16 



CHEMISTRY INDISPENSABLE 



pronounce a sentence of utter condemnation upon 

 scientific deductions; it was unreasonable in Prac- 

 tice to demand of a science still so young the sure 

 and circumspect advance of mature age, and to 

 claim from it specific facts in lieu of principles, hints, 

 and suggestions, — recipes, precepts, experimental les- 

 sons already cut and dried, instead of simple counsel 

 and advice; it was irrational to claim, generally 

 speaking, more from science than from its very na- 

 ture it is able to supply. 



It is precisely at this point that difficulties present 

 themselves in the path of chemical investigation, 

 which render the knowledge of the true relations of 

 things and the production of proof by counter-exper- 

 iment extremely difficult. The chemist has not now 

 to deal with purely chemical processes, but must la- 

 boriously inquire of nature what modifications or 

 changes these processes undergo in consequence of 

 the vital force inherent in plants and animals; he 

 cannot here exert a sovereign sway over fixed, inva- 

 riable quantities and uniformly continuous condi- 

 tions, in order to subject to actual proof the accuracy 

 of his conclusions, but is as dependent upon soil, 

 climate, wind, and weather, as the husbandman him- 

 self; and, finally, he cannot here, as in the majority 

 of his operations, institute decisive experiments as 

 .quickly and as often as he pleases, but must wait for 

 years before he can elicit his results. 



Under these circumstances, is it fair to judge 

 chemistry by the results it has already furnished, in 



