4> CHEMISTRY INDISPENSABLE 



Although barely eighty years have elapsed since 

 this discovery, the new science has already gained a 

 practical importance in the affairs of daily life, and 

 an influence upon the material welfare of man, con- 

 sequently also upon the state of civilization, which 

 must in truth excite astonishment. To a certain 

 extent, chemistry really possesses the virtues ascribed 

 to the philosopher's stone ; for by chemical knowl- 

 edge many a manufacturer has converted, albeit in a 

 manner less direct, masses of comparatively worth- 

 less metal into precious gold; and by chemical 

 therapeutics many a sufferer has again recovered 

 health. The complete annihilation of disease, in- 

 deed, it has not yet been able to accomplish. 



To the rapid and wide-spread diffusion of chemi- 

 cal science, the numerous and diversified uses to 

 which it can be profitably applied in every-day life 

 have especially contributed. Chemistry instructs the 

 apothecary how to prepare his remedies ; teaches the 

 physician how to banish sickness by its instrumen- 

 tality ; and not only reveals to the miner the metal 

 hidden in the quarry, but aids him in its fusion and 

 refinement. Chemistry, in conjunction with physics, 

 has been, above all else, the lever by which, within 

 the last ten years, so many arts and sciences have 

 been raised to their present extraordinary perfection ; 

 by its means those innumerable comforts and con- 

 veniences of life, of which our immediate ancestors 

 were destitute, but which we now so cheaply enjoy, 

 have been afforded us. The results which would 



