36 G. H. KNIBBS. 



refraction of a compound — or product of its specific refraction 

 and molecular weight — is the sum of the atomic refractions, pro- 

 vided the mode of union of the atoms be taken into account ; and 

 to those labours we owe also the actual determination of a large 

 number of atomic refractions for different lines in the spectrum. 



Another great feature of chemical advance is the recent analysis 

 of substances produced in living organisms. As remarked by 

 Lassar-Cohn, there is no reason why chemists "should not turn 

 their attention to living forms rather than forever study the 

 products derived from the relics of a long-extinct organic world. 



Time prevents any reference to the great influence of mathe- 

 matics and physics on modern chemistry : of the part played by 

 heat, pressure, and electrical energy in controlling chemical re- 

 actions ; of the potency and promise of the future of the science 

 when the resources of the latter form of energy shall have been 

 exploited. One has no doubt that the brilliant advance of the 

 century now closing is but the earnest of a still brighter future, 

 and that not only will the services of the chemist, which directly 

 or indirectly affect every industrial process of to-day, be year by 

 year, more and more fully utilized, but also that even in purely 

 theoretical advances his genius will shine, if possible, with even 

 greater lustre than in the past. 



The great applications of science have practically transformed the 

 material blessings of civilisation. I am unable, for lack of time, to 

 indicate how other sciences contribute, but throughout the wholo 

 range, the service is incalculable. The industrial requisition of the 

 achievements of the student has produced the most striking trans- 

 formations. Nowhere has the change been so remarkable as in 

 those countries where the intellectual life has been strongly 

 cultivated and science ardently followed. And among these 

 Germany stands in the first rank, reaping a well-deserved and 

 rich reward. Full of intellectual energy, systematic in method, 

 and rich in genius, she has produced a body of literature, philo- 

 sophy and science, which the world may well envy; and she has 

 done this with high aspirations. No charge can be urged against 



