436 Observations on Organic Chemistry 



clock may be soldered, and thus the clock restored to its original 

 correctness. Now, I ask, does not the fragment of stone so employed 

 become part of the pillar? Does not the solder enter into the composi- 

 tion of the wheel? A watch may stop for want of oil; a platinum 

 wire divided, may be connected with a piece of silver wire, and the 

 electric current which had been interrupted restored. Does not the 

 silver become part of the platina apparatus, so far as the desired effect 

 is concerned ? Does not the oil employed to lubricate the axes of the 

 wheels form part of the watch ? 



When the chemist deduces inferences from his observations, surely he 

 does not go beyond his own sphere. It is true we may not be able at 

 present to solve the problem how morphine and quinine operate in the 

 organism ; but we are surely proceeding in the right direction for ob- 

 taining a knowledge of even those points. My opponents object that 

 my inferences respecting the effects of vegetable remedies are only pro- 

 babilities, but they altogether overlook the circumstance that I myself 

 never attempted to pass them off for anything else. If you deprive the 

 investigator of nature of the power to make suggestions, to take pro- 

 babilities to guide his future aims, you deprive him of all support, of 

 all reasons to proceed in his investigations. The chemist, as well as 

 every other philosopher, must conceive some probable object toward 

 which to direct his researches. 



Would it not be exceedingly absurd to expect that plants would grow 

 without seeds, to desire to engraft a noble tree upon an ignoble stock, 

 whilst you reject the scion ! How can we sow with the hope of a 

 harvest without having a fertile soil at our disposal? Our desire is 

 to winnow well the grain until all the chaff is cleared away. 



If I were called upon to decide what right physiologists and patholo- 

 gists have to form an opinion with respect to the inferences deduced 

 from chemistry to aid physiology, and my judgment were guided by 

 the facts and inferences cherished and fought for by these gentlemen, 

 the amount of credit I could award to them would be represented by a 

 very small figure. 



When resting upon the fact of the transformation of benzoic acid 

 into hippuric acid, a fact established in the most exact and decisive 

 manner, I deduce a certain inference and catch a glimpse of a little 

 more of the horizon of truth than my opponents, is it natural for them 

 to desire to put out my eyes ? 



When, from the weight of the bile, which, according to the assertions 

 of the physiologist, an ox secretes every day, and the weight of the 

 blood-constituents which the same animal partakes of in its food in the 



