l<26 Chemical Phibsophy, [Chap, II. 



"which come before him, was first undertaken in 

 the century under reviews Margraaf and Pott, of 

 Berhn, were among the earliest adventurers in this 

 new field of inquiry. They were succeeded by 

 .Neumann, Bergman, and Scheele, who displayed 

 great industry, address, and perseverance, in the 

 same course of investigation, and went much fur- 

 tlier than their predecessors. To these may be 

 added Klaproth, Sage, Vauquehn, Hatchett, and 

 many more; to whom we are indebted for many 

 new facts, and refined experiments, on the chemi- 

 cal properties of mineral bodies. 



Since the grand revolution in chemical doctrines 

 and language, effected by the labours of the French 

 academicians, as above detailed, the new opinions, 

 and the proposals of further reform in this science, 

 have been numerous. Indeed, during the last fif- 

 teen or twenty years of the century, the number 

 of students and experimenters in chemistry has 

 been so prodigiously great, and the new plans an- 

 nounced for explaining and expressing its princi- 

 ples so multiplied and various, that a simple cata- 

 logue of them would fill many pages. All that 

 can be attempted in this brief sketch, is to men- 

 tion a few of those who have rendered themselves 

 conspicuous by their inquiries or publications on 

 chemical subjects. 



A new nomenclature of chemistry was proposed, 

 in 1796, by professor Dickson, of Trinity college, 

 Dublin, and approved by his illustrious country- 

 man, Mr. Kirwan. In this plan of chemical de- 

 nominations there is an attempt to unite the ad- 

 vantages of both the principal systems, between 

 vyhich the philosophical w^orld was then called tq 



