MODERN CHEMISTRY. 435 



ledge and ' possessing properties so peculiar, as to make it 

 certain that they fulfill definite, though unknown, purposes in 

 the economy of the globe. The exceedingly minute propor- 

 tion in which they are found in nowise disproves this. 

 Chemical energy is only partially dependent on quantity ; but 

 were the latter alone concerned, it would be enough to esti- 

 mate the enormous mass of ocean waters of which they form 

 a part, to convince us that they cannot be inert or indeter- 

 minate in the objects of creation.* To the new substances, 

 so discovered, the refinements of modern chemistry have 

 been incessantly directed. By delicate and beautiful experi- 

 ments they have been detected in numerous mineral waters 

 and brine springs, and even in certain metallic ores. They 

 have been brought into close relation of analogy with other 

 great chemical agents, as oxygen and chlorine, and into arti- 

 ficial combinations of endless variety; and these combi- 

 nations have already yielded new remedies to the physician, 

 new agents in experimental research, and the most refined 

 methods wherewith to determine the chemical actions of 

 light, and to give them their happiest application in photo- 

 graphy. In the progress of these researches tests have been 

 attained so delicate, that iodine may be detected in a liquid 

 containing much less than its millionth part by weight ; the 

 familiar substance of starch affording this subtle test, by its 

 chemical relation to the element in question. 



Without protracting this illustration by further details, we 

 may briefly state that the same exactness and completeness 

 have been carried into every part of Chemistry. Chance, 

 vague hypothesis, and crude results, are altogether excluded 

 from the science. Weight and proportions, numerically 



* In a former article mention has been made of the discovery of Lithium in 

 sea-water; but in quantity still more minute than that of the two elements 

 spoken of above, and discoverable indeed only through the refinements of the 

 spectrum analysis. Yet, if found in all sea-water, and in the same proportion, 

 its presence cannot be a casualty or without some purpose fulfilled. 



F F 2 



