442 
Editorial. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Phari»>, 
\    Sept.  1,  1874. 
time,  so  that  the  exposition  may  be  fully  opened  before  the  organization  of  the 
meeting. 
Centennial  of  Chemistry. — On  the  first  of  August,  1774,  Joseph  Priestley 
discovered  deyhlogisticated  air,  which  afterwards  received  the  name  of  oxygen, 
and  on  the  same  day,  in  1874,  a  number  of  chemists  assembled  at  his  grave  in 
Northumberland,  Pa.,  and  at  his  former  home  in  Birmingham,  England,  to  do 
homage  to  the  memory  of  a  man  who,  during  his  entire  lifetime,  waged  war 
against  ignorance  and  battled  for  what  he  considered  to  be  right  and  truth. 
His  chemical  investigations  were  mostly  confined  to  the  discovery  of  most  of 
the  important  gases,  and  although,  from  his  limited  knowledge  of  general 
chemical  laws,  his  observations  were,  in  his  own  hands,  not  productive  of  the 
important  theoretical  results,  yet  they  formed  the  basis  upon  which  the  super- 
structure of  modern  chemistry  has  been  erected  ,  and  in  this  light  the  birth  of 
chemistry  may  well  be  dated  from  the  discovery  of  oxygen,  an  honor  which 
Priestley  shares  with  his  celebrated  cotemporary,  Scheele,  then  an  apothecary's 
assistant  at  Upsala,  Sweden,  but  whose  investigations  were  not  published 
until  1777. 
On  the  evening  of  July  30,  a  number  of  chemists  from  different  parts  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada  reached  the  quiet  borough  of  Northumberland,  and 
more  came  the  following  morning,  until  about  seventy  five  had  arrived.  The- 
town  is  beautifully  situated  at  the  conflux  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Susque- 
hanna river  and  at  the  foot  of  the  Montour  range  of  mountains.  During  the 
celebration,  business  was  almost  completely  suspended,  music  was  freely  dis- 
coursed by  an  amateur  brass  band,  and  the  visitors  met  with  a  hearty  reception 
on  the  part  of  the  citizens,  many  of  whom  opened  their  houses  for  the  hospitable 
entertainment  of  the  strangers. 
The  meetings  were  held  in  the  spacious  hall  of  the  school-house,  and  were- 
largely  attended  by  the  inhabitants  of  Northumberland  and  the  neighboring 
towns.  The  first  meeting  was  held  Friday,  July  31,  at  9  o'clock,  A.  M.,  and 
was  called  to  order  by  Professor  E.  M.  Horsford.  who  nominated  as  temporary 
chairman,  Prof.  H.  C.  Bolton,  of  Columbia  College,  who  had  first  suggested 
this  celebn  tion.  After  prayer  had  been  offered  by  Rev.  Pynchion,  a  nomi- 
nating committee  was  appointed  and  the  meeting  finally  organized  by  the 
election  of  Prof.  C.  F.  Chandler,  of  New  York,  President;  Prof.  R.  A.  Leeds, 
Secretary;  and  Prof.  W.  H.  Chandler,  of  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  Treasurer.  Among 
the  Vice-Presidents  elect,  was  Miss  Rachel  L.  Bodley,  Professor  of  Chemistry 
in  the  Woman's  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia,  who  had  first  suggested  to 
hold  this  meeting  in  the  village  containing  the  last  home  and  grave  of  Priestley  ; 
the  lady  was  not  present,  but,  b j  previously  made  arrangements,  was  absent  on 
a  botanical  tour  to  Colorado.  Colonel  David  Taggart,  on  behalf  of  the  citizens 
of  Northumberland,  in  a  brief  but  happy  speech,  extended  a  sincere  welcome  to 
the  visitors,  to  which  the  President  made  a  short  reply.  A  committee  consist- 
ing of  Messrs.  Frazer,  Sharpless  and  Wheeler,  was  appointed  to  communicate 
with  the  centennial  meeting  at  Birmingham,  and  on  motion  of  Professor  J.  L. 
Smith,  another  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Smith,  Youmans  and  Joy,  to- 
