TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 45 



operation of the simplest kind, such as the examination of a platinum-salt, 

 obtained a numerical result approximating to that which his theory demands, may 

 hasten on to the further development of his airy structure, possibly not without 

 risk to its stability. Unquestionably there are instances of frequent occurrence, in 

 the pursuit of a particular line of organic research, in which more is not required 

 than the identification of a particular product by some such simple means as above 

 indicated. It is certain, moreover, that the labours of the organic investigator 

 also not unfrequently afford bright examples of indomitable perseverance under 

 formidable difficulties ; and this alone should constitute a strong bond of union 

 between the worker in organic research and his brother-worker in analytical 

 chemistry, if one did not already exist in the active interest which each, if a true 

 lover of science, must take in the work of the other. 



It has been remarked by one of the most distinguished investigators, and, at the 

 same time, one of the most brilliant lecturers and successf id teachers of our time, 

 that the contrivance of a new and good lecture experiment may rank hi import- 

 ance with the preparation of a new organic compound ; and it may certainly be 

 said with equal truth that the elaboration of a new and good method of analysis 

 may rank in importance with a good research in organic chemistry, in reference 

 both to the part it plays in the advancement of science and to its influence upon 

 industrial progress. 



An excellent illustration of this is afforded by reference to the Proceedings of 

 the British Association when it met in this town thirty-six years ago. In a letter 

 to Dr. Playfair, Liebig, who took a very active part in the proceedings of the 

 Association in the earlier years of its existence, reports that Doctors Will and 

 Varrentrapp have devised an excellent method for determining the amount of 

 nitrogen hi organic bodies, "very exact and easily performed." He then describes 

 in a few lines the process so well known to chemists, which not only has been, and 

 continues to be, invaluable to those engaged in organic research, but which, as may 

 be testified by such researches as those of Lawes and Gilbert, has borne a most 

 important and indispensable part in the advancement of agricultural chemistry. It is, 

 I believe, but an expression of the unanimous conviction of chemists to say that the 

 achievements in analytical chemistry of such men as Berzelius, Heinrich Eose, and 

 Fresenius take equal rank with the brilliant researches and theoretical expositions 

 of such chemists as Liebig, Laurent, Gerhardt and Berthelot, and that, of all the 

 important contributions to the development of organic chemistry which we owe to 

 Liebig, there is none which has exerted so great an influence on the progress of 

 this branch of chemical science as his beautifully simple method of organic elemen- 

 tary analysis. 



"Reverting to the industry of iron and steel, which, in regard to some of its most 

 important branches, cannot fail to be a subject of special interest in Plymouth and 

 Devonport, it is not difficult to demonstrate that the labours of the analytical 

 chemist have exercised, and continue to exert, an important influence on the very 

 considerable advance which has in recent years been made, and still proceeds, 

 towards securing complete control over the quality and character of the products 

 obtained. The epoch is well within the recollection of chemists of my generation 

 when the British ironmaster first awoke to the benefits which might accrue to him 

 from an application of the labours of the analytical chemist in connexion with iron- 

 smelting. When the last great stride was made in the manufacture of cast iron, by 

 the introduction of the hot blast, the iron-smelter was naturally led to seek profit, to 

 the fullest extent, with respect both to the great increase in the rate of production 

 of pig-iron attainable thereby, and to the economy achievable in regard to_ the 

 proportions and characters of the materials employed in the production of pig-iron. 

 But after a time, the great falling off* in the quality of a large proportion of the 

 products of the blast-furnace, and the difficulties experienced in the production of 

 malleable iron of even very moderate quality, aided by the great impetus to 

 competition, in respect of quality, given by the first International Exhibition in 

 1851, directed the attention of our more enlightened ironmasters to the likelihood 

 of their deriving important aid from chemical science, and more especially from 

 the investigations of the analytical chemist. 



Amorjg the earliest to realize the importance of trustworthy and detailed in- 



