92 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 472. 



Fiirther (p. 15), "* * * matter is that 

 which gives rise to the localization of the 

 complex of properties which certain por- 

 tions of space exhibit. Even though, on 

 the one hand, it must be admitted that the 

 existence of matter is inferred only from 

 various energy manifestations which bod- 

 ies exhibit, it must be acknowledged, on 

 the other, that there are no manifestations 

 of energy except those which are asso- 

 ciated with the manifestations of it that 

 have led to the adoption of the concept of 

 matter; in a word, the two assumed enti- 

 ties, matter and energy, are indissolubly 

 connected in our expei-ience. " Thus, as 

 Dumas said, 'Hypotheses are the crutches 

 of science to be thrown away at the proper 

 time. ' 



I have dared to sketch these conceptions 

 in a few bold outlines, for 



"We can't enimierate them all! 

 In every land and age have they 

 With honest zeal been toiling on,* 

 To turn our darkness into day." 



The imposition upon your good nature 

 practiced in the foregoing craves its par- 

 don in an effort to seek a definition for the 

 term, element. Shall we say, as does Rem- 

 sen, ' An element is a substance made up of 

 atoms of the same kind ? ' Can we say that 

 it is not? Venablef truly says: 'An ele- 

 ment is best defined by means of its prop- 

 erties.' These conceits are not exclusive. 

 The properties are the result of the action 

 of physical forces and chemical affinity, 

 whatever that may be. Certain of the 

 novel atmospheric gases have so far re- 

 sponded but poorly to the latter, as pre- 

 dicted before their discovery by Flawitz- 

 sky, Julius Thomsen and de Boisbaudran 

 in 1887. This necessitates, according to 

 PicciniJ our dividing' them at once into 

 two classes. 



* Aikens' poem at Priestley centennial, Am. 

 Chemist, 1875, 23. 



t The ' Definition of the Element,' loc. cit. 



tZeit. Anorg. Chem., 19, 295, 1899. 



Pattison Muir gives a satisfactory defini- 

 tion.* "The notion of the elements that 

 has been attained after long, continued 

 labor is that of certain distinct kinds of 

 matter, each of which has properties that 

 distinguish it from every other kind of 

 matter, no one of which has been separated 

 into portions unlike the original substance, 

 and which combine together to produce 

 new kinds of matter that are called com- 

 pounds." The following simpler defini- 

 tion has finally served as my guide: An 

 element is that which has not been de- 

 composed, so far as we are aware, into any- 

 thing other than itself. In short, it is con- 

 sistent. 



It is well to stop occasionally and take 

 stock. The Daltonian centenary could not 

 but be an opportune time. Stable, cer- 

 tified securities are not enumerated in the 

 list which follows. Having in mind the 

 second chapter of the first book of Chroni- 

 cles, certain so-called elements are men- 

 tioned, for yttrium begat cerium, and ce- 

 rium begat lanthanum, and lanthanum 

 begat samarium and didymium, and didy- 

 mium begat neodidymium and praseodidy- 

 mium, and prfeseodidymium begat a- and 

 /J-prffiseodidymium, 'und so weiter.' 



Unpractised as a reading clerk, I shall 

 spare you the strain of hearing this long 

 list of elements on probation, but submit 

 for leisure perusal printed copies which 

 will form an appendix to the address as 

 published in the Proceedings of the asso- 

 ciation. 



From the table have been omitted urstoff, 

 protyle (Crookes), electrons (Lodge), cor- 

 puscles (J. J. Thomson) and pantogen 

 (Hinrichs). It appeared also unnecessary 

 to incorporate phlogiston, nitricum (the 

 imaginary body, thought by Berzelius 

 united Avith oxygen to form nitrogen), and 

 arfeon (ponderable caloric). According to 



* ' The Alchemical Essence and the Chemical 

 Element,' London, Svo, pp. 94, 1894. 



