Jakuaey 22, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



119 



has been made in the teaching of science 

 since the days of Maclean, Hare and the 

 elder Silliman. 



In 1794 Joseph Priestlej', the famous 

 discoverer of oxj'gen, driven from his Eng- 

 lish home by religious persecution, sought 

 refuge in America. He took up his abode 

 at Northumberland, in Pennsylvania, where 

 he died in 1804, and where his remains lie 

 buried. His coming greatly stimulated the 

 growing interest in chemistry upon this side 

 of the Atlantic, for Priestley entered at once 

 upon close relations with many American 

 scholars, and took an active part in the 

 work of the American Philosophical Society 

 at Philadelphia. At E^orthumberland he 

 completed his discovery of carbon monoxide, 

 and made some of the earliest experiments 

 upon gaseous diffusion ; but unfortunately 

 much of his time was devoted to theory, 

 and to defending against the attacks of 

 Lavoisier's followers, the moribund doctrine 

 of phlogiston. Priestley's discovery of oxy- 

 gen was the corner stone of chemical sci- 

 ence ; but the discoverer, great as an ex- 

 perimentalist, was not successful as a phi- 

 losopher, and he never realized the logical 

 consequences of his achievement. To the 

 day of his death he opposed the new chemi- 

 cal philosophy and clung to the obsolete 

 ideas of an earlier generation. 



During the first quarter of the present 

 century the progress of chemistry in the 

 United States was slow. It is not my pur- 

 pose to discuss in this address the details 

 of its advancement, for that work has al- 

 ready been exhaustively done by another;* 

 still several events happened which deserve 

 notice here. First, Robert Hare, in 1802, 

 invented the oxyhydrogen blowpipe. "With 

 that instrument, in following years, he suc- 

 ceeded in fusing platinum, silica and about 



*Benjamin Sillman, Jr. ' American contributions to 

 Chemistry.' American Chemist, August, September 

 and December, 1874. An address at the ' Centennial 

 of Chemistry.' 



thii'ty other refractory substances which 

 had hitherto resisted all attempts at lique- 

 faction. But few men have given a greater 

 extension to our experimental resources. 

 The calcium light and the metallurgy of 

 platinum are among the direct consequences 

 of Dr. Hare's invention. Secondly, in 1808 

 Professors Silliman and Kingsley, of Yale 

 College, published their account of the mete- 

 orite which fell at Weston, Connecticut, the 

 year previous. This paper attracted wide- 

 spread attention, and drew from Thomas 

 Jefferson the oft-quoted remark " that it 

 was easier to believe that two Yankee pro- 

 fessors could lie than to admit that stones 

 could fall from heaven." The analysis of 

 the meteorite was the work of Silliman, 

 and was among the earliest of its kind . It 

 was done with appliances such as a modern 

 high school would despise, and without the 

 aid of any manual of analytical chemistry; 

 and its merit is due partly to the fact 

 that it was well done, and partly to the 

 way in which great difficulties were over- 

 come. In weighing the work of the early 

 investigators we must remember that they 

 lacked the resources which are so easily 

 commanded nowadays, and that the methods 

 of research had not been reduced to system. 

 Their success was in spite of disadvantages 

 which would baffle most men; there was 

 less encouragement than now in the way of 

 popular applause, and their efforts are 

 therefore all the more praiseworthy. To- 

 day scientific investigation is an established 

 art, its ways are well worn and well trodden; 

 and, although the highest achievements 

 are as difficult of attainment as ever, even 

 a beginner may hope to accomplish some- 

 thing. 



During these early years much attention 

 was paid by American chemists to the study 

 of minerals, for rich new fields were open ; 

 and in 1810 Archibald Bruce began the 

 publication of The American Mineroloyical 

 Journal, of which four numbers were issued. 



