850 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 648 



tion, like all other energies, can be modified 

 into any of them, or better perhaps, that 

 gravitation, being the more stable of all 

 energies, is the final energy toward which 

 light, health and electricity tend to change. 

 Who knows but that ultimately a less 

 neglected study of gravitation may allow 

 ua a glimpse into the secret of the destiny 

 of our universe? 



I admit, many of you will smile at these 

 unorthodox hypotheses or conjectures. 

 Yet, let me ask you: With what methods 

 have we thus far measured any possible 

 changes in weight? We have pinned all 

 our faith, all our beliefs, on a mechanical 

 instrument called a balance. A very deli- 

 cate method indeed, if judged from our 

 conceited one-sided standpoint of special- 

 ists. We are proud if we possess a balance 

 which can weigh a one hundredth of one 

 milligram ; we work ourselves into awe and 

 admiration before an instrument such as 

 the one I saw two years ago which can de- 

 tect a difference of a one thousandth of a 

 milligram. A one thousandth of a milli- 

 gram! How infinitesimally small such a 

 weight appears to our limited conceptions; 

 and yet, what a ponderous quantity this 

 same weight becomes if we try to compare 

 it with the mass of an electron. Our whole 

 science of chemistry is based on the funda- 

 mental law of the conservation of matter 

 as formulated by Lavoisier and accepted 

 by us as an axiom. However, by what 

 means has this law been verified, if not by 

 balances more crude, more imperfect, than 

 that clumsy instrument which can not 

 weigh anything beyond 1/1,000 of a milli- 

 gram? It is high time that science should 

 discover a more delicate means for deter- 

 mining small weights than a mere me- 

 chanical balance ; then, but only then, may 

 we be able to demonstrate beyond doubt 

 whether all the assumptions on which we 

 base our chemistry are correct, or whether 



we simply have been building a whole sci- 

 ence on false premises. 



While we are at this subject let us con- 

 tinue this act of self-examination. When 

 we speak of the descriptive part of the 

 science of chemistry, when we describe any 

 reactions, any compounds, any laws, we all 

 refer these to phenomena which take place 

 within an abnormally small range of tem- 

 perature. Lately, Dewar opened our eyes 

 to some unexpected phenomena which 

 occur at very low temperatures; on the 

 other hand, the electric furnace so ably 

 manipulated by our regretted Moissan 

 enabled him to establish many unsuspected 

 facts at temperatures which our imperfect 

 thermometric methods do not allow us to 

 measure accurately. Yet, if we will drop 

 for a moment our one-sided considerations 

 and look upon everything in true propor- 

 tions, we must admit that the range of 

 temperatures within which we have studied 

 natural phenomena is disappointingly 

 small, as compared with the possible range 

 of temperature of the universe. 



Not so long ago, chemists had no better 

 definition for organic compounds than to 

 designate them as those that were produced 

 under the intervention of vital forces; in- 

 organic bodies, on the contrary, were sup- 

 posed to be made under the influence of 

 ordinary physical forces. We all know 

 since how Liebig and Wohler disposed of 

 this mistake by the memorable discovery 

 of the synthesis of urea from inorganic 

 bodies. Nevertheless, many of us to-day 

 are prone to think that the more delicate 

 organic bodies, as, for instance, the constit- 

 ments of the protoplasm, will never be ob- 

 tained synthetically. These doubters point 

 to the fact that as soon as we try to imitate 

 these subtle, synthetic reactions which take 

 place in the living cell we remain powerless 

 to accomplish anything beyond splitting or 

 simplifying the molecule. And yet, let me 

 ask you, what are the laboratory methods 



