IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY OF CHEMISTRY. 
53 
indulged in. If in the gradual development of the cell, of the organ, of 
the animal,—each phase of which, although fulfilling a definite purpose of 
the present, nevertheless points to a future end as yet unfulfilled,—physiolo¬ 
gists have seen but a special case of a much more general law, which governs 
likewise the unfolding and ultimate destiny of the human mind;—can we 
wonder that in the indestructibility of matter (the medium in which all 
these transformations are accomplished without a particle of it being lost),— 
chemical philosophers should with delight have imagined they had found a 
measure applicable to spiritual life, and that indestructibility of matter thus 
became to them a symbol of the immortality of the soul ? 
Thus we see emanating from the results of chemical inquiry a rich vein of 
considerations such as must be acceptable to every thinking mind; but these 
considerations are by no means limited to objects of general interest. No depart¬ 
ment of knowledge,—no branch of study,—can be imagined, but what might 
draw from the stores of chemical experience important solutions and signifi¬ 
cant suggestions. We find abundant proofs of this assertion in the ehemico- 
agricultural, and chemieo-physiological inquiries of Liebig, the general 
results of which are embodied in his admirable ‘Familiar Letters on 
Chemistry/ The merchant, the political economist, the statesman, the 
ethnographer, the historian, each of them finds in this book numerous 
questions, in which he takes a lively interest, elucidated from the chemical 
point of view. 
Referring to the influence of mathematical pursuits in de¬ 
veloping the mental powers, he says : 
No one can deny that the precision of thought, the correct inference from 
given premises, essential to progress in mathematics, gradually becomes a 
habit, which is soon transferred to intellectual labour of any other kind. 
The mathematician starts from certain fundamental truths, which, without ex¬ 
ternal aid, he is capable of elaborating out of his own mind; and on this basis he 
piles up, step by step, the wonderful edifice of his science. It is this 
nature-like mode of - construction, disdaining to raise another stone 
before the previous one is thoroughly secured, which constitutes the value of 
mathematics, as an element of mental-training. 
The pursuit of Chemical studies involves no less the development of the 
mental powers; it leads no less to precision of thought; it improves no 
less the habit of drawing correct conclusions, which, once acquired, is as 
easily transferred to other fields of mental labour. Chemistry, as a science, 
differs essentially from mathematics in this one respect,—that the truths 
which are its foundation cannot be drawn from the human mind itself. 
These truths are external to our mind, and can only be obtained by careful 
observation of the outer world; but, once our mental property, these 
experience-gathered truths afford a foundation equally adapted for the 
nature-like unfolding of a system of conclusions, which are not less logi¬ 
cally linked together than the conclusions of the mathematician. The 
chemist has, however, this advantage over the latter:—whereas the mathe¬ 
matician has to find the guidance of his steps within himself, the chemist 
possesses in nature a mirror which, duly questioned, at every moment readily 
informs him whether he is still advancing in the right direction .—(Abridged 
jrorn report of the lecture in the ‘ Chemical News'} 
