THE REVIVAL OF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 295 



law of the simple relation of the volumes of reacting gases; Dulong 

 and Petit's law, and the law of isomorphism, all fall within this period 

 and antedate the beginning of the rapid development of carbon chem- 

 istry. The same is true of the discovery of the alkali metals, the recog- 

 nition of the elementary nature of chlorine, and of the establishment of 

 the existence of hydrogen acids, and many other important facts. In 

 these the study of carbon played a relatively insignificant part. The 

 electro-chemical theory of Berzelius, too, which was of such great im- 

 portance as a working hypothesis, was of inorganic origin. By 1830 

 the predominance of organic chemistry was already pronounced, and 

 with the increased attention given to this new field the interest in 

 inorganic chemistry lagged behind. All, or nearly all, the develop- 

 ments of theoretical importance began to come from the organic side. 

 The history of chemistry from 1830 to 1865 is practically the history of 

 organic chemistry. I do not mean that research was confined merely 

 to carbon compounds. The influence of Berzelius continued to be felt, 

 and men like Heinrich Rose, Wohler, Bunsen and many others made 

 valuable contributions to inorganic chemistry, as well as several like 

 Dumas, Liebig, and others, whose reputation rests chiefly on their 

 organic work. The great inorganic chemists were mostly men of an 

 analytical rather than synthetical turn of mind. The growth of miner- 

 alogy led to the discovery of new elements, and the analytical require- 

 ments to which it, as well as practical chemistry, gave rise conduced 

 largely to the study of inorganic compounds. The conception of valency, 

 while due mainly to organic chemistry, owes not a little to inorganic 

 chemistry, though it did but little to further it. Numerous. atomic 

 weight determinations of greater or less accuracy were made, some- 

 times with a purely analytic purpose, sometimes with the object of 

 testing the validity of Prout's hypothesis, but these exercised but little 

 influence on the theoretical growth of inorganic - chemistry, which 

 remained for the most part a mass of unconnected facts. 



In considering the causes to which is due the preeminent attention 

 given to organic chemistry since 1830, the point most to be emphasized 

 is that at no time since that date has there been lacking a well-defined 

 working hypothesis of the nature of organic compounds. Not only did 

 these substances prove eminently susceptible of classification into 

 types, but, for reasons to be stated later, the transformations discovered 

 were so numerous, and the possibilities of producing synthetically old 

 or new compounds, and of working out new theories, were so attractive 

 that most of the best chemical minds between 1830 and 1S05, or even 

 later, were drawn into organic chemistry. Another important factor 

 is that of inertia. Most students of nature do not willingly enter upon 

 entirely new fields of research. The pupils of the great masters of 

 organic chemistry, Liebig, Dumas, Hofmann, Wurtz, Kolbe, Kekule, 

 and others, found enough to do in following in the footsteps of their 

 teachers, and were little inclined to seek new pastures. The require- 



