Dr. E. J. Mills on the First Principles of Chemistry, 3 



the light of this pursuit alone, deliberately put aside all judg- 

 ments which are based upon dogma or authority. He must 

 have an infinite capability of doubting. For his is no search 

 for truth — of which all men chatter, but which none are ad- 

 mitted to possess ; his is a reasoned labour ; and the issue, of 

 which he is careless, must in the main be wise. Such being the 

 case, can we wonder that no clear statement of the first princi- 

 ples of chemistry has ever yet been made, and that even the 

 very definition of the science is either unknown or obscure ? 

 Is it remarkable that, in the hundreds of chemical manuals 

 that have been written, little or nothing is said of those secret 

 springs that feed the literary stream, or of the dews that ferti- 

 lize the less familiar province of experimental research ? 



(3) Yet this investigation is much needed. I beg any dis- 

 passionate observer to survey the field of modern chemistry, 

 and ask himself whether its condition has been satisfactory of 

 late years. For my part, I came neutral to the task, with no 

 tradition to support and with no interest but to inquire. 

 Could I possibly justify the prevalent spirit in the science ? 

 Was the method of its theories reasonable ? Did its leading 

 doctrines harmonize with those of other sciences, and tend to 

 ennoble man ? And what was the cause that, even in popular 

 opinion, it appeared unfruitful of discovery, and languishing 

 rather than alive ? The reader already knows the general 

 tenor of the answers. Strength and light and vigour can 

 only come from some fundamental reform, sufficient to alter 

 the entire aspect in which chemistry is contemplated, and the 

 entire method whereby chemical problems are solved. This 

 reform can be reached, and only reached, by turning back to 

 first principles. 



(4) Where, then, are we to commence ? The first principle 

 of all science is motion. Every event of which we are con- 

 scious proves, on analysis, to be motion of some kind ; and 

 matter is not distinguishable from motion except as more or 

 less determinate motion. Strictly speaking, " the motion of 

 a thing " is a tautological expression, unless we mean by " a 

 thing " another kind of motion, when the phrase becomes equi- 

 valent to " compounded motion." From the rigour of Hobbes's 

 logic * there is no escape ; indeed the almost unanimous voice 

 of philosophy, from ancient to modern times, has asserted the 

 universal prevalence of motion, the absence of all real rest. 

 This grand idea has changed the character of human action 

 wherever its mission has been accepted and its reality has been 

 felt. Of late years it has, in some derived form, completely 

 renovated and restored whole sciences. What is the life of 



* Humane Nature, second edition, pp. 9-15. 

 B2 



