March 18, 1898.] 



SCmNGK 



387 



that some of the doctrines of alchemy are not 

 unphilosophical. " This is an admission that 

 the opinions of Newton, Leibnitz and Davy 

 concerning alchemy were contrary to those 

 now entertained by Dr. Bolton. On which 

 side is the weight ? Has Dr. Bolton ever distin- 

 guished himself by any scientific research? 

 Has he made any notable discovery or inven- 

 tion ? Has he propounded any law or doctrine 

 of utility in the elucidation of natural truth ? 

 Or has he merely played the part of a scientific 

 chronicler ? If the answer to the last of these 

 questions be in the affirmative, I think the 

 scientific world will be slow to admit Dr. 

 Bolton's authority to predicate 'cracked brains' 

 in the cases of Newton, Leibnitz and Davy, or 

 even in that of myself. 



3. The bounden duty of a scientific chronicler 

 is to be truthful and exact. Otherwise, his 

 chronicles are misleading and injurious to the 

 cause of science, and may seriously compromise 

 the reputation of the journals that publish them. 

 I regret very much to say that the article to 

 which I am replying contains grave inaccuracies. 



For example, after giving an account of 

 Strindberg's famous gold-making experiment. 

 Dr. Bolton says : ' 'After showing by appropriate 

 tests that iron is still present, the hermetic 

 chemist proceeds to explain the reaction by as- 

 suming the formation of the hypothetical 

 Fe3S = 196 = Au * * * and he adds, 'The 

 chlorid of gold is reduced by the nicotine of the 

 cigar.' Since, however, no reagent containing 

 chlorin in any form was used in the experi- 

 ment, this element must have been created at 

 the same time with the gold, which, however, 

 is ' incomplete ' gold soluble in unmixed acids. ' ' 



Now, I happen to possess a copy of Strind- 

 berg's ' Gold-Synthese,' and I am, therefore, 

 able to quote his exact words, which are as fol- 

 lows : 



"Man taucht ein Papierstreifchen in eine 

 Losung von Eisensulfat. Raucht iiber der 

 Ammoniaksflasche, und es wird griin gefarbt 

 (wie Goldoxidul) ; warmt es iiber eine ange- 

 ziindeten Cigarre,* und es wird braun (wie Gold- 

 oxid). Spater erscheinen gelbe metallische 

 Flittern, welche aus Gold in ausserst verdum- 

 tem Zustande bestehen." 



* Nikotin reducirt Gold. 



Here it will be seen that not a word is said 

 about chloride of gold or chlorine. 



Perhaps Dr. Bolton has never seen Strind- 

 berg's 'Gold-Synthese,' and by reporting and 

 quoting at second-hand has inadvertently 

 borne false witness against his neighbor. An 

 explanation is certainly in order. 



Another instance of inaccuracy is the refer- 

 ence to Tiflfereau. Dr. Bolton gives an account 

 of a memoir submitted to the Acad6mie des 

 Sciences in which carbon-compounds were said 

 to have been formed by the action of nitric 

 acid on metallic aluminum ; and he says, by 

 way of comment : ' ' Analytical chemists would 

 criticise this experiment in several points ; they 

 would say Tiffereau did not demonstrate the 

 absence of carbon in the metal used, and that 

 he depended upon smell and taste for proofs of 

 the carbon compounds." 



The memoir here alluded to was merely a 

 preliminary announcement. It was followed 

 by another describing a much more complete 

 test, in which the flask containing the nitric 

 acid and aluminum was connected with one 

 containing baryta-water, this latter showing a 

 deposit of barium carbonate at the conclusion 

 of the experiment. Tiflfereau' s exact words are 

 as follows : 



" Un chimiste expert, charg6 de I'analyse, a 

 trouv6 dans le flacon a, du nitrate d'aluminum 

 et un partie silicieuse dont le poids, apr6s in- 

 cineration, a 6te de 0.018. 



"L'analyse du d6pot du flacon c a deceit la 

 presence du carbonate de baryum melang6 avec 

 de I'alumine dans les proportions suivantes — 



Carbonate de baryum . . 0.129 

 Alumine 0.005 



Poids du d6pot . . . 0.134 

 " L' experience a done donne 0.00785 de car- 

 bone, alors que I'aluminum employ^ n'en con- 

 tenait que 0.00075, c'st a dire, 10 fois moins." 



I ask all fair-minded men of science whether 

 justice was done to Mons. Tiflfereau in Dr. Bol- 

 ton's paper, and whether the latter can be ac- 

 cepted as a scientifically-veracious account of a 

 scientifically important research ? 



4. I now proceed to consider whether Dr. 

 Bolton's attribution of ' cracked brains ' to 

 Newton, Leibnitz, Davy and myself, and his 



