RURAL CHEMISTRY 



CHAPTER I. 



COMBINATION — DECOMPOSITION — AIR— WATER. 



1. The object of Chemistry is to determine accu- 

 rately the properties ' of all natural substances, to 

 study the changes which are going on in Nature, to 

 find out the rules which govern them, and the manner 

 in which these natural operations are influenced by 

 circumstances. 



2. In pursuing these inquiries, the chemist is obliged 

 to proceed slowly and with great caution ; it is quite 

 impossible for him to predict beforehand the result 

 of a new experiment; he must try it, and then, if it 

 has been properly conducted, it always furnishes him 

 with a new fact, for he is sure that, on repeating it in 

 the same manner, he will obtain the same result. 

 Hence Chemistry is purely an experimental science ; 

 every fact is the result of careful experiment, and 

 every theory is deduced from the study of such facts. 

 The greatest care must be taken to distinguish facts 

 from theories; the former are well-established and 



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