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The Chemistry of the Future. 
291 
coal : there is probably no purpose to which we apply it — 
in metallurgy, in the gas-manufacture, in the generation of 
steam, or in domestic economy — where its value is not 
seriously impaired, and where nuisance and danger are not 
occasioned by the presence of a small percentage of sulphur. 
Far too little and far too equally distributed to be worth, or 
even capable of, extraction, it is yet far too much to be in- 
active, or other than formidable. Or, again, take phos- 
phorus : absolutely necessary to our existence, and, of 
course, most valuable when met with in quantities and forms 
capable of utilisation ; but when found, as it so frequently 
is, in traces accompanying iron, it is the source of incalcu- 
lable loss and annoyance. Or, consider arsenic ; on teleo- 
logical principles, surely, a substance so poisonous, and yet 
at the same time so useful for certain technological pur- 
poses, should have been concentrated in some few places. 
But we find it very widely disseminated, present to a serious 
extent in most iron pyrites, and thus contaminating sulphuric 
and hydrochloric acids, and through them a variety of other 
chemicals. 
On the other hand, we look at the case of gold : had it 
been more abundant, its low affinity for oxygen and sulphur 
and its power of resisting the action of organic acids would 
have rendered it exceedingly important, both for manufac- 
turing and domestic purposes. Were gold as plentiful as 
copper the latter metal would be entirely banished from 
dye- and print-works. 
As for the rarer metals, if they exert any function it es- 
capes, as a rule, our notice, whilst not a few of them, if 
common, would have been highly important. Thus on 
teleological principles we see nothing to explain, either the 
number, the relative amount, or the local distribution of 
the elements of many of them, scarcely, even, the very 
existence. 
We turn, therefore, to another point of view. The array 
of the elements cannot fail to remind us of the general 
aspect of the organic world. It shows us the same gaps 
due to our old acquaintance, the “ missing link,” or rather 
to its non-appearance. In both cases we see certain groups 
well filled up, whilst other forms stand isolated. Both dis- 
play species that are common and species that are rare. 
Hence it seems natural, in the one instance as in the other, 
to view existing forms not as originally present, but as the 
outcome of a process of evolution, or, if the reader likes the 
expression, the residue after a “ struggle for existence.” 
Certain forms not in harmony with the present general 
