Am'iS!iHarm'}  General  Method  of  Chemical  Synthesis.  409 
ascending  order  of  the  temperature  limit,  especially  in  one  and  the 
same  family  of  substances. 
(8)  The  electric  spark  and  current  seem  to  be  the  best  media  for 
supplying  extraneous  energy  to  limited  chemical  reactions. 
With  these  eight  partial  laws  we  may  establish  a  complete 
scientific  programme  for  the  discovery  of  a  general  method  of 
chemical  synthesis. 
We  begin  by  bringing  in  contact  the  simple  bodies,  and  defining 
experimentally  the  laws  which  govern  their  combinations,  the  rela- 
tions between  their  temperatures,  the  pressures,  and  the  quantities 
of  heat  to  be  supplied  in  limited  reactions. 
As  this  first  series  of  observations  must,  on  principle,  give  pre- 
cise numerical  values,  we  must  never  allow  reactions  in  mass  to 
interfere,  as  they  disturb  and  modify  the  thermic  conditions  of  the 
phenomenon.  This  condition,  sine  qua  nony  indicates  at  once  the 
plan  of  operations  to  be  followed.  The  chemist  must  have  at  com- 
mand a  powerful  refrigeratory  apparatus,  by  which  he  can  at  least 
reach  temperatures  of  — 1300  to  — 1500,  so  as  to  paralyze  all 
chemical  reaction.  Substances  thus  cooled  are  certainly  below  all 
the  temperature  limits. 
The  refrigerating  tank  must  have  a  temperature  which  can  be 
regulated  at  will  from  — 1300  to  the  ordinary  temperature. 
A  powerful  induction  coil  yields  sparks  which  must  be  made  to 
strike,  by  means  of  insulated  conductors  through  the  substances  to 
be  combined,  in  the  refrigerated  enclosure. 
When  the  reaction  commences,  the  heat  produced  each  moment 
by  the  weight  of  the  compounds  obtained  must  be  withdrawn  by 
radiation,  so  that  the  temperature  at  which  the  reaction  is  produced 
may  be  kept  constant. 
The  quantities  of  energy  represented  by  the  electric  current  in 
amperes  and  volts  are  equivalent  to  the  endothermic  phase  of  the 
reaction.  The  quantities  of  heat  lost  by  radiation  measure  the 
exothermic  phase. 
The  calorimetric  measure  effected  in  the  refrigeratory  enables  us 
to  know  directly  the  effect  of  radiation  for  all  the  differences  of 
temperature. 
We  shall  on  this  principle  constitute  the  first  rational  dynamic 
table  in  chemistry,  by  studying  all  the  simple  bodies,  two  by  two, 
three  by  three,  etc.    By  combining  by  the  same  methods,  and  with 
