered elementary bodies has been considered 

 by some as an inconvenience. We confess we do 

 not coincide with this view. Whatever they be, the 

 obstinacy with which they resist decomposition 

 shows that they are ingredients of a very high and 



