April 28, 1899.] 



iiCIENCE. 



615 



is helping to produce a feeling of solidarity 

 among inorganic chemists which never 

 existed hitherto. Even in Germany, the 

 stronghold of organic chemistry, the ad- 

 dress of van't Hoff is exciting wide interest, 

 and the Chemilier Zeitunrj, in urging the es- 

 tablishment of independent chairs aud lab- 

 oratories of inorganic chemistrj', is advo- 

 cating what will in time unquestionablj' be 

 realized. 



Inorganic chemistry is fortunate in that 

 its renaissance is coming about at a time 

 when physical methods are in vogue. Tiie 

 prediction of Du Bois-Reymond is being 

 realized ; with the aid of physics it is at- 

 taining an insight into the dj'namical 

 aspect of the science which it could never 

 have reached unassisted. But it is not 

 alone b}' supplying new methods and sug- 

 gesting new points of view that physics is 

 aiding the revival of inorganic chemistrj'. 

 Perhaps equally important is the fact that 

 the rising school of physical chemists, un- 

 hampered by the traditions and limitations 

 of organic chemistry, is finding it neces- 

 sary to explore the whole range of the 

 science in search of material for its in- 

 vestigations. The physical chemist is 

 neither organic nor inorganic, or rather he 

 is either, according to his requirements, but 

 it is precisely because the inorganic field is 

 wider and less developed than the organic 

 that his demands are more likely to be pro- 

 ductive of activity. 



Energetics is now the basis of chemistrj', 

 aud it is to be expected, therefore, that in- 

 organic chemistry will not, in the future, 

 have to pass through a period of arrested 

 development and formula worship, such as 

 have so long affected orgauic chemistrj''. 

 There will always be compound makers, 

 but their aim will be, not the establishment 

 of constitutional formulas alone, but the 

 study of the laws of chemical energy aud 

 the solution of the problem of the nature of 

 matter. We may expect, too, that the still 



sharp line of demarcation between inorganic 

 and organic chemistry and between dead 

 and living matter will disappear. The in- 

 organic chemist may not affect the synthe- 

 sis of a proteid, but he will be able, with 

 his wider knowledge, to contribute more to 

 the solution of the problem of the nature of 

 life than any amount of structurizing and 

 synthesizing alone can do. To comprehend 

 life we must understand carbon, but we 

 can no more fully comprehend carbon with- 

 out an understanding of the other elements 

 than we can explain the earth without a 

 knowledge of the other planets, or man 

 without a knowledge of the fish. He, then, 

 who pursues inorganic chemistry is not only 

 contributing to a higlier development of our 

 science than can be reached by the study 

 of carbon compounds alone, but is perhaps 

 doing as much as the organic chemist to- 

 ward realizing one of the greatest aims of 

 research, the comprehension of life and its 

 explanation in terms of physical science. 

 Washington, D. C. H. N. Stokes. 



ON THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF 

 MA T S8, 1900. 



The next total solar eclipse will be visi- 

 ble as such in places both east and west of 

 the Atlantic Ocean, and it is a matter of 

 some thought to determine where it shall be 

 observed. I have proposed to report to the 

 governing board of Williams College that it 

 is practicable to observe it on both sides at 

 points to be fully determined later, as at 

 present there is rather more than a year's 

 time to make the needful arrangements. 



The two countries where it shall be ob- 

 served seem to be Portugal and our own 

 Southgrn States, in the neighborhood of 

 Coimbra and that of Norfolk, in Virginia, 

 or perhaps farther south. The only doubt 

 is the more or less uncertainty of weather. 

 That, however, cannot be avoided, as the 

 meteorologists are not yet able to predict 

 with much certainty or at all for more 



