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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol.. VIII. No. 209. 



difference still esists , that inorganic chem- 

 istry has to do with the relatively simpler, 

 organic with the more complex problems. 

 If we arrange the exact sciences in the 

 order of increasing complication of the prob- 

 lems dealt with, we shall have inorganic 

 chemistry more closely allied to physics, 

 and organic chemistry to biology. The 

 order would then be : Physics, inorganic 

 chemistry, organic chemistrj', biology. 



Organic chemistry has now come to be 

 the chemistry of the element carbon, while 

 inorganic chemistry is that of the remaining 

 70 elements and their compounds. But we 

 know that this distinction is not a sharp 

 one, since sodium and calcium carbonates 

 are treated in all works on inorganic chem- 

 istry. The two chief divisions of chem- 

 istry are, then, at present, best character- 

 ized by aim and method. 



The more difficult problem in inorganic 

 chemistry is the decomposition of sub- 

 stances into simpler compounds, and finally 

 into the elements, so that the greatest 

 triumph in inorganic chemistry is the dis- 

 covery of new elements (Argon and Helium 

 by Ramsay and Rayleigh). It finds the 

 most complete expression of its results in 

 the natural systems of Newlands, Mende- 

 leeff and Lothar Meyer. The inorganic 

 compounds are relatively simple, generally 

 easy to obtain, and have a definite quali- 

 tative and quantitative composition. 



The reverse is true in organic chemistry. 

 Decomposition is easily effected, as by oxi- 

 dation. The aim here is to synthesize 

 compounds, and this is rendered difficult 

 by the possibility of isomerism ; substances 

 being formed of the same composition, 

 but of different constitution and properties. 

 Organic chemistry triumphs in the artificial 

 building-up of substances (the preparation 

 of the different sugars by Fischer), and finds 

 the most complete expression of its results 

 in the structure theory and in stereochem- 

 istry. 



The entirely different aims of the two 

 branches of chemistry necessitate a cor- 

 responding difference of methods. As is 

 well known, inorganic and organic chem- 

 istry are now studied independently. At 

 the beginning of this century a great 

 impulse was given to the study of chem- 

 istry by the discovery of the fundamen- 

 tal principle : ' ' The Mass of Matter does 

 not change even in the most deep-seated trans- 

 formations." At first the harvest was reaped 

 chiefly in inorganic chemistry. The very 

 important facts, discovered purely empir- 

 ically — the impossibility of transforming 

 one element into another, the weight and 

 volume relations in chemical transforma- 

 tions — receive their hypothetical expression 

 in the atomic and molecular conceptions 

 and the molecular formula is the picture of 

 the knowledge thus obtained. 



Then came the harvest in organic chem- 

 istry. The methods of quantitative analysis 

 were gradually adapted to the more com- 

 plex relations in this field, and the consti- 

 tution or configuration formula appeared, 

 as a simple, clear picture of the relations. 

 It indicated not only the kind and number 

 of atoms in the molecule, but also their inner 

 connections and their relative position. 



Yet, organic chemistry has done com- 

 paratively little towards explaining the 

 phenomena of life. The results of organic 

 chemistry, expressed in the constitution 

 formulas, are of relatively little significance 

 for assimilation, etc. Also the knowledge 

 of the constitution of albumin would thus 

 be scarcely extended. "It appears to me 

 as if this incapacity is conditioned also by 

 the nature of the configuration formula. 

 It represents the molecule as a solid unit, 

 and corresponds, therefore, at best, to the 

 relations which obtain at absolute zero, i. e. , 

 at — 273°, and long before this all life 

 processes are extinguished. The inner 

 molecular state is explained for conditions 

 under which life ceases." 



