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CHAPTER n. 



Chemica I At tra c tion . 



" Of the great and comprehensive laws, which rule over the 

 widest provinces of natural phenomena, few have yet been dis- 

 closed to us." WHEWELL. 



A COMPLETE history of Chemistry would em- 

 brace an account of all the molecular transforma- 

 tions perpetually going on throughout nature, 

 by which matter is maintained in a state of un- 

 ceasing motion, as if pervaded by a principle of 

 universal life. Every process of combustion, 

 solution, fermentation, putrefaction, and recom- 

 bination, are only modified exertions of chemical 

 action, by which the face of the earth is per- 

 petually renovated, and without which, the 

 great frame of nature would fall into an eternal 

 sleep or death. 



Whether in a practical or philosophical point 

 of view, a perfect theory of chemistry would be 

 of far higher importance than that of universal 

 gravitation ; for it would lead to a knowledge of 

 all the properties of the elements by which we 

 are surrounded, and of their application to the 

 extension of human happiness. Yet there never 

 was a period in the history of science, when 



