184 
CLARKE. 
philosopher’s stone, the universal solvent, and the elixir of 
life. There was no chemistry in the modern sense of the 
term, but only a group of visionary speculations which fore¬ 
doomed their devotees to failure. In these failures, however, 
Truth revealed herself, discoveries were made other than 
those which were expected, and the foundations of a new 
science were laid. It was more than forty years after the 
landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth when Boyle announced 
the true definition of a chemical element, and the discovery 
of oxygen was not made until over a century later. The 
history of modern chemistry and the history of the United 
States begin at nearly the same time. 
In America, as in the world at large, the development of 
science followed along the natural lines. A new country had 
no time for abstractions, such as chemical studies were in the 
early days, and only the more obvious branches of investiga¬ 
tion received much notice. Botany and zoology flourished to 
some extent, and even mineralogy had able students; for the 
resources of an unexplored continent could not be ignored. 
Astronomy, too, was somewhat cultivated, but because of its 
usefulness in the measurement of time and in navigation, 
rather than for its interest as an intellectual pursuit. The 
practical side of science was necessarily and properly fore¬ 
most, and this fact is nowhere more apparent than in the 
physical researches of men like Franklin and Rumford. The 
obvious and the useful came first; philosophy, theory, might 
wait until men had more leisure. So, while chemical dis¬ 
coveries were rapidly multiplied in Europe, little advance¬ 
ment could be recognized here. Even that little w T as utili¬ 
tarian, and chemistry in this country was first brought into 
general notice through its relations to medicine and phar¬ 
macy and through the agency of medical schools. 
Prior to the year 1769 chemistry had no independent ex¬ 
istence in the work of American colleges. It was taught, if 
indeed it was taught at all, only as a subordinate branch of 
natural philosophy. But in the year just named Dr. Benja¬ 
min Rush was appointed to a chair of chemistry in the medi- 
