November 15, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



651 



ter, if there be atoms, maybe torn from one 

 another and made to take up new and defin- 

 ite relations, so that by synthesis there arise 

 new substances with new properties, per- 

 haps exhibiting structure and capable of 

 performing purposive action of the most 

 striking and at present inexplicable kind ; 

 motion, heat, light, electricity, being mani- 

 fest in certain cases among other phenom- 

 ena, while there are present no arrange- 

 ments, conditions or apparatus svich as 

 would enable us to develop these indepen- 

 dently of the living. Here, then, as it 

 seems to me, will be found the foundation 

 not only of the principles of physiological, 

 pathological and medical science, but 

 of that of the whole living world as 

 distinguished from the lifeless cosmos. 

 Here we must look for the initiation 

 of all the changes characteristic of the 

 living state. Account must also be taken 

 of these peculiarly vital phenomena in dis- 

 cussions concerning consciousness, thought, 

 and will, and the life that has been, is and 

 is to be. And may we not even hope that 

 by further and deeper study of the phe- 

 nomena of living matter under the new 

 advantages of demonstration which we 

 enjoy, and which are constantly progress- 

 ing, some further light may be thrown by 

 the increased skill of investigators of vital 

 phenomena even upon the nature and rela- 

 tionship of material atoms in that boundless 

 world of the non-living which ever has 

 been and must be regarded alike by learned 

 and unlearned with wonder and admira- 

 tion? Lionel S. Beale. 

 London. 



THE MAJOR PREMISE IN PHYSICAL 

 CHEMISTRY* 



Chemistey is essentially an inductive 



science, mathematics is essentially deduc- 



* Abstract of a paper prepared "by request, to in- 

 troduce the topic of Physical Chemistry, for the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

 Read Sept. 2d, 1895. 



tive, while physics holds an intermediate 

 position. Yet in our own science, general- 

 izations are reached from time to time, 

 which serve as major premises for syllogis- 

 tic reasoning. For example, the proposi- 

 tion that each portion of matter has con- 

 stant weight is at the basis of our know- 

 ledge of chemical equivalents as deter- 

 mined by the balance ; the isolation of the 

 metals of the alkalis and alkaline earths led 

 to an insight into the nature of salts in gen- 

 eral as metallic compounds; and the ' pe- 

 riodic law,' though not expressed in precise 

 mathematical language, is a most fruitful 

 generalization of genei'alizations. 



Phj'sical chemistry, following the logical 

 methods already so largely adopted in phys- 

 ics, is characterized by a readiness to use 

 the major premise. Instead of making a 

 separate experiment to answer each ques- 

 tion of fact, the conclusion may often be 

 reached on theoretical grounds, in the same 

 sense as an engineer may demonsti-ate the 

 stability of the structure he has designed, 

 or the movements of a newly invented 

 machine. What, then, is the leading major 

 premise in modern chemistry? and what 

 shall be the conditions of fruitfulness ? 



The doctrine of energy, as based upon 

 thermodynamics, embraces the two laws of 

 conservation and correlation ; first, energy 

 (while convertible from one form to an- 

 other) is constant in amount ; second, while 

 work may be wholly converted into heat, 

 only a definite fraction of heat can be con- 

 verted into work. To specify more clearly, if 

 a quantity of heat, H, is received at tempera- 

 ture T (from absolute zero), and if this is 

 converted into work as far as possible by 

 any ideal process until there remains the 

 quantity H' at temperature T', then the 

 simple theorem holds that the two quan- 

 tities of heat are proportional to the two 

 temperatures ; and of course the difference 

 between heat received, and heat remaining 

 (that is, the work) is proportional to the 



