224 CHEMISTRY 



from that investigation chemical research became for thirty years 

 largely a matter of detail. Discoveries were many, successful general- 

 izations were few. During this epoch, Wohler, by his synthesis of 

 urea, broke down the barrier between organic and inorganic com- 

 pounds; Liebig and others proved that groups of atoms, the so- 

 called compound radicles, could play the part of pseudo-elements; 

 Dumas established the principle of substitution, and Faraday con- 

 nected the phenomena of electrolysis with the atomic constants. 

 Inorganic chemistry, however, received the lion's share of attention, 

 and the commanding figure of the period was that of Berzelius. To 

 him we owe the development of chemical formulae and equations, 

 the thorough determination of many atomic weights, the discovery 

 of new elements, and the investigation of innumerable compounds. 

 And yet his gigantic labors were performed in a laboratory which a 

 modern high school would despise, in which the chemist of to-day 

 would be able to accomplish next to nothing. It was, in fact, a kitchen, 

 wherein cookery and research were carried on almost side by side. 

 Had Berzelius possessed our wealth of resources, could he have 

 achieved a greater success? Perhaps not, for we must remember that 

 he had a virgin field to cultivate, and the implements of the pioneer 

 are less elaborate than those which his successors require. A great 

 part of the work done by Berzelius was necessarily crude, and much 

 of it is still awaiting revision, for the man who clears the ground is not 

 the one to give it the highest cultivation. As knowledge grows, the 

 demands for facilities increase, and we could not return to primitive 

 methods even if we wished to do so. Imagine a modern astronomer 

 with Galileo's telescope, and no more mathematics than Kepler 

 could command! Berzelius labored in the days of small things, and 

 being great he overcame the obstacles that confronted him; we 

 to-day are the slaves of a complexity such as the earlier chemists 

 could never have imagined. I refer now to the material side of science; 

 in its theoretical aspects simplicity has been gained and our range 

 of vision has widened correspondingly. We work in clearer air and 

 with much more powerful appliances than the investigators of earlier 

 times, but to say that we do better would be rash indeed. There are 

 giants in all days, and no age has a monopoly of greatness. 



During the Berzelian period, as I have said, inorganic chemistry 

 was the main subject of chemical research. But it was not the only 

 theme, for chemical physics also received a good deal of attention, 

 and organic compounds were by no means neglected. Inorganic 

 substances were apparently simple, the organic were complex; and 

 so the former were naturally considered first, the more obvious pro- 

 blems taking precedence over the less evident. By degrees, however, 

 opinion changed, and the great discoveries of Wohler, of Liebig, and 

 of Dumas, the theoretical discussions of Laurent and Gerhardt, and 



