CHEMISTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
187 
done with appliances such as a modern high school would 
despise, and without the aid of any manual of analytical 
chemistry ; and its merit is due partly to the fact that it was 
well done, and partly to the w§y in which great difficulties 
were overcome. In weighing the work of the early investi¬ 
gators we must remember that they lacked the resources 
which are so easily commanded nowadays, and that the 
methods of research had not been reduced to system. Their 
success was in spite of disadvantages which would baffle most 
men, there was less encouragement than now in the way of 
popular applause, and their efforts are therefore all the more 
praiseworthy. Today scientific investigation is an estab¬ 
lished art, its ways are well worn and well trodden, and 
although the highest achievements are as difficult of attain¬ 
ment as ever, even a beginner may hope to accomplish some¬ 
thing. 
During these early years much attention was paid by 
American chemists to the study of minerals, for rich new 
fields were open; and in 1810 Archibald Bruce began the pub¬ 
lication of “ The American Mineralogical Journal,” of which 
four numbers were issued. This was probably the first at¬ 
tempt to publish in this country a magazine devoted entirely 
to science and supported wholly by native contributions. 
As early as 1811 there was a Columbian Chemical Society in 
Philadelphia, and in 1813 a volume of its “ Memoirs ” ap¬ 
peared. In 1817 the “ Journal of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences of Philadelphia ” was started, and the next year saw 
the birth of Silliman’s “American Journal of Science.” The 
last-named periodical, a classic among scientific serials, was 
for sixty years the chief organ of American chemistry, and 
even yet, despite the rivalry of more specialized journals, it 
contains a fair proportion of chemical contributions. The 
first American to publish a systematic treatise on chemistry 
was Professor John Gorham, of Harvard College, whose “ Ele¬ 
ments of Chemical Science,” in two octavo volumes, appeared 
in 1819. The work was well received, and was an excellent 
one for its day. 
